“Hand-played percussion and hard-nosed voices are the rocket fuel for Maga Bo’s “Quilombo do Futuro” (Post World Industries), a cultural manifesto riding on rhythm. Make that rhythms. Maga Bo, a widely traveled American D.J. and producer who relocated to Rio de Janeiro in 1999, uses kinetic Afro-Brazilian beats as the album’s foundation and superstructure. But his tracks also mix in drum-machine sounds, stray ricocheting electronics, Brazilian guitars and glimmers of soundsystem bass music like Jamaican dancehall as well as Brazilian baile funk. Atop them — rapping, chanting and singing their own lyrics — are voices that can keep pace with the syncopations or sail above them. In Portuguese and occasionally English, Maga Bo’s collaborators often praise culture as survival mechanism and resistance tactic, while the beats constantly prove them right.”
Check out Maga Bo’s latest video premiered at XLR8R! New album – Quilombo do Futuro is out now.
Video Premiere: Maga Bo “Piloto de Fuga (feat. Funkero and BNegão)”
Baile funk has not been receiving that much attention as of late—at least outside of Brazil—but Rio de Janiero’s Maga Bo is still repping his adopted country’s quirky, party-starting export. The producer has shared a video for “Piloto de Fuga,” a track off of his upcoming LP, Quilombo do Futuro. The clip, directed by Fernando Salis, features a fast-paced night drive split up into three screens, giving it the feel of a high-throttle action flick. Quilombo drops on May 22 via Post World Industries.
March 1, 2012 Pistolera conjures the sounds of the Mexican desert by way of a cold basement in New York City’s Chinatown. With the aid of a stellar band and insightful lyrics, songwriter Sandra Velasquez performs the music of her youth in California at the NPR Music offices. (Read More)
How exactly do you conjure the sounds of the Mexican desert from a cold basement in New York City’s Chinatown? Check in with Pistolera to find out.
The motivation was a longing for Mexican music on the part of the band’s principal songwriter and lead vocalist, Sandra Velasquez, a California native who was studying music in New York. Her solution: to form a band that played the music of her youth. Now, after three albums, Pistolera continues to convert fans on both sides of the border — and, during its performance at the NPR Music offices, the band picked up a bunch more, thanks to its stellar musicianship and Velasquez’s insightful lyrics.
Velasquez once told a story about introducing songs from the group’s recent album El Desierto y la Ciudad in the Southwest: The introspective tone of the first few tracks caught many off guard — especially those expecting party music — but soon the talking stopped, the crowd quieted and the audience got a glimpse of a maturing band.
Pistolera’s set at the Tiny Desk highlights a group in full command of its direction and musical identity. It still blows my mind to hear bands take the music made along the U.S./Mexico border and successfully transport it to other circumstances, while retaining the essence of its roots.
Set List:
“Polvo”
“Ponle Frenos”
“La Despedida”
Credits:
Producers: Felix Contreras and Jasmine Garsd; Editor and Videographer: Michael Katzif; Audio Engineer: Kevin Wait; photo by Michael Katzif/NPR
Mary Anne Hobbs
The Roots Of Chicha 2
Vieux Farka Touré
The New York Times gave a glowing review to Maga Bo’s brand new album, “Quilombo do Futuro”, stating:
