P003 – NIAGARA – Ouro Oeste

Vinyl 12″ / Digital
Written and produced by Niagara,
Mastered by Tó Pinheiro da Silva, Artwork by Márcio Matos;
Released in August 2013;
Support from Musicbox in Lisbon made this record happen!

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PRESS RELEASE

Long time coming and definitely one of the triggers to start this label: listening to Niagara and wanting to capture them on disc. Their hands-on hardware live sets were keeping people on their toes. Raw house with an improvised and fresh vibe outside the exclusive domain of the dancefloor. This connects with their more experimental past as One Might Add and translates perfectly into this intuitive approach to dance music.
“Ouro Oeste” might or might not be a pun – they are from the so-called West country of Portugal (Oeste) and they struck Gold (Ouro) – but these five tracks capture the trio of António Arruda, Alberto Arruda (brothers) and Sara Eckerson in an ever-developing stage. They are the first to announce different directions and it’s hard to collect a bunch of tracks because they keep producing new ones, so the term “capture the sound on vinyl” is actually quite true: a few more weeks and the tracklist could be entirely different. That opens a broad future.
“Onda Blue” was actually one of the first to be considered for this EP, with its happy, summery vibe, elastic bassline and slightly offbeat tones that place this in no specific Age at all;
“Kraftor” may start in a psych-ambient mood but when the beat and bassline kick in it’s physical and progressively dubby towards the end – this is one fine example of how a track that could be longer holds its core elements real tight by going just far enough;
“Urmeiras” sort of picks up on the masked dub bassline suggested by the previous track. Powerful psych tones going on plus a heavenly melody carrying the song to a reverb-drenched conclusion;
“Caracas” might be the “Disco” track here: the bassline and percussion drops are the driving elements but it’s impossible to bypass the extremely rich melodies happening on top of it all. Complex, demanding house progression (not progressive house) that, given the space, could last forever;
“Verde” shows a sort of hard kicking Detroit-edit style. It’s a raw, propulsive, slightly detuned rhythm track with enough distortion to keep heads spinning even before all the cosmic blasts start appearing halfway through the near-3 minute total duration.

Vinyl 12″ limited to 300 hand-painted, hand-stamped copies.

Mesmo mesmo lá atrás, Photonz e Niagara, juntamente com Marfox, estiveram na génese do pensamento de viabilidade que fez nascer a editora Príncipe Discos. “Ouro Oeste” poderia ter acontecido antes, mas tudo foi conjugado para que representasse não apenas alguns favoritos da editora mas também uma determinada fase dos próprios Niagara, cujo ritmo de produção é elevado e abençoado. Os sets ao vivo deste trio (António, Alberto e Sara) com base em Loures, em locais como o bar Capela, no Bairro Alto, por exemplo, faziam tremer de prazer quem treme de prazer ao ouvir música de dança gerada ao vivo com mãos a mexer em botões. Lindo. A manifestação de criatividade de Niagara já tinha sido fixada em disco num mini-CD para a editora Dromos, mas “Ouro Oeste” retira-os talvez de um contexto mais conotado com a vaga (boa, atenção) de projectos nacionais pós-Loosers para os colocar numa zona única dentro do circuito de música de dança. Favorito antigo, aqui, é “Caracas”, faixa de groove por excelência quando se tem oportunidade de ouvir como deve ser todas as camadas de som. Complexa, feliz, intuitiva, perfeita na sua intenção melódica. “Urmeiras” faz o dub acontecer mesmo mesmo lá em baixo (mais uma vez, é preciso ouvir com atenção) enquanto o brilho panorâmico das harmonias faz o trabalho de conquista. “Onda Blue”, outra favorita bem do início, e “Kraftor” manobram a complicada mecânica de Niagara de forma incrível e excitante. Não sabemos se tem de se chamar house ao que ouvimos, temos só a certeza de que o trio construiu pacientemente uma identidade que não conseguimos, neste momento, comparar a ninguém a não ser, possivelmente e por afinidade de um ou outro som, apenas, ao espírito geral que a editora Future Times costuma passar. Portugal, anos 10 do séc. XXI, que cenário fantástico de possibilidades. Limitado a 300 exemplares pintados e carimbados à mão.
Flur, July 2013

Feeling the hypnotic, vaguely dubby underground psych-house vibes from Portugal’s Niagara: “Urmeiras” is taken from the group’s adventurous + very dope new Ouro Oeste 12″, out now on Principe. Sounds like something the purveyors of warped bliss-disco over at 100% Silk would flip out over (see also: “Kraftor” + “Caracas”).
Gorilla vs. Bear, September 2013

**Edition of 300 copies in hand-painted jacket** Ruddy raw and psychoactive house charmers from Lisbon, Portugal’s trio of António and Alberto Arruda, and Sara Eckerson aka Niagara. Like a lower-fidelity, tropical contrast to the weirdly wired grooves of Frak or even Mix Mup, these five tracks are endearingly off-beat and strange, ranging from the merry-go-round melody and swing of ‘Onda Blue’ and ‘Urmeiras’ up top to a luvvly dubbly disco skanker ‘Caracas’ and the gritty-as-‘eck beatdown House styles of ‘Verde’ on the flip. Proper party juice.
Boomkat, October 2013

Interesting content make me hear the dance floor tracks and use individual Including a warm synth work is impressive to “Onda Blue”, was exquisitely keep the groove and a sense of comfort! ! The work of the same series so far, it is one piece full of originality that cut across many different genres! ! Chekku required! ! !
Google translated from Technique, October 2013

Mysterious act Niagara that would Trio unit label debut. Centered on rhythm track good voice samples and synth layered, sentiment a Uomi and psychedelic, in addition to 4 Tracks Rouhausu gem melancholia dreamy a euphoric manner is filled, a rough beat sound samples and chop also junkie the best · It is a good work that does not miss the machine House B-2!!
Google translated from Jet Set, October 2013

Label to watch Principe unveil the debut recordings of Niagara, a group from Portugal exploring the deepest disco and house around and coming up with a startling take that could only have come from the Principe label. Following cuts by DJ Marfox & Photonz, Ouro Oeste explores the global-hybrid boiling point currently being represented by this increasingly crucial imprint, crossing the DNA of US disco and African house styles topped off with some psychedelic licks, a killer 12″ that, for our money, you will be hearing about for months to come.
Bleep, February 2015

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