Baile funk. Are you familiar with it? Perhaps not. A brief intro. A genre emanating from the favelas of Brazil, principally Rio, incorporating miami bass, electro, tribal Brazalian rhythms and Portugese hip-hop vocals (Portugese being the principal language of Brazil of course). Championed initally by Diplo, then various other DJs including Sinden in the UK. Reached the cusp of going mainstream with the poppiest and brightest representatives of the scene, in the form of Bonde Do Role. Never quite happened....
Despite this Baile funk has been bubbling under nicely in the dance music underground and continues to do so. Germany's Man Recordings has been the principal label pushing it on this side of the Atlantic, and has continued with a stream of regular releases for nearly five years now. One of the highlights of this has been the 'Funk Mundial' series, marrying European electro, house and techno producers with Baile funk MCs and rhythms.
After reaching 9 volumes, Daniel Haaksman, head of Man Recordings has now released a compilation of the best of the series so far. It features many highly talented and influential artists, including Italy's Crookers with their bass driven electro, wonky-fidget-tech head Jesse Rose and techno producer Oliver S representing Berlin, San Fransiscan tech-house kid Riva Starr, French electro wizard Feadz and the UK's very own old school garage revivalists The Count and Sinden.
With nearly every track of a supremely high caliber, this is definitely one worth investing in. Included in the collection too are three Cumbia tracks, the latest world genre threatening to go global. Essentially grounded in folk music, it's main components are fairly slow percussive beats, accordions, brass instruments and chanty vocals, and it's not a million miles away from Reggaeton. No wait, come back! It's actually quite good. The new breed is known as 'digital Cumbia' as it's largely produced electronically. Only time will tell if this does any real damage to the musical landscape.
Available on iTunes in pretty shiny 256kb quality, as well as from Beatport, DjDownload and Juno in even shinier 320kb, make sure you get your hands on it. Check the Man Recorder blog HERE for fairly regular postings, news and download links for obscure Baile funk tracks. Download a copy of the newest track by Feadz from the Ants In My Trance blog HERE. And as if that wasn't enough, watch a short and incredibly interesting documentary about the genre below, featuring one of it's biggest stars Deize Tigrona.
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