Off The Charts: Brazilian boogie
Mixes and releases from Brazilian artists to lighten up the autumn
I’ve been listening to quite a bit more mixes by Brazilian selectors lately; first of all because Brazilian music holds a dear spot in my heart, and it’s something I like to go back to from time to time. Also, I wanted to absorb some of its energy for the northern hemisphere Autumn season. So here goes a new Off The Charts, featuring only artists, collectives, labels, mixes, and releases from Brazil. It’s mostly a selection of dance music, but always with a definite Brazilian flair: expect drum machines and samba percussions, bossa-esque melodies, snippets of Música Popular Brasileira classics layered on house tracks. Brazil has a lot more club and urban and experimental genres to offer of course, but let’s not spread ourselves too thin: we might include those in another feature. So let’s begin.
This will be a continuing format, and we will appreciate entries for ‘Off The Charts’ - reach out to info@guerrillabizarre.com with your upcoming releases.
Banana Gold Records - Camões - Banana Radio / 002
This label from Rio de Janeiro has a penchant for groovy house with a touch of electro and boogie. They’ve been around for about a year, although of course founders Gaspar Muniz and Bebo Ibeas have been active in NY and Rio for a few years already. The label is still building its discography but already has its own mix series, Banana Radio. In August they had as guest Camões: able to mix convincingly singing-songwriting with electronic grooves and bossa rhythms in his own releases, here he’s devoted to make you dance, and succeeds stellarly. This is feel-good tropical stuff, with a few recognizable tunes in new versions, a couple of funky floorfillers, and an elegant finale.
Desert Island Disco - Bernardo Pinheiro - Islander Cast (#5)
One more guest mix series from a groovy record label: born in 2020 and now active in London and Lisbon, their series Islander Cast is in its second season. The chosen selector Bernardo is from Belem do Pará, a city located on the southern side of the Amazon River’s delta. He has an amazing repertoire of edits of 70s Brazilian classics that you can check out both on his Bandcamp and in this mix. His trip starts in French-speaking reggae, traverses Caribbean 80s grooves and hispanic 90s dance music, and finally docks in a Brazilian italo bay. Delightful.
Kiosk Radio - Gabto - Outsiders: Low Budget Family
Well, Kiosk is a guarantee. Outsiders is the spot they reserve in their schedule for international independent labels, in this case Lipelis’s Low Budget Family from Moscow, who in turn invited São Paulo’s Gabto to the decks. A warm, jazzy, percussion-heavy house selection born out of a personal playlist made for running on the beach, that includes a couple of unreleased tracks from his friends Zopelar and pr.a.do, and from his music production project Paloma Audio. More on the chill side, yet pretty slick.
Gop Tun - Diogo Strausz - Danceteria [Gop Tun Festival 2023]
Gop Tun as a label is a bit older and their releases usually hit a bit harder; they also have their own music festival, simply called Gop Tun Festival. Its second edition was held in April, but they released on their SoundCloud a first batch of sets recorded back then.
I’m really amazed by the variety and by the number of artists here, since the event lasted only one night but had no less than four stages inside the Canindé Stadium in São Paulo, with diverse sets ranging from techno to breaks to disco. Many international guests, like Jayda G, Nicola Cruz, and Zombies In Miami, among the local selectors. The hint here is really, just check out the list of mixes, pick one and trust you won’t be disappointed. My personal suggestion is Diogo Strausz’s liveset from the Danceteria stage, for the cosmic vibes and irresistible live percs.
Tontura - Liquid Feelings - POÇÃO 042: Poção de Sentimentos Líquidos
A collective with a great name (it means “dizziness”, “lightheadedness”) from a lesser-known city, - Florianopolis, in Southeastern Brazil - the Tontura crew organizes parties and sets since 2019. They boast to play “the sound you didn’t even know you liked”, and while it’s a bold statement I must admit that it can be seducingly accurate. They publish all their live sets in the Tontoteca series and all their guest mixes under the title Poções Tonturais: each episode is like a recipe for a magical potion.
In this one, the chosen alchemist / selector comes from Northeastern city Salvador de Bahia: his moniker is Liquid Feelings and jumps seamlessly from synthetic to organic, discreetly, hypnotically, slowly building up his set with controlled energy.
Selva Discos - Robson Jorge & Lincoln Olivetti - Deja Vu
Let’s conclude with an instant classic. A new release by the best producers of 80s Brazilian pop and boogie, who worked with tens of artists like Gal Costa, Marcos Valle, Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, and more of course. It’s also their second-ever album. It’s a short 5-track EP, with no fillers: instead, there’s tight grooves, thick synth & brass melodies, and blissful scat singing licks. Tracks recorded between 1982 and ‘86, found by Olivetti’s daughter, remastered and issued by Selva Discos. A small surprise, announced only a few months ago, that posthumously concludes the careers of two artists that defined music in their country like no other, and like few do anywhere else.
Words and selection by Alessandro Cebrian Cobos
