I had a ‘note to self’ to post about Mashit’s ‘Boston Bounce’ album which came out a couple of weeks back, but such is the ferocious rate of new musical output from the label that it’s already been superceded by another three releases. Kudos to DJ C - since Mashit relaunched last year, there’s been an audio tsunami of outstanding music from his empire, and much of it can be taken away and sampled for free.

In reverse order, ‘Gods & Robots’ is the debut album release from DJ C and Zulu. They’ve been collaborating on a series of ’single’ releases over the last year or so, and this new release collects all of those together with a clutch of new selections. All up, it’s a heavy slap of blazing ragga bashment - Zulu’s Panamanian lyrical flow is very much to the fore, with the eagle-eared amongst us spotting both some new DJ C rhythms and a couple of gems unearthed from the vaults and given a shiny new rub. It’s fast, mean and easy, and a guaranteed fire-starter - throw in remixes from Ghislain Poirier and Chrissy Murderbot and it’s an undeniably solid package. Buy it from the Mashit shop for only a few bucks when it’s released tomorrow.

MP3: DJ C & ZULU Body Work (Chrissy Murderbot’s Body Juke Refix)

MP3: DJ C & ZULU Animal Attraction

When priming the album, DJ C also sent Zulu’s acapellas out into the ether to see where they might drop. Sure enough, the response has been solid - so much so, that they’ve been compiled into a free ‘Gods & Robots’ mixtape, 31 new versions of the album tracks from fine folks such as Atki2, Sabbo, David Last, Frikstailers and Spain’s Onedub, all melded together into a continuous 60 minute jam.

DOWNLOAD ‘Gods & Robots Mixtape’ at mashit.com

Of course, I have to play catch up with myself and mention the ‘Boston Bounce’ compilation as I originally intended. I’ve been surprised and flattered by the amount of traffic that Fat Planet received as a result of the ‘Boston Bounce’ post back in October 2005. Nearly 2.5 years after the fact, the definitive BB compilation hits Mashit’s digital warehouse - still maintaining that steady 135bpm rigour and bumping bassline. Many of the ‘Gods & Robots’ tracks follow the Bounce trajectory, as does DJ C’s official remix of ‘URAQT’ for M.I.A. - on this album, you’ll also find contributions from DJ Flack, DuoTone and Local Fields. Once again, the album is cheap at only nine bucks, but if you need a taster, try this on:

MP3: DJ C ‘Boston’ Mix

Tracklist:
1. DJ C; Boston You’re My Bounce
2. DuoTone; Boston Swing
3. DJ C; Ondtu Riddim
4. DJ Flack; B-Town Swing
5. Wayne&Wax; Boston Twerk
6. DJ C; Nuttin Attal
7. DJ Flack; Surendra Dub
8. DuoTone; Dread Bounce
9. M.I.A.; URAQT (DJ C Mix)
10. Local Fields; Rain Day

Aside from ‘official’ releases, Mashit also plays host to a great blog which features regular remixes, mashes, extended dj mixes and enjoyable discussions on whether ‘lazer-bass’ should actually be called ‘wonky’. For the record, Blackdown reckons it’s wonky…

After I had been given a nudge and told to check Dama Do Bling*, it become painfully obvious that there was little, if any, English language information about this emerging Mozambique hip hop artist. Although her own web site offers a Portuguese and English option, the latter simply reads ‘Under Construction’. And thus we are left to scavenge some brief and incomplete blog sources, as well as making the best possible use of Babel Fish, to find out more.

We do know that Dama Do Bling (aka Ivannea Jose) was born in 1979 in Maputo in Mozambique. Her alter-ego emerged from her early teenage performances where she pulled off imitations of R&B and hip hop stars from across the Atlantic, such as Da Brat and Queen Latifah.

In 2005, the Dama was given her first shot in the recording studio, participating in two tracks on an album by Lizha James. Her 2006 debut single ‘Haterz’ was followed by a self-titled album, featuring collaborations with local arists such as Catya, Denny OG, DRP, Hernani and a return favour from Liza James. Last year, this was followed with the sophomore release, ‘Chamadas Para A Bling’ (once again featuring Lizha and Denny OG, along with Doppas, Yara Da Silva, Valdemiro Jose and Azagaia).

With her hard hip hop production and an undeniable sense of style, it’s not suprising that Ivannea has been a regular on South Africa’s video channel ‘Channel O’ and last October picked up awards for ‘Best Female’ and ‘Best African Southern’ (for ‘Danca Do Remexe’).

I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before Dama Do Bling makes her presence felt on a broader geographical scale, until then a selection of tracks from both full lengths are available to rack into your Pod at damadobling.com.

MP3: DAMA DO BLING Dama Do Bling

MP3: DAMA DO BLING Elsa So Quer

VIDEO: DAMA DO BLING Boy (feat Lizha James)

* Thanks to Dan from The Cartel for the heads-up. Befriend him via his ‘micebass‘ for regular info on his various Sydney Dancehall, Crunk and Hip Hop remixes - ’straight out of Newtown’! Brrrp!

The latest communique from the Man Recordings camp regarding their ‘Rio Baile Funk Breaks’ release prompted me to check back in with a range of other funk carioca projects that have been brewing over the last few months.

The key release that ought to have any funk fan camping out by their letterbox is ‘Pancadao Do Morro: Big Hits From The Hill’ from Flamin Hotz. Pre-empted in February by the sampler 12, ‘Funkeiros e Progresso’, this lavish presentation is the result of a long-standing commitment made by the Hotz crew following the troubled release of their ‘Sou Funk’ EP back in 2006.

Hotz founder Casi went on record to note that with ‘Sou Funk’, he had “pressed five Funk songs that [he] did not properly license, properly credit, or properly compensate” - a “lapse of judgement” that he felt compelled to both apologise and compensate for. If ‘Pancadao Do Morro’ is his penance, then it is a glorious one: 22 tracks and 2 x 40-page booklets (with English & Portuguese lyrics) with contributions from MC Gringo, Sany Pitbull, Mr Catra, DJ Edgar and many more. (Pre-Order info @ Flamin Hotz)

As Underground Hiphop duly notes: “From kids beat-boxing the latest in Rocinha to the advertising jingles downtown, Rio moves to the rhythm of funk as much or more so than it does to the city’s most famous music, Samba. It could never be distilled into a single CD” - looks like ‘Pancadao Do Morro’ will give it a damn good try. Below, Sany Pitbull cuts up eight tracks for a ‘Carioca Funk Club‘ mixtape:

MP3: CARIOCA FUNK CLUBE Inside Flamin’ Hotz Mixtape

DJ Edgar has also spoiled us with riches over at djedgar-rj.com - there’s not just a healthy swag of back catalogue available for free download, but there’s a few more tunes added recently, including F.U.N.K. and the sprightly electro of Jump Mother Fucker. Given that it’s notoriously hard to find new funk tunes as digital downloads outside of Brazil, this is a welcome addition to the bookmarks. Click below for his rerub of Enur’s ‘Calibria’.

MP3: DJ EDGAR Desteny

Last year, Brazilian NYC-based vocalist Zuzuka Poderosa teamed up with Nossa’s Sujinho for a smart and simple funk rub of Mason’s ‘Exceeder’ and was also the laidback MC on Cassiano’s addition to the ‘Eurthymics Sweet Dreams’ funk remix meme. Since then, she’s spruiked baile funk in a national Samsung ad campaign and started work on a regular club night with the Nubulu crew. Landing now on her MySpace is a new track “Deixa O Tamborzoa Tacor’ featuring production duties from DJ Amazing Clay and MC Gus.

Sandrinho has been dropping smart bombs on his ‘ClekClekBoom‘ project - a web platform that enables djs such as Sandrinho, DJ Low, French Fries, Voltair and more to ’sell’ new productions and remixes directly to fans. I use the word ’sell’ advisedly - the splash page makes it painfully clear that you are not ‘buying’ any of the files, you are making a compulsory donation for every track you download (an interesting way to fudge the copyright issue). Whilst Sandrinho’s productions are on point and peppered with all the magic that we come to expect from him, a 3 Euro price tag per track is a little on the heavy side. Not all tracks demand ‘contribution’ - find the ‘Goodies’ section for freebies such as this one:

MP3: DJ SANDRINHO Never Be Alone Again Remix

Which brings us back to Man Recordings and ‘Rio Baile Funk Breaks’; a vinyl-only funk battle weapon and sample collection compiled by Sandrinho, label boss Daniel Haaksman and DJ Beware - who, along with MC Gringo, uses elements from the release in this great showcase cut:

MP3: DJ BEWARE & MC GRINGO Tamborzoa Con Scratchy

Next from the label: billed as ‘Baltimore meets Baile Funk’, Scottie B, King Tutt and Say Wut team with Moleque Bil and MC Gus for ‘Funk Mundial #6′ and London’s Stereo MCs crawl out retirement for Gringo’s ‘1 Real - The Stereo MCs Remixes EP’.

Finally, thanks to Rideon for the heads up on this new Czech based Baile Funk resource (you find funk in the strangest of places). Site producer Jim has been amassing quite a collecion of downloadable dj mixes, including a ‘Baile Funk vs Kuduro Soundsytems’ mix from Mr Phipson.

The second episode of the ‘Slang Tang’ podcast series is now available to download at slangtang.com.

This time around we hit Venezuela, Malawi, Denmark, St Vincent & Grenadines, Austraia, Japan, Indonesia and India - picking up debut or demo tracks from Esau Mwamwaya, Nova, Booty Cologne, De Tropix and Suckafish P Jones; plus recent releases from the self-proclaimed ‘Crown Prince Of Bhangra’ - Jazzy B and Venezuelan rave kidz Todosantos.

Download Episode Two at slangtang.com.

Subscribe to future podcasts via iTunes or similar Podcast program: feed://slangtang.libsyn.com/rss

I’m certainly not the first to write about Lykke Li and I’m sure I won’t be the last. And while there’s a tendency for blogs to swarm around hyped artists in an effort to stay painfully relevant, I’m jumping on this bandwagon for good reason - the reason being that ‘Youth Novels’ is a remarkable album, worthy of the attention it has already received; an album that has been on repeat rotation in the Fat Planet house since its Swedish release earlier this year.

A swift comparison places 22-Year Old Li Lykke Timotej Zachrisson in a continuum that joins the dark, moody sweep of El Perro Del Mar and the skewed electro pop of Robyn, levitating above ground between both. With production from Bjorn from Peter, Bjorn and John, the album fails to fully adhere to the Swedish indie-pop blueprint and chooses instead to veer into less obvious laneways. Case in point: while ‘Dance Dance Dance’ might be something you could hear falling from the lips of the glorious Victoria Bergsman, ‘Complaint Department’ - with its dirty, looping piano stabs - is in a forest of its own.

Even more remarkable is the seemingly carefree ability for Li to continuously channel that rarest of commodities - the perfect pop song - and do so many times over in one extended collection. Lasse Mårtén worked as engineer on the album and a glimpse at his resume might explain why this brand of alt.pop works so well - he’s chalked up fader duties for Pink, Peter Bjorn and John, Marit Bergman, Shout Out Louds, Kelly Clarkson (for ‘Since U Been Gone) and … (bless ‘em) The Veronicas.

Put simply, ‘Youth Novels’ is as good as indie-pop gets - these two cuts are put forward as Exhibit A and Exhibit B. And with these, the defence rests.

MP3: LYKKE LI Dance Dance Dance

MP3: LYKKE LI Tonight (Non-album Cut)

Lykke Li is touring throughout the UK and US this month & next, and the ‘Little Bit’ EP lands in North America on May 6th. Download her SXSW set at lullabye.net.

Video: ‘I’m Good I’m Gone’ (Live version featuring Robyn, Adam & Bebban from Shout Out Louds, Daniel from The Concretes & Lars from Laakso).

After wearing out the shine on my copy of their ‘Lick My Favela’ CD, it’s good to have Tetine back with a new release. The Brazilian duo are dropping a full length for choice UK label Soul Jazz Records on April 29th, preceded right at this moment by the Deize Tigrona voiced-single ‘I Go To The Doctor’ (featuring a tidy electro remix from local neighbours CSS).

Unless my thick fingers are deceiving me, ‘Let Your Xs Be Ys’ is Tetine’s eighth album, rollercoasting on a journey that began with 1996’s ‘Alexander’s Grave’, a release which drew musical comparisons with Philip Glass and theatrical similarities to Antonin Artaud - quite a combination. Yet this experimental hyrbid of music and performance has come to define Bruno Verner and Eliete Mejorado over the last 12 years - taking them from their Brazilian home to a long-standing residence in the UK and creative partnerships with Robin Rimbaud (Scanner), Sophie Calle and Igloo, and appearances at Sao Paulo’s Sonar, Whitechapel Art Gallery, Barbican Centre, Miami Music Conference and London’s South Bank.

Trying to pin down Tetine’s sound is almost an artform in itself - veering from the Clash’n'Kraftwerk beds that make up their largely funk-focussed aforementioned Favela EP, to the electronic rumble of last year’s single ‘A Historia Da Garca’, to the mix of electro, baile funk, minimal, new wave and sparse post punk on this latest release.

It’s perhaps no surprise that Tetine played curatorial duties on two important Brazilian compilations a few years back - ‘Slam Dunk Presents Funk Carioca’ (the first funk compilation released outside of Brazil) and ‘The Sexual Life Of Savages’ (also on Soul Jazz) - a near-defintive history of early 80s Brazilian post punk.

Ingested with their history in mind, ‘Let Your Xs Be Ys’ feels as playful as it is relaxed - soundtracking an artistic project that wears its authenticity, confidence and continuing need for experimentation proudly on its sleeve. Less ‘we do not give a fuck’, more ‘we do not need to give a fuck’ - a crucial difference in a music market riddled with attitude, desperately seeking substance.

MP3: TETINE Entertainment N249

MP3: TETINE Ai Amor - Me So Horny

More: tetine.net

Video: Entertainment N249 :

Back in 2003, before funk carioca made a large noise outside of Brazil, record store exposure to new brazilian music tended to be limited towards remixes of old school bossa or frenetic drum’n'bass workouts on a DJ Marky tip. One name that sticks out from that period is Sao Paulo’s DJ Periferico, aka Érico Theobaldo - mainly due to his remix of ‘Dadinho’ from the ‘City Of God’ Soundtrack which cropped up repeatedly on Fat Planet playlists (aside from that appearance, Periferico also lent his production skills to Brazilian artists such as Otto and BiD).

Fast forward five years and Theobaldo is entwined with vocalist Mylene Pires for a project titled ‘Telepathique‘ - neither fish nor flesh, neither electro nor rave nor funk nor punk, but a cluster-fuck of all. Their 2006 debut ‘Last Time On Earth’ earned much respect in Portugal and Spain which led to a tour through the region, playing many festival gigs and sharing stages with Diplo, Hot Chip and Massive Attack. The new EP ‘Love & Lust’ (The Control Group) finally allows the rest of the world to play catch up and precedes a reissue of ‘Last Time On Earth’ later this year. Stream a preview at myspace.com/telepathique.

mp3: TELEPATHIQUE Eu Gusto

Outside of her work on ‘Telepathique’, Mylene also has a distinguished solo career which delves deep into Brazilian and African music traditions - garnering accolades and awards for her self-titled debut, which she recently followed with ‘Nao Muito Distante’, an album of ‘reinterpretations’ of Portuguese band Madredeus. Info & sounds: myspace.com/mylenepires

The Diaphanoids are Italians Andrea Bellentani and Simon Maccari and their latest EP - ‘Mermaids Of Lunaris’ is released through Bear Entertainment (Lindstrom, Idjut Boys, Chicken Lips). Everything else there is to know about the Diaphanoids is seemingly culled from the pages of a Kurt Vonnegut novel.

“Here on planet diaphanoid time travelling is a fun way to spend the weekend … but these two took it too far! They always wanted more and to see if the grass was greener on other planets! They left us in 5079 and have never been seen since, legend has it they travelled to your earth and visited 1977-1980, Berlin-Munich-London-Paris-New York”.

They have the date and location spot on - the Diaphanoids’ witches brew involves one part 70s disco, another part 00’s Cosmic variety. There’s an eye of a Krautrock newt and a toe of Prog, and probably a nipple or two from John Carpenter. Whilst it might seem like this particular style is being reinvented time and time again, there’s still space for these boys and their infectious, astral-electro. Especially with EP titles such as “What The F**k Do You Want With Us, Earthlings?” and “Escape From Martius 42″.

Turn on, tune in, space out.

mp3: THE DIAPHANOIDS Escape From Martius 42

Buy at EMusic / Juno.

The job of the Fat Planet blog is to expose music from outside of the Anglo / American axis, and whilst that’s served us well over the years, it does mean that we intentionally turn a blind eye to sounds, styles and movements that are hyper-localised in those regions. Bassline (or ‘niche‘) is one such genre - like Dubstep before it, Bassline has (until now) essentially been “an England thing”, birthed via an unholy carnal union of 2-step, dubstep, grime, house and speed garage.

And, again, like so many young movements before it, the transition from underground to overground has not been without its share of authoritarian disapproval and police interference - Sheffield’s ‘Niche’ club, seen by many as the spiritual home of Bassline, was shut down in November 2005 following a heavy-handed police raid, and many mainstream journalists have been digging around to further promote alleged ‘dangers of the scene’ (a tactic that will sound tiresome to anyone living through the music revolutions of disco, punk, rave etc etc). Bassline jumped into the global psyche with the release of ‘Heartbroken’ by Leeds’ producer, T2 (pictured) - hitting #2 on the UK charts and now slowly conquering the rest of the planet, sales chart by sales chart.

And so to the international perspective - we’re having to make do with remixes for the time being, rather than original productions, but nonetheless it offers a glimpse at some possible futures for the globalisation of the sound:

mp3: DJ CHEEKSTA & SIZZLA Baby (T2 Remix) (via The Heatwave)

T2 drops a remix for Leicester’s DJ Cheeksta, with a grab of Jamaica’s Sizzla from his ‘Rise To The Occasion’ album.

mp3: ZULU & T2 Bodybroken (Steak House Mashup) (via Mashit)

Steak House (aka Monekysteak featuring Bristol’s dubstep / grime producer Atki2) blends T2’s anthem with an acapella from Panama’s Zulu. The MC has been a long-time collaborator of U.S. producer DJ C and next month they drop a new mixtape titled ‘Gods & Robots’ which will feature a new production from Atki2, along with contributions from a swathe of global heads from Argentina, Belgium, Canada, England, Israel, Portugal and the U.S..

mp3: FAGGET FAIRIES Samo Ti (A1 Bassline Remix) (via Palms Out Sounds)

Denmark’s Fagget Fairies (described as a “burka-wearing lesbian ghetto-funk MC/DJ duo”) get a bassline makeover from A1. The Fairies have released an EP via Palms Out Sounds, the results of which have been dropped on the Fat Planet radio show and come highly recommended.

For some top shelf full-length bassline mixes, check the latest instalment of the Mad Decent Worldwide Radio Podcast with a mix from Faggatronix, or this excellent ‘Bassline House Mix‘ from WordTheCat.

A couple of months ago, I took delivery of a new compilation from Sublime Frequencies titled “Proibidao C.V: Forbidden Gang Funk From Rio de Janeiro”. As the label explains on their web site:

“Proibidao is a raw musical genre that captures the dark side of Brazilian favelas. The explicit lyrics of apology to drug gangs and the violent content makes them illegal to broadcast through radio or as live public events … A DJ spins Miami bass rhythms straight from sample CDs, and an MC talks on top of it, mainly live in street bailes and then recorded through a simple multichannel to a minidisk or simply straight. No mix is done and only sometimes an extra production is done. The gang leaders, to spread the respect and love for the gang as well as hate to the other gangs, finance the bailes and hire the DJs and sound systems.”

mp3: PROIBIDAO C.V. Track 6 (Uncredited) (via Dusted)

Sublime state: “This CD is in no way an apology for these groups but a document to portray a moment in time in Rio de Janeiro musical and social history“, however on a recent post on his new blog, MC Gringo decries Sublime’s release as a project that should have stayed locked down:

“Every day in Rio there are dying people in reason of a senseless war. Everybody in Rio de Janeiro is affected of this war. We know, we are living in the most beautiful city of the world - nevertheless we can not always join our life in a relaxed way, especially not if we are living in a favela. Sublime made the record ‘to portray a moment in time in Rio de Janeiro musical and social history’ … thanx sublime - very important work!

“I have another idea for your company. On the market Uruguiana in Rio de Janeiro you can buy DVD´s with gunshots in various favelas in Rio de Janeiro, filmed by the police. There is a lot of great blood and crazy violence on this DVD. Why you don´t copy this DVD´s and release them ‘to portray another moment in time in Rio de Janeiro’. Believe me, they will still get a lot of trouble with this compalation … with topics like this the Brasilian government is not joking …”

I respect Gringo’s work and fully respect his opinion, however The Village Voice recently summed up my own feelings towards Sublime Frequencies releases: They are “teleportation machines that fling listeners, with no warning and little preparation, into a wholly unfamiliar world”.

As an alternative vision of favela culture, one that sits alongside yet outside the party vibe we’ve come to expect from funk carioca, the ‘Probidao’ compilation acts as a check and balance - lest we forget that there are alternative realities to the types of representations transmitted by Western mainstream and hipster culture. If you’re looking for the latest funk carioca party album, go elsewhere - if you want a broader and more realistic understanding of favela culture, press play.

Buy at Boomkat.