 The one and only, Dama When I first came out to Rio in April 2008, my gig was at Dama de Ferro and I will never forget it. I remember being disappointed at being given a 5AM time slot, thinking "all the way from San Francisco and you're putting me on at 5? Who will even be there at that point?" Ha! Little did I know. The place was dead at midnight with people beginning to trickle in around 2AM. By 4AM, there was a line down the street and, when I went on at 5AM, the dance floor was one heaving, sweaty mass. It stayed that way till 10AM. I remember the promoter smiling at me, going "This is Rio, man!".  Me playing at Dama in 2008 I'll also never forget the owner and designer of the club, Adriana Lima, giving me a tour, including the unisex metal bathroom stalls aligning the wall of the upstairs lounge. When I commented on the 'uniqueness' of this design, she shot back, "these aren't just bathroom stalls. You can do whatever the f**k you want in here!". Only in Rio de Janeiro. Sadly, after an epic run almost unheard of in club land, Adriana is moving on and selling the club. Because of rumored permit issues, it will probably not be reopened as a club ever again. This is truly the end of an era in Rio nightlife history. Sending off the "Iron Lady" in style will be the final edition of equally legendary Rio house music night, Do Hauze. Resident djs and all around great guys, André Araújo and Bernardo Campos, will be on hand and on the decks to do it up properly. Márcio Warner will be handling the warm up slot and Pedro Mezzonato will be joining the boys in the peak time debauchery. You really do not want to miss this night that will go down in history. So come down, stay up late and let's tear the roof off the Dama! And remember, if late super late nights aren't your thing, you can always set your alarm for 7AM and come join in the fun after breakfast. They'll still be going strong. Because after all...This is RIO, man! 
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I am supremely happy to announce that tomorrow night, I have the ultimate pleasure of playing at my favorite venue in the entire city of Rio de Janeiro, Circo Voador! Not only this but I will be opening for one of my favorite bands and one of Rio's favorite bands, Orquestra Voadora, just back in town from their Europen tour dates. This should be an amazing show; as Paris, France brass band heros, Dumb & Brass and Fines Polettes will be on the bill as well. If you made it out to my gig at Teatro Odesseia last week, you know how fun these guys are! The 'Flying Circus' will be rocking and Lapa will be on fire tomorrow night! Do what you go to do but make sure you are there early and are ready to get down! note: As some of you may know, I had a serious issue with my brazilan visa come up this week and may have to leave the country MONDAY! So, please, come out tomorrow, welcome Orquestra Voadora back to Brazil and help me make this one muthafunkin' despidia to remember! Spread the word, spread the love, spread the funk! I've just uploaded my set from April 19, 2012, when I played at Teatro Odesseia here in Rio de Janeiro, along side Dumb & Brass and Fines Polettes from Paris, France. This set features some epic soul, heavy funk, smoking soul jazz, latin heat, some afrobeat and a bit more. There are some seriously heavyweight tunes going on here, if I do say so myself!
You can stream the mix below via mixcloud or you can download the mix here from mediafire. Enjoy!  Man, I'm so hyped for tonights show! It's not often I get to share the bill with live acts and to have the honor to open the show, play in between and then again after the sets of two amazing brass bands from Paris, France has got me bouncing around the room.
As an amateur musicologist, I love connecting dots and tracing paths of migration of different sounds and styles. These two bands have taken a style born on the streets of New Orleans, Louisiana, evolved from the French military marching bands of the time, and repatriated it back to Paris, adding their own certain je ne sais quoi along the way. Now they bring this sound to Rio, a city not unfamiliar brass band arrangements, most notably typified by acts such as Orquestra Voadora as well as many other brass-fueled carnaval groups. In short, tonights sounds will be quite unique but at the same time not completely unfamiliar to Carioca ears. In shorter....shit's going to be HOT! In reverence to the birthplace of this sound, I'll be playing a set laden with down and dirty New Orleans funk as well as a mix of other global grooves. Come early, stay late and get down! R$ 15 (until 00pm), R$ 20 (from 00 to 1 hour) R$ 25 (after 1am) Teatro Odisséia. Rua Mem de Sa, 66, Lapa. (map)  I've been working on this new app for the iPhone and now you can download it for free! Click the link below to load it into your mobile browser and then click to install!
Once you have it installed, you'll have access to all of my live dj sets, tracks, remixes and edits from soundcloud! Even better, it will automatically update as I add new tracks and dj sets! Try it out and let me know what you think. http://mob.conduit.com/e7c9d5f1-3616-465f-aada-08d95555bc1e I've got some great gigs coming up, if you happen to be in Rio de Janeiro! This Wednesday, I'll be joining my good friend (and new Pop Will Eat Itself frontman), Mary Byker, at Mekong in Leblon. We'll be laying down the smooth grooves for those enjoying the restaurant/bar's special Songkran menu in honor of the Thai new year. Come early to get a table! Thursday will be a real treat for me. I'm honored to be the opening act for Les Fines Polettes at Teatro Odisséia in Lapa. If you are unfamiliar with these guys, they are a New Orleans-style brass band from Paris, France! They are great live, performing with an energy that is infectious! Expect to hear me lay down some serious NoLa funk for this set. Check out a little clip of L.F.P. doing there thing below. Then on May 5th it's the long awaited 2 year anniversary of our Botafogo Social Club party! We'll be getting down once again high atop of Vidigal at the place with the best of view of Rio that you are ever likely to find, Casa Alto Vidigal. If you were there for our Carnaval party, you know what I mean! I'll be joined on the decks by our BSC residents Mike Frugaletti, Jan Roldanus and Doug Gray. RSVP here for discounted admission. Hope to see you at one or all three of these upcoming shows! 
Where do I even start with this one? This edit is constructed from the inside track on the b-side of a super obscure house record from 1992, released on UK imprint Discolated Hip Recordings (that's DISCOlated, not Dislocated, mind you). In my opinion this tune was light years ahead of it's time but was so bizarre in it's original incarnation that I'm quite sure it was overlooked by all but the most adventuresome/spaced out djs. The original tempo is impossibly slow but the jazzy vibes of this track are oh so right. Closer inspection reveals that the track was produced by Charlie Webster....the very young house music genius-in-the-making, Charles Webster of Sheffield, who would go on to make his mark producing records for DiY and eventually his own Love From San Francisco imprint among many others. This tune was so good yet so unplayable, I had to tweak it. I can't take credit for any of the musical genius that lies inside these grooves. All I did was nudge the tempo up to a more workable 98 bpm, punched up the low end including overdubbed 808 kick drums, edited it ever so slightly to make it work how i wanted it to and added just a touch of delay here and there. I hope you appreciate the magic of this tune! Special thanks to my man, Nicole in Bristol, for gifting me with this wax from his personal archives. Much love, buh-bay! 
My good friend and all-around super cool lady, Valeria Matos, blessed me with this rare 7" the other day (Compacto in Portuguese). I have to admit, I had never heard of Paulo Diniz before, but when the needle dropped it was love at first sound! The combination of funky drums, strong rhythmic guitar and piano, beautiful melody, coupled with the words telling a story of a man in exile, had me hooked at once. Durring Brazil's military dictatorship (US sponsored, of course) which spanned the 60's through the 80's, many of the country's artistic luminaries were forced into exile or were imprisoned. One of the most famous to go into self-imposed exile was Caetano Veloso, one of the founding fathers of the Tropicalia movement. This song, who's tittle translates into I want to go Back to Bahia, was dedicated to Caetano from his friend Paulo. Caetano was from Bahia and when things got to hectic in his homeland, he took refuge in London although he yearned to return to the sun and people of his home land. The chorus of the song, which is sung in English, his a nod this fact. Thank you, Valeria, for this wonderful record and for the history behind it! |
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