From Baile Funk back to Black Rio and beyond, Brazilian music has always proven adept at putting a unique spin on whatever musical trends and influences happen to be floating around. And as far as I can see, this trend shows no sign of letting up any time soon.
Want the proof? The Future Sound of Brasil is a new compilation from the always-excellent bbe records, showcasing some of the country’s most cutting-edge DJs and producers as they put their own twist on a variety of electronic music styles.
The album spans house, electro, drum’n'bass and techno, with contributors ranging from big names DJs like Marky to young upstarts Copacabana Club and The Twelves – who cement their reputation as ‘the Brazilian Daft Punk’ with a polished, robotic remix of Terry Poison’s Comme çi, comme ça.
The standout track, though, comes from São Paulo’s Mixhell, who blend rock guitars, electro bleeps and even Funk Carioca’s tamborzão into a sound they call ‘rock-tronica’. Boom Da is as noisy, dumb and upfront as you could possibly want music to be.
There’s a good, long interview with President Lula that was published yesterday on FT.com. You can read the full transcript here, and here’s a bit of classic Lula charm to give you a taster:
FT: The Brics [Brazil, Russia, India & China] are four countries with their own, divergent interests. Do you think it’s a meaningful group?
PL: … It’s like when you meet a new girlfriend. If you only look at her defects and flaws, you’ll get nowhere. But if you look on the bright side you might end up getting married. And in politics, we have to know divergences exist among the Brics, and put them aside. Put the divergence aside and start working on the points that we can build together, and that’s how we will build a strong alliance among the Brics.
The government of the northern state of Piauí, have roped in ultra-modernist architect Ruy Ohtake to liven up the skyline of its capital Teresina (“the Mesopotamia of the Northeast” apparently) with this pair of fun/ludicrous public buildings.
Nossa! Once again, the Jungle Drums crew are pulling out all the stops for their birthday party on Friday night. Far Out Records’ fabulous Zeep and the one-and-only DJ Limão are joining the lovely Céu down at the University of London Union to celebrate 7 (SEVEN!) years of Brazilian life in London. Jungle has recently been called “literally the best magazine EVER” * and, going on past form, you can expect the usual combination of great music, beautiful people and caipirinhas flowing like wine.
Have a lil’ bit of old-skool Céu to whet your appetite…
This might be a little bit on the geeky side – in fact, it’s probably massively on the geeky side – but I’ve just come across this Google Policy Talk by Brazilian law professor/Open Source evangelist Ronaldo Lemos. It’s interesting for two reasons. Firstly because his explanation of cultural production and digital inclusion in Brazil is educational but perfectly easy to follow; but also because I’ve never seen a fifty-three minute long YouTube video before.
Two São Paulo songwriters with a diverse background in music and poetry, Rodrigo Antao and Pedro McCardell are 2am.
Since forming the group in 2006, the London-based duo have been busy, busy boys. For a start, they’ve been photographed by famed fashion snapper Robert Astley Sparke and appeared in RG Vogue . They were featured by the NME, who picked up on a film of them re-stocking the shelves of London’s now-defunct Virgin Megastore with more than 300 copies of their album, CRISIS.
They’ve set up a website where anybody can download their album, for free, in exchange for uploading their own remixes, artwork or videos. They’ve been compared to some of the greatest song-writing duos in history. Oh, and did I mention that they’ve made an album of warm, classic-sounding, lyrics-driven pop music?
This week I got a chance to speak with Antao about this, that and the other. Check the music here and read the full interview after the jump.
If you’re anything like me, you might have to look twice at this to see what’s going on. What you’re looking at is a mocked-up poster pitched by the Brazilian ad agency DDB Brasil to the wildlife charity WWF. The slogan? The Tsunami Killed 100 Times More People Than 9/11. Pretty tastless, eh?
The charity have been quick to distance themselves from the ad, saying that “WWF strongly condemns this offensive and tasteless ad and did not authorize its production or publication. It is our understanding that it was a concept offered by an outside advertising agency seeking our business in Brazil. The concept was summarily rejected by WWF and should never have seen the light of day.”
But there seems to be some disagreement over whether the ad was actually approved by the WWF or not, and it appears the concept has even won an award. It’s starting to look like this could develop into a bit of a big deal, something which probably could have been avoided with a few sincere apologies and a generous contribution from the agency to the charity.
By the way, this isn’t the first time a Brazilian ad agency has gotten in trouble for seriously bad taste.
O Milagre de Santa Luzia is a beautiful-looking documentary directed by Sérgio Roizenblit which traces the path of accordion music around Brazil. The film follows Dominguinhos, whose work with everyone from Luiz Gonzaga to Gilberto Gil has left him with a reuptation as the country’s finest living accordionist. It’s due to be released in Brazil this week, so will probably show up at film festivals around the world some time in 2015.
It seems like you either hate the accordion (British people, North Americans) or you love it (everyone else). If you happen to be one of the few who’s sitting on the fence, I can only recommend Radioclit’s accordion-heavy, bass-heavy mix of new Cape Verdean Funaná music. Check it out here and pick your side.
Matéria de Capa is an absolute goldmine of old Brazilian magazine covers from the sixties and seventies. It’s mostly TV mags like amiga and inTerValo, but there’s a bunch of others mixed in there, too. The site describes itself as ’Uma homenagem aos artistas, jornalistas e fotógrafos que registraram a história da telenovela e da cultura brasileira’ – an homage to the artists, journalists and photographers who recorded the history of the telenovela and of Brazilian culture.
Nostalgia for some, a cultural curiosity for others. Maybe even a bit of design inspiration. After all, it can’t be too long before giant hair and huge medallions are back in fashion, can it?
Remember these guys? Good old Bonde do Rolê, running around the place like a bunch of hyperactive toddlers making a load of noise and babbling on about releasing the chickens? What ever happened to them, eh?
Since she left the band, ex-lead singer Marina seems to have been releasing a recordaboutonceamonth with a lengthy list of collaborators including Architecture in Helsinki, Radioclit, Metronomy aand Soko. Meanwhile, the rest of the crew have disappeared from view.
Until…
wait for it…
NOW!
The Bonde are very definitely back, but their self-described ‘DJ-Marlboro-on-acid’ sound is no more. Oddly enough, new single Sarita kicks off as a laid-back samba groove before going…well, just weird, really. It’s hard to describe, so have a listen for yourself:
What all this has to do with a forthcoming film about transexual sambistas in the Tavares Bastos favela is beyond me, but be sure to head on over to IM//UR for the full skinny. Whatever’s going on, all that matters is that the Bonde are back, and music’s about to get wonderfully stupid once again.
Any and all music posted on this site is meant for promotional use only. If you like what you hear, please support the artists that create the music you love and buy their records. If you own the rights to any medium we post and want your works removed, let us know and we'll oblige immediately.
