Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Free tune VI

Lisbon made, Kuduristic, Semba flavoured Tune.
Get it now! It's free!

Friday, January 14, 2011

Octa Push featured on Ghetto Bazaar!

Our friends, Octa Push were recently invited to make a mix for the Ghetto Bazaar blog. They were kind enough to play a track by two of our artists: Rastronaut & Infestus. The track they played was Borracha Riddim (previously featured on this mix). In the future there will be a vocal version of that riddim, by our man Fidbek.

They've also included new beats by our friend Mr. Gasparov, Cardopusher, Pacheko, Migrant, Diamond Bass, Distal, Spatial, Littlefoot, Kingthing. You can also preview one of their new tracks "Fear Nandos".


Original post:
http://ghettobazaar.blog.hu/2011/01/14/ghetto_bazaar_mix_series_6_by_octa_push

New Mix by Wag

Infestus is in love

Infestus has just posted a mix on his mixcloud, dedicated to his girlfriend. Go listen.


Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Article on UK Funky Origins


Great article by Blackdown. Amongst other things, it covers specifically the Grime/UK Funky connection, and how Grime DJs and producers left the scene behind and became envolved with slower housier tempos, back in 2008. It also refers a certain tempo war that ocurred all the way until 2009.

Essential reading!

Monday, January 10, 2011

Infestus remixes Kumpania Algazarra


Last November, Kumpania Algazarra released a remix album that included a remix by our man Infestus.

It also included amazing remixes by Stereossauro, Sam The Kid, Beat Laden, Xoices, Nsekt and Mushug, amongst others.



Stream the Infestus' remix on his soundcloud:
Kumpania Algazarra - Maribor (Infestus Remix) by Infestus


Also, here's the official video of the Nsekt remix:


Order it at SóHipHop.

One Year of Circus!


This blog started precisely an year ago.

Things have changed a lot during the last year.

It started as a blog and artist collective that would soon evolve into a netlabel. Then we had a period of time when the netlabel was put to rest, and a podcast series appeared. After six months, the artist roster changed: We let go of our rock/blues/gospel side and became 100% focused on our electronic club/bass/beat activity. We've operated as a blog, podcast and artist collective ever since.

I can honestly say that this first year was a sucess.

Our, now extinct, netlabel released two EPs: one by Infestus, another by The Ramblers. Both of them received fm radio airplay all over Europe. We got blog and web magazine coverage aswell.

Because of that EP, The Ramblers rose as a powerful force in the local rock/blues scene, and were invited to open for B.B. King when he played in the north of Portugal last May. The blues king himself congratulated the band! The recording of our concert was later released as a podcast episode.

Infestus was a participant on Red Bull Music Academy 2010, and had the pleasure to warm up the crowd for Hudson Mohawke at The Roundhouse, London (listen here and here). A few months later he debuted his Live-act at Boom Festival. The recording of that was released as a podcast episode aswell.

In February, João Costa and Infestus inaugurated the Podcast series under the Cosmika Laika moniker (listen here).

The bass activists, Rastronaut and Nave Mãe, joined the artist roster in May, and have since been actively spreading the Circus Maximus sound in many events all over Portugal. Rastronaut, Nave Mãe and Infestus shared the bill with Mala, in a event at Club Gare, Oporto, last October (listen here). That was the first time our collective was associated with the production of an event, and it was a success!

It was an entire year of mixes, podcasts, musical productions and parties!

We've constantly delivered diverse, and interesting content to our audience during this first year.

We will continue doing the same during the second year, and beyond! Lets go!

Sunday, January 09, 2011

Circus Maximus Podcast 012 - Eduardo Martins

Circus Maximus Podcast 012 - Eduardo Martins
Recorded live at Baco, Setúbal 20/11/2010

Tracklist:
01. Toby Tobias - In Your Eyes (Tensnake Mix) - Rekids
02. Escort - Cocaine Blues - Escort
03. Holy Ghost! - Say My Name (Revenge Mix) - DFA
04. Sharokh Sound Of K - Love Happens (Supersonic Lovers Remix) - Compost Black Label
05. Dr. Dunks - Keep It Cheap - Keep It Cheap
06. Max Essa - One Hundred Times - Jansen Jardin
07. Loin Brothers - Garden Of Vargulf - Future Classic
08. Tom Tom Club - Genious Of Love (Project Tempo Re-Edit) - Project Tempo
09. Midnight Magic - Beam Me Up (Jacques Renault Mix) - Permanent Vacation
10. Eddy Grant - Time Warp - CBS
11. Neurotic Drum Band - Robotic Hypnotic Adventure - Wurst
12. Ka§par - Music Life - Groovement
13. Yuki Suzuki - Need Your Love - Jansen Jardin
14. Azari & III - Indigo - Turbo
15. Justus Kohncke - Now Phreeq - Stilove4music
16. Q&A - Tumbling Cubes - DFA
17. Mano Le Tough - Eurodancer (Azari & III Mix) - Mirau
18. Drrtyhaze - New York City Jacks - Redux
19. Munk - La Musica - Gomma

Creative Commons License
This work is licenced under a Creative Commons Licence.

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Cover design by Wag.

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Saturday, January 08, 2011

FACT PT mix 005: Ka§par

Ka§par has been a big brother figure, and a friend for the past couples of years. He also happens to be one of the most talented DJs and Producer I know. This is his fact magazine mix, and It's merely a sample of his DJing ability.

Even tought he has been mainly associated with the House scene, Ka§par does come from a Broken Beat and Drum & Bass background. Ka§par became active as a DJ at the age 16, and has been a resident in one of the most important Portuguese clubs of all time, Frágil, for the last, what, ten years? (or more, not sure). Despite all that, he's not even 30, and he has been releasing stuff on Groovement records since 2004. That's not for anyone.

If that mix is not enough, he has a podcast series, Mamilo, that he has been running together with António Alves for a few years now. There's plenty of mixes there for y'all.

Respect!

Ginga Beat Golden Edition



Ginga Beat
, the Portuguese weekly show, that airs on Antena 3 and RBMA Radio, is reaching the #100 mark. To commemorate that event they prepared five special special Golden Edition, live mixed by DJ Ride.

A week ago aired the 98th show, dedicated to BASS. It featured a track by our man Infestus! Listen below!



This week it will be the 99th edition. In a bit, this week's show will go on the air - on portuguese airwaves. Afterwards that it will be avaiable for streaming at the RBMA Radio website. Be sure to lock in!

Friday, January 07, 2011

Tropic-All - Mexican Netlabel

Check this guys out: http://www.tropicall.mx
It's a netlabel dedicated to promoting Mexican electronic music. They aim to combine folk mexican sounds, with the tropical bass electronica. Recipe for success.

A couple of weeks ago they even featured a mix by Lisbonite producer/DJ, Roulet: http://www.tropicall.mx/2011/01/05/waya-waya-en-monsta-sounds/

Amongst the artists of their roster is Los Macuanos, a trio made up by Moises Horta, Moises López and Reuben A Torres. Last year at Red Bull Music Academy I met Moisés. These guys have been making amazing spooky tropical beats. Recently I featured on of their tunes on this mix: http://www.circusmaximusmusic.com/2010/12/infestus-presents-circus-maximus-mix.html

Keep an eye on these guys.

Free tune IV

Here's a dark a breaks tune by our man João Costa aka JC made a couple of years ago, featuring cuts by DJ Nery. Enjoy! It's free like the air!

Circus Maximus Music Dot Com


That's right! We now have a .com domain name. You can still access the blog through the usual blogspot URL tough.

Our collective is a step closer to looking like "real" empresarios. Viva! Let's party!

Thursday, January 06, 2011

Setúbal Cultural #1


This is the first episode of the Setúbal Cultural Podcast. This podcast is an extension of the Setúbal Cultural Blog, ran by my friend José Santana, which is basically a cultural magazine of Setúbal city.

Big mix!

Setubal Cultural #1 by setubalcultural

Sub-Tropical Paradise

There's something special going on in Portugal right now. There's a handful of local producers releasing records that are receiving amazing reviews and international attention.

Yes, it's not a first for Portuguese music. We had the Paradise Called Portugal age in the mid 90's, being succesful with Underground Sound of Lisbon. We also had Buraka Som Sistema from 2006 onward.


The thing is, those two times seem to have been isolated to a single group. Right now, we seem to be receiving attention as a scene. And this time is it not connected to a local music genre, right now we are being taken seriously doing all sorts of electronic music.


Ka§par's track released on Groovement records a couple of months ago that featured myself, Infestus, contributing the keyboards.

The release in the above video was number one selling record on the week of release in various international stores. It sold out and now it's being repressed. This one, alongside Tiago's release on DFA, and Hands of Time releases were amongst some of the most internationally sucessful Portuguese records of last-year

This Portuguese "scene" isn't really anything new. It didn't suddenly appear. It's been brewing in obscurity since the 90's. It's not really a especially tight scene, because some of the key players have very little in common other than being Portuguese. There's a connection of course. Everyone plays in the same clubs. Everyone plays for the same audience. But that's a result of being a small, not so densily populated country.

A while ago there seemed to be two especially diferent things going on:
One was the result of the Lux/Frágil continuum, mainly connected to a more classic house/jack/disco sound/balearic and avant-garde/experimental sounds. Then other is the scene that came from the whole Lusophone/World music/Kuduro/Buraka/Bass side.


The thing is, despite everyone playing in the same clubs, to the same people, up until now things seemed to evolve separately. I believe that the main keyword for music made in 2010 was: "Tropical". What seems to have happened is that the people connected to the more disco/balearic scene started implementing african/tropical influences. Simultaneously, the tropical bass music scene left behind the 140bpms and progressed to a tempo (and ambience) closer to House and Techno.

As a result you get odd things like this:


One may argue that Gala Drop's inclusion of a kuduro track in the set may be a ironic move. Well perhaps. Despite that, it works.

We also have people like Photonz, that in the last few years have always made the bridge between the more classic rave and jack, and the current bass/hardcore continuum. They always played house alongside dubstep, and now UK Funky. They were one of the names associated with the "Tuga Step" (a portuguese dubstep compilation and loose group of Lisbon based DJs, that also gave birth to Octa Push and Iberian Records). Below there's a Photonz mix recorded live at Lux last year, that clearly illustrates the above argument.



Last year Iberian Records released an EP by Octa Push, that included the following track:



Toni Clean is a Lisbon based cabe-verdean MC. In that track he makes use of Portuguese creoule. That's a clear example of how is not just Buraka that is tapping into Lusophone culture, and that Lusophone bass music doesn't have to be Kuduro.

As you can see, there's certainly variety. And despite some ocasional bridges, there is not such thing as "Lusophone Dance Music" as a cohese and uniform scene. Therefore, any media coverage refering to it as the next-big-thing is essentially a construct. That said, there is amazing talent in this country, and there is nothing wrong with people using a key word to refer to it. But it's important not to make the same mistake of the past, and try to have success by the means of a temporary fad.

All of this talent, alongside recent media outlets (such as the Portuguese Fact Magazine) , and new venues with powerful soundsystems (such as Space), signify that we may again be entering a new Golden age for the Portuguese electronic music scene. Let's see how things develop in the future.

Rastrocast 004 - Live at Santa's Workshop

As you all know, our man Rastronaut is running his own podcast series. Here is the fourth episode, recorded live at Santa's Workshop during the Holidays.

At least that's what he claims. I believe. Because that's what christmas is all about: Partying!


Swag!

Tuesday, January 04, 2011

Please define Bass Music

Last year I was a participant on Red Bull Music Academy in London.

We had the pleasure of having Kode 9 lecturing us. Amazing lecture. Mind blowing for myself, as Hyperdub is one of my favourite labels, and there I had Kode 9 in front of me.

Below is the video of the lecture on the archives of Red Bull Music Academy.


Link: http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/video-archive/lectures/kode_9_hypersonics

In the end, as usual, the participants had the oportunity to ask questions to the man. I am the first participant that nervously asked him a couple of questions with my strange south european accent.

I enquired him about the foundation of Hyperdub, the label, and then I asked him something that had been on my mind for a few months already. I asked him about his stance on the UK Funky's relationship to the Hardcore Continuum. I was basically trying to have Kode 9 comment on Simon Reynolds' opinion, that UK Funky signifies a departure from the classic definition of the nuum. In my opinion (and Reynold's) UK Funky is a more burgoise iteration of the hardcore continuum history. A great portion of it seems to be have lost its rude boy feel, its chessiness.

Kode 9 disagrees. And rightfully so. By this time last year, Hyperdub had already stepped out of the classic Dubstep territory, and was now exploring the UK Funky influence. Their approach to UK Funky was, therefore, basically the same they had to Dubstep 6 years ago. From his point of view, there really was no such break between the two eras. They basically lowered the BPMs a bit, the structure became less about the half step and more about the 4/4. Things didn't change that much for them.

But, like dubstep, not every type of UK Funky sounds the same.

I remember my shock when one day I put on Rinse FM, must have been 2008 or so, and heard Marcus Nasty's show. It was house.

Despite the initial shock, I got used to it, and soon, I loved it. But still, I couldn't help notice a few things. There was no big, deep, dirty basslines. It was House music.

It was clearly UK (I still remember that he was pushing for the term UK House, instead of UK Funky). Yes, it did have a soca feeling that is not common on traditional house music. It did have a strong rude boy attitude. I could see the garage and grime influences. But you know what? It didn't feel like bass music.

A bit like some forms of 4x4 garage of the Locked On imprint. All of It was part of the UK Pirate and Soundsystem culture. But it wasn't bass music. But then again, during that time you already had grime, that had come out of the speed garage/2-step universe. That side, however, was bass music. The more 4x4 side of UK Garage ended up fusing with the global house scene for a while. This other side of it continued to carry the torch of the original UK Rave into Grime and Dubstep.

Returing to the questions I presented to Kode 9. Maybe I confused my concepts. To be Bass Music is probably not a required element of being part of the Nuum. The thing is, up until now, it had always been like that. Bass came with the Rave. So when people were talking about UK Bass Music, they were refering to the Hardcore Continuum Universe. Maybe now it's not like that anymore.

I guess it doesn't matter.

What defines bass music anyway? Is it the presence of bass?
I don't think so. Bass music is defined by an association with a certain type of ghetto culture that worships bass. You can see that in Jamaican soundsystem culture. You can see that in car sub-woofers. You can see that in miami bass, ghettotech, dancehall, hyphy, crunk, jungle, speed garage, 2-step garage, grime, dubstep (probably excluding the bro step side of it) and I guess Uk Funky aswell (even tought i'm still skeptical about some of it's forms).

Traditionally, House and Techno tracks have powerful sub-bass. But is it bass music? No. Existence of sub-bass cannot be the sole requisit for qualifying as Bass music. It requires a certain rude boyness/ghetto association, and a certain chessiness.

I'll give you an example.

Actress. A name that is usually associated with Bass Music culture. It's a leftfield producer doing wonky, dubstep, house and techno inspired grooves.

But, is everything he does bass music?

Does this specific track remind you of the traditional image of bass worship?

Infestus

Monday, January 03, 2011

Audiophatic Vol. 5

audiophathic vol5 by audiophathic

They released it a month ago, but we kinda missed it at the time. It's great mix to start the new year. It even has a Camané edit by Sarg. Top notch as usual!