- Verraco's debut EP on Voam is outrageous in the best way.
- When Verraco started Insurgentes in 2017, he had a mission: to challenge Western perceptions of Latin music. On his debut album Grial, he laid out a vision of South American IDM that combined perreo, jungle and braindance sounds with field recordings from his home country of Colombia. In more recent times Verraco's name has become synonymous with TraTraTrax, the red hot club label he co-runs with friends Nyksan and DJ Lomalinda, which has now (in his own words) swallowed Insurgentes. But the values are still the same, and hybridism remains Verraco and co's sharpest tool. This carries onto Escándaloo, Verraco's debut EP on Blawan and Pariah's Voam, a label that has the same powerful hit rate as TraTraTrax, and one of the most influential in modern techno. He pulls out all the stops.
The EP title's track is the big tune here. What starts out as a shuffling groove is swept up by thick dub stabs which sound like R2-D2 trapped in a wash cycle revving up to 1400 RPM. Add a boisterous four-to-the-floor kick drum and some air horns and "Escándaloo" starts spinning completely out of control, becoming more outrageous with each passing measure. It's been whipping up a frenzy at festivals this summer—rightly so—just like "jajaja," where Verraco gets real nasty with the sound design. The zippy fast-forward-and-rewind stabs stick around here, but they’re meatier and unpredictable—roaring and swerving off track—ducking underneath Verraco’s rippling walls of percussion. But in the final third, Verraco tucks in another spicy treat with a sneaky 2-step switch-up.
Then there's "How is this possible?," another appropriately titled track. Here Verraco has his post-dubstep moment, with fluttering melodies and distorted vocals. It’s a whisper away from dated, but Verraco's galloping dembow grooves and glitchy sound design make it all his own. Verraco has always been very clear about decolonizing the way he makes music, to appreciate the styles he loves both within and outside of Latin America. He also said it "warms his blood to blend rhythms or genres that were forbidden to mix." It’s this unchecked, ever-spinning axis that makes his tracks increasingly mind-boggling and moreish, the kind of wacky DJ tools you could never get sick of.
Tracklist01. Escándaloo
02. jajaja
03. How is this even possible?