REVIEW: Meati ‘Air Jamaica’

Meati’s debut EP on Get Flavor records, ‘Air Jamaica,’ is a whimsical club burner, featuring some amazing remixes by the likes of Bosstone, John Roman, Ardalan, and Krueger. Get Flavor records, known for employing the tridecagon where others would normally settle for circle, hold similarly avant-garde standards for their electronic releases. Get Flavor is a French-based label of young, like-minded artists, and they recently picked up Meati, who is involved in the bustling Toronto scene with frequent collaborator/producer Deebs.

The EP is comprised of six tracks, two original mixes and four remixes. The title track, “Air Jamaica,” begins by pumping your veins with a deep pulse that doesn’t let up. The intro is almost a prelude, letting the listener prepare for the sweaty, steel drum enhanced breakthrough. Knowing this music is broadcast from Toronto explains the novelty of the imported tropical sounds. Whistles, quick-paced tapping, and energetic vocal sampling dot the mix with upbeat sensationalism. Imagine stripping your coats and mittens as you enter the club and defrosting to these hot vibes. You might even get burned. Then just when you think it’s never going to stop­–the tempo cuts short and the bass drops out, washing fuzzy airwaves with an undercurrent of reggae guitar strums over you. Then the guitar pushes through the fuzz, the snares return, and a roaring growl returns the steely dance to where it belonged: In your face and out your soul.

The second original mix, “Skinny Dip,” is another agreeable tune. Beginning with a two-sided build and deep vocal sampling then turning quickly into an electro freak-out, this song surprises at each turn. Although lacking the danceable pulse of Air Jamaica, “Skinny Dip” makes up for it with a screen of back and forth variation beneath the constant proclamation of “yeah, right.” Perhaps not as popularly successful as Air Jamaica, this track does feature skillful production by Meati. He was able to maintain an awkwardly stop-and-go bassline by inserting synth plunges and blaring horns to attract your mind and moving body. Even though I think some of the Skinny Dip remixes might outplay the original mix, you have to hand it to Meati for laying these foundations.

Two different artists reimagined “Air Jamaica” for this EP; John Roman and Bosstone. Where Roman explodes the track into an even more exaggerated dance number, Bosstone gives the track expanded emotions that occasionally drop into seizing drum hits and epic rebuilds. Roman plays up the steel drum hits by force-feeding them through an even tinnier and louder filter, smacking your brains at breakneck pace. The other track, “Skinny Dip” gets a treatment by Ardalan and Krueger. Ardalan pulls off the most successful remix on the EP, giving the track the needed pulse to show off its elements on the dancefloor. Ardalan stays true to the original samples, retiming them and rearranging them so that the beeps and synth waves drop like water onto glass. Maybe this is analogy is a little convoluted, but I think after listening to the song it becomes clear. Ardalan tightens up the song and takes it to another level. Krueger stretches elements of the song while quickening the pace of others, resulting in a slanted mix. This setting allows Krueger to reinterpret the vocal samples in a variety of ways and makes the whole song feel more like it is in an echo chamber.

Overall, Meati has produced a couple fun songs that are hearty enough to be remixed with overwhelmingly positive results, but also can stand on their own as amusing dance club jams.

Buy ‘Air Jamaica’ on Juno today.