Drumagick – Brazilian drum'n'bass
On their debut disc, Aí Maluco!, the São Paulo-based brothers try and make a "fair mix" of samba and bossa nova with brit beats
Silvio Essinger
25/10/2000
The drum’n bass made in Brazil is not only about DJs Marky and Patife. A few years into the worldwide boom of electronic music, genuinely Brazilian discs start to pop up – not in compilations made of foreign tracks remixed by Brazilian pick up experts. Brothers Jr.Deep (23) and Guilherme Lopes (19) started their career just like Marky and Patife did, i.e., playing vinyl albums on turntables. Soon enough, they were writing their own stuff and calling themselves Drumagick, a project that, after producing a number of remixes (of Otto’s Renault/Peugeot, featured in the forthcoming album Changez Tout, for example) and participating in compilations, is ready to fill in a full album, Aí, Maluco! (through Trama). The brothers have been researching and playing drum’n'bass since 1996, besides working as DJs (they usually perform together, each with two turntables). They say this has been very important to allow them to develop their skills as producers: "It gave us a lot of experience, and has kept us updated", says Guilherme.
The two brothers have been into drum’n'bass since 1993, when it was still known as hardcore. "We’ve witnessed all of its transformations", says the younger, who became a DJ at 12 and a producer at 15. "The age does not matter; what matters is the feeling", he explains. As a child, Guilherme would listen to a lot of BPM, Ray Connif and Beatles – what his parents listened to. Jr.Deep, on the other hand, enjoyed skating more than listening to music. When Jr. was 12, he was hit by a car and spent about six months recovering. "My options were either studying or listening to music", he tells. The radio aired the likes of Information Society, Depeche Mode and New Order, and he wound up enjoying that kind of sound. "Dance-pop was more accessible at the time", he remembers. As a result, as soon as he recovered from the accident, Jr. started practicing to be a DJ and began diving deeper and deeper into electronic music.
Guilherme admires British drum’n bass producers like Ed Rush, Optical, DJ Hype and Roni Size. But the tracks on Drumagick have emerged from extensive research on Brazilian music. "But it’s not just about picking any given Brazilian song and adding any given beat to it", he says. Pursuing a process that he defines as a ‘fair mix’, the duo incorporates mainly samba and bossa nova, more adequate to drum’n'bass explorations. To make their songs, Guilherme and Jr. use their computer and a sampler – they share a space called Hangar 15, a studio and school for DJs in São Paulo, with producer Ramilson Maia .
"Don’t want to suffer on the beach"
Nonetheless, voices and instruments can be found along Drumagick. Lika Marques, for instance, sang in Face (Improove Your Life) and Max de Castro sang in Funquiada (where he also played acoustic and electric guitars). Paulo Casale played the sax in A Maré (which also features Max de Castro on the piano) and Xande Bonfimm plays the trumpet in Na Praia. The latter, by the way, features Guilherme singing enigmatic words in a bossa fashion: "Ê, não quero praia pra sofrer" (Hey, I don’t want to suffer on the beach). He tells that the idea for that one came up late one night when he was at the studio and some friends decided to hit the road early in the morning and face the traffic jams just to get to the beach. "I was thinking about it and ended up singing about it", he says.
Guilherme reckons drum’n bass is growing in Brazil "because new producers are appearing", such as Xerxes de Oliveira (a.k.a. XRS) and Ramilson Maia, who belong to the cast of Sambaloco, a Trama label. "The DJs enjoy more space because they have been around longer", says the younger brother, adding that Marky’s remix version of Aí Maluco! also made it to the DJs latest release, Audio Architecture. Now, the question is whether or not the songs in Drumagick are going to be as hyped as the Brazilian DJs are, among the British audience. Guilherme believes that "some kind of exchange must be happening soon".
Meanwhile, the duo tours Brazil, with a set in which each of them controls one turntable, and backed up by bass, drums, keyboards (and samples), percussion, saxophone and trumpet. "We don’t stick to sequences, which is very common within electronic music. We want to change that, a little; make more spontaneous music", says Jr.Deep. But he claims there is still an old barrier to be put down: "There are state capitals in Brazil that have no indication whatsoever of a drum’n'bass scene".
The two brothers have been into drum’n'bass since 1993, when it was still known as hardcore. "We’ve witnessed all of its transformations", says the younger, who became a DJ at 12 and a producer at 15. "The age does not matter; what matters is the feeling", he explains. As a child, Guilherme would listen to a lot of BPM, Ray Connif and Beatles – what his parents listened to. Jr.Deep, on the other hand, enjoyed skating more than listening to music. When Jr. was 12, he was hit by a car and spent about six months recovering. "My options were either studying or listening to music", he tells. The radio aired the likes of Information Society, Depeche Mode and New Order, and he wound up enjoying that kind of sound. "Dance-pop was more accessible at the time", he remembers. As a result, as soon as he recovered from the accident, Jr. started practicing to be a DJ and began diving deeper and deeper into electronic music.
Guilherme admires British drum’n bass producers like Ed Rush, Optical, DJ Hype and Roni Size. But the tracks on Drumagick have emerged from extensive research on Brazilian music. "But it’s not just about picking any given Brazilian song and adding any given beat to it", he says. Pursuing a process that he defines as a ‘fair mix’, the duo incorporates mainly samba and bossa nova, more adequate to drum’n'bass explorations. To make their songs, Guilherme and Jr. use their computer and a sampler – they share a space called Hangar 15, a studio and school for DJs in São Paulo, with producer Ramilson Maia .
"Don’t want to suffer on the beach"
Nonetheless, voices and instruments can be found along Drumagick. Lika Marques, for instance, sang in Face (Improove Your Life) and Max de Castro sang in Funquiada (where he also played acoustic and electric guitars). Paulo Casale played the sax in A Maré (which also features Max de Castro on the piano) and Xande Bonfimm plays the trumpet in Na Praia. The latter, by the way, features Guilherme singing enigmatic words in a bossa fashion: "Ê, não quero praia pra sofrer" (Hey, I don’t want to suffer on the beach). He tells that the idea for that one came up late one night when he was at the studio and some friends decided to hit the road early in the morning and face the traffic jams just to get to the beach. "I was thinking about it and ended up singing about it", he says.
Guilherme reckons drum’n bass is growing in Brazil "because new producers are appearing", such as Xerxes de Oliveira (a.k.a. XRS) and Ramilson Maia, who belong to the cast of Sambaloco, a Trama label. "The DJs enjoy more space because they have been around longer", says the younger brother, adding that Marky’s remix version of Aí Maluco! also made it to the DJs latest release, Audio Architecture. Now, the question is whether or not the songs in Drumagick are going to be as hyped as the Brazilian DJs are, among the British audience. Guilherme believes that "some kind of exchange must be happening soon".
Meanwhile, the duo tours Brazil, with a set in which each of them controls one turntable, and backed up by bass, drums, keyboards (and samples), percussion, saxophone and trumpet. "We don’t stick to sequences, which is very common within electronic music. We want to change that, a little; make more spontaneous music", says Jr.Deep. But he claims there is still an old barrier to be put down: "There are state capitals in Brazil that have no indication whatsoever of a drum’n'bass scene".