- A journey through otherworldly São Paulo baile funk.
- It takes a few seconds for the ensemble of deranged sounds and shouting to blast out of the speakers after DJ Blakes' "Viagem Multiversal de Heliópolis" starts. There's an alarming crescendo, a metro station signal, news anchors speaking, a crowd chanting and finally something that resembles an MC. It's a wonderful mess that eventually settles down into a regular pattern. And all of that is the closest a listener could get to São Paulo's largest baile funk street party—Helipa—without actually entering the Heliópolis favela's sonic maelstrom on a Friday or Saturday night. That's the feeling underlying A Lenda, an EP that reaffirms Blakes' place amongst one of the most creative and genre-bending producers of São Paulo's current wave of streetwise baile funk—mandelão, a rough style that pushes the genre to new limits of intensity.
Across these six tracks, DJ Blakes presents an original and wide-ranging perspective of the baile funk landscape blossoming in the 20-million-strong Brazilian city. He goes from shattered vocals to redlining drums and clashing industrial sounds, a mix that draws from a number of São Paulo baile funk subgenres. These are the likes of automotivo, as seen in the stuff kick drums of "3 Macetes 2," and agressivo, with the clanging metal of "Vou Tacar Nessa Tchutchuca." It's an often angry, white-hot atmosphere with sudden breaks into other moods and atmospheres. On "Os Menor de SP," Blakes producer strings together seemingly opposite contrasts: the baile funk vibe goes from a four-to-the-floor rhythm to a wild psytrance section.
"Bonde de Quick Silver" returns to the four-to-the-floor template, recklessly blending it with fierce arpeggios, eardrum-tingling bells and even a System Of A Down sample. Only "Lâmpada Mágica" feels watered down, at least compared to the punishing sound palette of the rest of the EP, but Vitorioso's monstrous vocals take it across the finish line. Once again, Blakes' take on the MCs voices makes them more interesting: the singer is not the track's main character but rather another shade of Blakes' palette, just another element in this portrait of São Paulo street baile funk.
Tracklist01. Viagem Multiversal de Heliópolis
02. 3 Macetes 2
03. Os Menor de Sp - Aqui no Helipa É Sem Amor feat. MC Furi SP
04. Vou Tacar Nessa Tchutchuca feat. MC Geh & MC 7 Belo
05. Bonde da Quiksilver
06. Lâmpada Mágica