🐣 GEO — MÁGICA FEAT. CARO PIEROTTO

Last time we heard from GEO it was a glittering trail of intricate percussion and chimes in the form of lovely sound-sonnet ‘For You’. This time around the LA-based musicmaker gives us an insight into what makes him tick musically with a slice of sound that celebrates the rhythms of latin music.

“I sat down and wrote this one in an attempt to pay tribute to my love for the way latin makes me feel,” he tells us via email. And what a homage it is. Rather than pursuing one genre or another, and attempting to make something that is bossa nova, or samba, or whatever, ‘Mágica’ really does feel like a celebration: a rhythm that winds and sashays, more of that texturising percussion we’re used to that gives it some lush depth, and breezy chords that conjure cool scapes by the sea, instantly capitvating satin Ipenema vocals.

“To help pay homage to my roots,” GEO explains, “ Caro Pierotto graced this song with a beautiful Portuguese verse about finding magic in a new love.” Graced is definitely the right word, with this vocal and its pitch-shifted iterations adding beauty to the track.

This is not a typical bossa nova track, or a song that is typically anything. It’s a creation inspired by latin music, and as such it has taken interesting tangents from elsewhere, encompassing flavours like future funk – with that thudding groove and upbeat atmosphere – and even the somewhat-disco feel reminiscent of Japanese city pop. The lead synth-brass melody that refrained throughout reminded me of the 2 player version of the Casino Night level on Sonic 2. ‘Mágica’ is a versatile track that defies expectations in a modern cosmopolitan retelling of traditional sounds.

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• 🔔 Have a look-see at 'Mágica' on HypeM.

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☟ GEO Internet Presence ☟
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DCUP MAGIC

One of the many cool things about the world is that it's always gonna be summer somewhere. Whilst we freeze and shiver here in the arctic Northern Hemisphere, our Southern counterparts enjoy hot days and warm nights, and vice versa of course. As such, it means that the music of summer never stops being produced, never dies, so there's always something to get your blood up to temperature and whisk you away to tropical shores, rosasite seas, waves breaking slowly on the reef, still lagoons, breadfruit for breakfast... long live our tropics.

Why do I speak this way? It's because of this song by Melbourne producer DCUP, 'Magic'. Just one day old right now, the song comes from a legacy of hot-blooded tracks including the very nice 'Don't Be Shy', which included a remix by Japanese purveyor of emotional and retro house, Boys Get Hurt. I was touched by the message that DCUP, aka real person Duncan MacLennan, left as a description for the song, saying its purpose was "...to not only keep you dancing through these beautiful summer nights down in Oz, but to keep our friends in the North warm on their chilling winter eve's." That's what I like to hear. A bit of togetherness. Global community spirit.

True to its name, 'Magic' is a little goûter of magic. Within seconds of the track starting an unbeatable bassline pops in with a funky bounce, soon joined with samba type piano chords, augmented with excitable bweeps and the occasional flash of synth chords. That samba rhythm in the music gives the track a hot and sweaty atmosphere, something sensually calling out with a wink in a where-will-this-lead manner in the midst of the driving slo-house, disco-evoking beat. The sample of some husky voice saying "Magic..." is a great touch, beautifully placed dynamic punctuation in this exciting sentence of music.

The mix of funk, latin and disco in 'Magic' lands in the cradle of your ears like something retroactive, a time capsule dusted off and polished with modern tools to give it a zeitgeistical familiarity whilst it shines with its own lustre: the sheen of nostalgic novelty alien past. It feels fresh, especially with those varying elements, and clearly comes from a mind that loves to create music for people to dance to.

Fun fact: DCUP collaborated with Australian band Yolanda Be Cool for 2010 hit 'We No Speak Americano'; now that Latin lilt to 'Magic' makes more sense and I love DCUP all the more for it.

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SHIGETO RINGLEADER

Today we have some more from Detroit-dwelling Shigeto. A few days ago I wrote about his pretty epic 'Detroit Part 1', a song that has all the raw roughness and empty-buildinged ghostliness of Detroit itself, a city pockmarked with voids of industry. This time we have another song from the upcoming album, No Better Time Than Now, out 19th August on Ghostly - it's called 'Ringleader'. It is also a little different.

It's different in that it has a completely different beat, namely a samba rhythm, coursing through this song like thick blood through robust veins, and because it isn't - as far as I can tell - an homage or dedication to anyone, place or thing. That samba rhythm is damn damn infectious though - it's like not really wanting to dance at a party but being convinced to do otherwise by the very fact that everyone else is dancing. Yes actually that's exactly what a samba beat is: a wave of people writhing rhythmically, inviting you to join the fun. I know there's such thing as a conga line, but here we have a samba wave. Much more fun.

The thickness-of-sound in this song, the triple-decker-sandwich vibes, is just lovely. Gigantic drums crash like waves in the background whilst xylophonic-marimbasome sounds clink & clonk, plink & plonk right in front of you, whilst a beat monopolises the foreground with shakers and hi-hats and bongos and who-knows-what-else. There is an actually fantastic bit (3:52) where everything except a faint synth disappears for two seconds and there's a drop that's like opening a door on a full-blown carnival, fish fly in the air and paint pours out, a mash of tropical colours that has in it all of the clammy mosquito twitchiness, the unknown faces frolicking on a beach, the legs working furiously to the rhythm, the drinks - all of it's in there.

Big sound big big sound, fully energised. And towards the end, synths like flowers opening almost sound like a sunrise as the beat calms down: the end of the party, everything whirling down the plughole, committed to hazy memory and there's the anticipation of attending that same party once again. Pretty much like the feeling of wanting to listen to this song again and again, etc. Roll on 19th August.

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GOLD PANDA BRAZIL + VIDEO

Brazil... Brazil... Brazil... Brazil... Brazil... Brazil... Brazil... Brazil... Brazil... Brazil... Brazil... Brazil... Brazil... Brazil... Brazil... Brazil... Brazil... Brazil... Brazil... Brazil... Brazil... Brazil... Brazil... Brazil... Brazil... Brazil... Brazil... Brazil... Brazil... Brazil... Brazil... Brazil... Brazil... Brazil... Brazil... Brazil... Brazil... Brazil... Brazil... Brazil... Brazil... Brazil... Brazil... Brazil... Brazil... Brazil... Brazil... Brazil... Brazil... Brazil...

What a song. Gold Panda, a British man born in 1980, seems to have moved from songs that, whilst being very listenable, are filled with squiffy beats that defy the natural logic of how a beat should go - its pattern, if you will. With 'Brazil' there is an extremely noticeable groove, one that captivates and mesmerises to a degree that I can't even name, count or begin to recognise. Ok, I can recognise it, but it's really and uniquely nice.

Why don't you have a listen for yourself, even if you've heard it before - and especially if you've heard it before, you'll want to hear it again, no doubt no doubt.

There's something very 'Brazil' indeed about the beat - at once disjointed and glitchy, almost like a fly trying to burst through a window - in that it seems to be a Samba-esque rhythm (tell me I'm wrong) though watered down and rolled around and put with a videogame through a euphoric blender. If there is such a sound, this song is it.

EDIT: Aaannd to illustrate to that dizzying, strange water-droplet undercover-euphoria, there's now a video for 'Brazil'...

A warm quality wraps the whole thing up in ambient, all-encompassing synths that chug along in the background behind everything, blanketing the entire sound from the bottom up with hot vibes that are hard not to digest.

As for that sample, that lyric as it were, of 'Brazil' being repeated... well, there is joy in repetition. Hot Chip coined it very well in 'Over And Over' - "The joy of repetition...". Although I don't think they were referencing music, but perhaps they were, in fact - let's say they were. Yes, they were. And 'Brazil' is a perfect example of that joy.

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