Lexicon Issue 006 - Worldwide Baby

The scene in Brasil started in near enough the same way as the English scene did. Then from 1995 to 1997 the scene took a small dive because a lot of the traditional clubs that played drum & bass became broke. When rumours in 1997 hit of a club opening that the scene began to grow again leading to its flourishing state today. Currently DJ Marky is a resident at the 'Lov.e' club in the south of Sao Paulo on thursdays playing to 600 people and also at the Bunker Club in Rio de Janeiro on wednesdays. DJ Marky, Patife, the Sao Paulo collective and extended family are the undisputed faces of the Brazilian drum & bass right now.

Brazil’s premier dance festival started on the millennium year with a respectable 10,000 party goers. With its fourth year just around the corner it is looking to attract over 50,000 revellers for 2003. The drum & bass is the largest arena at Skolbeats, if you make an exception for the live stage. All the drum & bass crew attend and it is like an unofficial mini-conference for all the headz. It gives all the people who cannot justify coming to Sao Paulo for a club or for a small festival the opportunity to see all their people in one place. They also can witness the live thing and sample other genres - it also enables the dance music community to come together in what is such a massive country.

The 3rd Annual Skolbeats festival recently took place in Sao Paulo, Brazil with 40,000 ravers partying their nuts off for 16 hours in the middle of a Formula 1 circuit at Interlagos. Alongside the Gatecrasher, The End and Bugged Out! Tents and a live arena came the Movement drum and bass tent. Starting off procedures at 4pm were the Brazilian DJs and production partners Will & Marnel. Their mainstay in the Brazilian scene has been rewarded with plays of their dubs by Bryan Gee amongst others and speaking after their bass-heavy set (hence the name of their label and night ‘The Bass’) they told me that it was a “wicked night, with good vibes”.

DJ Xerxes, who is better known as XRS Land or one half of the ‘SP Collective’ completed by DJ Marky, was up next. DJ Xerxes set included the ‘Pacman’ remix, given to him on vinyl that day by the ever-generous Ed Rush and Peshay and Co-Ordinate’s ‘You Got Me Burning’, coming off of stage DJ Xerxes told me that his nerves were calmed by the wicked crowd and the new tunes and productions he had just played like his collaboration with Gilberto Gil entitled ‘Dia Do Sol’ and the SP Collective remix of Us3’s ‘Get Out’. That Gilberto Gil track is so beautiful.

After Xerxes came Goldie who played ‘LK’ and ‘Champion Sound (Hardcore Will Never Die Remix)’ which were both rewound twice, to great approval. Meanwhile on the live stage, Kosheen were getting the crowd moving early on with a rendition of ‘Catch You’, which was played to resounding success. Consisting of Sian on vocals and Mark on the effects and guitars, the band was completed by a bass guitar player, a drummer and someone on the 1200’s. Sian, in resplendent white, started off by ‘How You Feeling Sao Paulo?’ - to which those who did understand, shouted their appreciation.

After an hour’s performance, it was time to drop the bomb. ‘Hide U’ was a massive hit in Brazil last year, receiving massive airplay from nearly all the mainstream radio stations in Sao Paulo and further afield. The plodding intro chords of ‘Hide U’ swirled around the perfect system that the main stage had. This sparked the crowd to jump up and cheer in appreciation and a stampede from the side areas to join the mosh in the middle.

In the Movement tent, Koloral played a hard set, which included ‘Stormtroopa VIP’ and his just-completed-the-day-before tune with XRS Land ‘Look’. After waiting years, the Brazilians now had the chance for their itching to see DJ Hype being scratched. The man most responsible for influencing DJ Marky’s style served up the goods, playing his trademark 2 copies of ‘Planet Dust’, as MC Stamina was shouting “DJ Hype, Hype, gimme the funk, gimme the funk”.

In stark contrast to Hype’s style, came the homecoming of DJ Patife. Words cannot describe how much Patife was looking forward to this gig and made no bones about setting out his ‘drum e bass nacional’ stall immediately. Putting on the hot, hot, hot dub that is Drumagick’s ‘Malandragem (Instrumental)‘ the crowd lapped it up like dogs in the sun drinking water. Drumagick are two of the most respected, long-serving, consistent and technically-gifted producers in Brazil and with people like Roni Size, Patife, DJ Marky and Fabio playing their dubs, they are producers to look out for in the future.

Then it was onto another Brazilian number by the DJ Innovation crew and Truby Trio’s ‘A Go Go’ and it’s bossanova rhythm’s came through the speakers and got the Brazilian crowd doing what comes naturally and dancing to the music as if their lives depended on it. Patife has virtually promoted this tune by himself that has lead to Compost Records pencilling in a re-release date for it. A friend of Patife’s self titled ‘Chris Da Hornz’ made a valiant attempt to introduce the Brazilian crowd to ‘horn culture’ which the crowd responded to and Patife too, cutting the music and letting the horn sound like when a MC and DJ are working in tandem.

Next up was Ed Rush who was, with the exception of Patife, the best DJ of the night in terms of vibes from the crowd. The ‘Pacman’ remix, ‘Peep Show’ and new Roni Size and Virus dubs got rinsed and it was left to DJ Marky, with the near-impossible task of taking it up another level which he did. This was achieved by playing his just-finished tune, a remix of Vitamin D’s ‘The Latin Track’, alongside favourites as ‘Playtime’ and ‘Back For More’. Marky done the business for the crowd and especially the hoards of journalists and reporters following his every move.

Marky’s ‘Godfather’ (in his own words) was up next, the one, the only, Mr. Bryan Gee. Playing a set that was a mix between Marky and Patife’s styles with a few Full Cycle and V dubs thrown in, Bryan Gee as a DJ really knows how to do the business and on his numerous visits to Brazil before, has learnt what the crowd here wants and what it can handle, thus complimenting the ideas of ‘entertaining and educating’ the audience.

With the faces of those leaving the site and the sun beaming as bright, the anticipation for next year is immense. See you at the front, or in the VIP area with free beer and sugared almonds. Now there is no excuse, is there? Quality!