Jetlagged in Hong Kong, so I turned on the TV, flipped through some channels and landed on a Filipino Elvis Presley impersonator contest. Apparently its Elvis’ death day today, which gives me the excuse to post this oldie (2008 is old by today’s digital download standards) but goodie, taken from the Dirty Sound System’s “Dirty Edits vol.2″.

Elvis Presley – Crawfish (Pilooski Edit)

From the same series, I recommend checking out Joakim’s edit of  JJ Cale’s  “Ride Me High”

Great piece of the Tecnobrega sub-genre Eletromelody below for your listening pleasure by Maderito e Joe. Eletromelody is a definite progression for Tecnobrega, moving away from the romantic themes to talking about the parties,  going crazy, the aparalhagems etc. The sound is faster and heavier with more pronounced bass. This track has a great production, some very appealing ravey sounds and a certain European electro house influence, if you listen carefully there’s some mad sounds going on in the background.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

MADERITO E JOE – ELETRO GALERA DA OITENTA 80

I do like this tecnobrega version of Major Lazer’s “Pon de Floor”. If you go to Cremoso’s soundcloud page you can find a lot more of his tecnobrega mixes including quite a strange one of the delightful “Shelter” by the XX. Exactly who Cremoso is, is a mystery as he doesn’t want to reveal himself but it has been speculated that due to his more indie bent he is an example of the middle classes adapting the periferia tecnobrega sound, or it could be just a joke to annnoy purists (either tecnobrega or indie-rock!!). Vladimir Cunha, director of “Brega S/A”, has talked of attempts at a tecnobrega Cansei de Ser Sexy being formed, so who knows where this will lead?

Pon De Floor (Dj Cremoso Remix) by Dj Cremoso

The above is a trailer for the We.music (sorry, shit name!) documentary about independent music in São Paulo. Sorry for those non-portuguese speakers, I’ll see if I can find a subtitled version. I haven’t seen it yet, but it does look interesting and reasonably well made.

The independent scene seems to be  holding out hope for the music industry in Brasil, now that the majors have all but given up the ghost. Groups like Mombojó (see below) are self releasing their own material  through their site and seem to have struck a deal with the infernal UOL to make their new album available, though I would be interested to know how that works out financially for them.

The documentary includes friend of Man Recs, DJ Chernobyl.  At the We.music site there’s a nice track by Mr Chernobyl with excellent São Paulo Rapper Xis.
Chernobyl + Xis – Pra que tudo se nada se leva by wemusic

Mombojó are from Recife in Pernambuco in the North-East of Brazil, a city renowned for its own take on Brazilian music. Mombojó have just released their third album “Amigo do Tempo”,  and it’s available for download at their site. Go to the link here, and click on “clique aqui“, it’s as simple as that.

Listening to this I can say it’s as strong, if not stronger, than their last 2 efforts, both of which were excellent. There are a huge amount of influences going on in their music, everything from samba, Mangue, surf (all huge in the north-east) as well as post-rock improv and Tropicalia. I had the pleasure of seeing them live a few years ago when they were promoting their first album and you could see then that something special was going on. The gig was curiously laid-back but woozily psychedelic at the same time. I recommend listening to this if you have any interest in current Brazilian rock.  Download and spread the word!