Paris' Latin house duo and force beind Ya Basta! Records, the Boyz From Brazil, aka Philippe Cohen and Christophe Muller, have built something of a buzz around their first four EP releases.
Showing the way on the increasingly popular trick of blending Bahia carnival beats with contemporary production qualities and dance floor sensibilities, their singles have been spun on the decks of in-the-know luminaries such as Francois K, UFO, Jazzanova, Rainer Truby and Mr Scruff.
Their debut album is as rich and accessible as the singles have been. The tracks here take Latin house as the starting base and then meander over the gamut of dance music, fusing hip hop breaks into bossa beats and even allowing Latin music of the puffy sleeved, maraca shaking variety to do a little turn.
The most surprising offering comes the end of CD2, when we're taken into amutant opera house and treated to a few arias being shafted by awesomely dramatic bottom end trickery. From here we build into a forlorn desert scene over looking a Mexican hacienda as Clint Eastwood and Charles Bronson disappear over opposite horizons. And then, just a you've got used to the idea the album has transformed into a spaghetti western, those Latin beats start to role in again.
The block party begins I earnest on CD2, with percussion breaking into funked up wah slabs of deep house spiked by clipped conga rolls and acidic bass lines. Finally the package rides out on claming coastal samples.
An almost faultless release. the next time the BFBs through a party, do anything to get on the invite list. Meanwhile get this album.
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by Ben Osborne