P005 – B.N.M. / P.D.D.G. – s/t

Vinyl 12″ / Digital
Written and produced by DJ Kolt, DJ Noronha, DJ Perigoso, DJ Firmeza, DJ Maboku, DJ Lilocox,
Mastered by Tó Pinheiro da Silva, Artwork by Márcio Matos;
Released in December 2013;

BUY VINYL FROM US
BUY DIGITAL FROM US

PRESS RELEASE

The greater Lisbon area is separated by the Tagus river, North and South. BNM (Blacksea Não Maya) are from the South side and PDDG (Piquenos Djs Do Guetto) from the North Side. This EP is the expression of work being done for the past couple of years through a monthly club night that put these crews playing together in downtown Lisbon.
Both BNM and PDDG have been producing a lot and we were blessed to have been able to meet them and help spur their enthusiasm for song structure as well as providing them with an outlet for rhythmic experimentation (you wouldn’t believe the quantity and quality of rhythm tracks they produce for their own DJ sets). You will hear their names as signatures within the tracks, as an identifier for outsiders. They are familiar to us now.
DJs Kolt, Perigoso and Noronha are not only part of the same crew, there is actually family blood running in some of the guys from BNM. Home turf is Bairro da Jamaica, one of those neighbourhoods that look like they were bombed and shakily rebuilt (more accurately, never actually fully built). It is at the heart of urban disorder that BNM forged an identity, picking up signals from the rich musical background all African descendents carry in their blood and translating them through their hearts and minds.
“Afrooloove” is a sentimental take on afro house. Percussion is both King and Queen, the clipped bassline is strangely calm, doing its work regardless of all the surrounding elements, and everything melts together beautifully as the song evolves;
“Decalée” cruises at a different, faster pace. Rhythmic intensity is manifest on different levels, almost as if everything is running parallel and magically fits together. Halfway between kuduro and house, this one bangs hard and still manages to soften a few hearts;
“Dia Da Moka” is all about the interplay between a vocal hook and a twisted accordion melody. The rhythm track is somewhat subjugated but on close inspection it’s as rich as all the best music DJ Perigoso has shown us: a bubbly bassline (sounding like a muffled tabla) and a sort of stuttering synthetic snare hitting every moving target;
In “Africa Congo” you can hear, if you like, the same pulsing bass drum as in countless Basic Channel / Chain Reaction productions, but that’s because the bass drum is The Mother. Similarities end right there, and the fact this song is titled “Africa Congo” doesn’t mean it fits within preconceived notions of what current African music is supposed to be. Noronha is showing all this talent comes from being a free agent, insulated from the outside world just enough so the rich patterns you hear sound like no other.

Side B is taken up by PDDG, a crew formed out of admiration for their elders DJs Di Guetto (The P on PDDG stands for Piqueno, meaning Little), now veterans who released the influential “Dj’s Di Guetto Vol. 1” compilation back in 2006. Those were Marfox, Nervoso, N.K. and others. Their example was followed by really young kids mostly living in Quinta do Mocho, not far from the tail end of Lisbon airport’s main runway. Firmeza, Maboku and Lilocox represent the crew for this EP.
“Dedicado Projecto Princepe” is DJ Firmeza’s hommage to the club night bearing the label’s name. Our mutual respect comes full circle here in this raw, primal bouncer. Firmeza mastered a complex web of rhythmic breaks and shouts that translate a barely contained energy, they seem to indicate a very real physical effort being made to keep up with the
track and evoke the muscle needed to dance through the whole night;
“Remeche As Coisas” uses the recurrent vibes motive these producers always manage to recycle in a fresh way. Overall it’s an abstract, broken beat, start-stop and wonderfully “disintegrated” affair, showcasing the rhythmic urgency always at the centre of this music;
Maboku comes out as the charmer in the crew. His “Instrumental P” matches flute with all kinds of percussion drops, extremely soulful ambience, a tense but love-drenched groove that transcends all ideas of afro house or even plain house;
You can hear some of the same strong points in “O Vento uma Verdadeira Amizade” (“The Wind A True Friendship”), a collaboration between Maboku, Firmeza and Lilocox. Different worlds collide here. Deep, sexy house, traditional African melodies (a very evocative Funaná accordion), epic horns calling to a love battle, military snares lined up for the call, and the softest of basslines sounding like a moody soundtrack to a chilling scene in a movie. We believe this is yet to be named.
We hope you will listen to this music outside of any set of rules and enjoy it for what is is: beautiful, intuitive, handcrafted, heartfelt.

Vinyl 12″ individually hand-painted, hand-stamped.

Blacksea Não Maya (Margem Sul, Fogueteiro) e Piquenos DJs do Guetto (Portela, maioritariamente) juntaram-se há muitos meses nas noites mensais da editora Príncipe no Musicbox, centro de Lisboa. Da convivência, solidificação do trabalho das crews e da própria noite, surgiu naturalmente o plano lógico de representar em disco o que estava a acontecer no terreno. Quinta edição Príncipe, para alargar o espectro, mostrar música incrível a ser produzida em casas familiares (BNM são quase todos família, PDDG juntam-se na Casa Da Mãe) fora dos radares a que estamos habituados, noções de herança africana muito muito diferentes não só da linha mais comum de kuduro ou batida que acabam por ser faces mais visíveis como também diferentes de quaisquer adaptações conhecidas ao consumo europeu ou branco. DJs Kolt, Perigoso e Noronha (BNM), Firmeza, Maboku e Lilocox, todos assinam produções neste disco, todos transportam no corpo e na cabeça a sua vocação genuína, e por isso estes sons são não só únicos e apenas possíveis em Lisboa por causa do Passado de Portugal mas também comoventes e livres de qualquer interesse puramente antropológico. Esqueçam isso. “Afrooloove” (DJ Kolt) e “África Congo” abrem e fecham o lado B.N.M. com sentimento africano muito presente, beats complexos, harmonias irresistíveis e uma beleza completamente exposta na superfície. Pelo meio, DJ Perigoso mostra em duas faixas o lado de assalto sónico mais suado, simultaneamente físico e mental. DJ Firmeza abre o lado B com dedicação a Príncipe numa malha devastadora de fisicalidade e amor pelo Tambor; logo a seguir, “Remeche As Coisas” soa literalmente a uma reorganização, e a assinatura “DJ Firmeza na casa!” parece querer dizer que ele está de facto em casa a arrumar o quarto. Tomem atenção à construção percussiva. É o quê? Mais para a frente, DJ Maboku faz chorar com a maneira como integra um groove de flauta na batida house quebrada que tão bem sabe fazer. É indescritível de bonito. Ele está lá também na última faixa, juntamente com Lilocox e Firmeza: “O Vento Uma Verdadeira Amizade” soa a funaná em house, mas isso é a nossa cabeça a tentar arranjar referências. De novo: esqueçam isso. Esta música é verdadeiramente romântica, africana e universal, pós-rave, não-house e o que lhe quiserem chamar, mas a segurança de que existe tal e qual como é fornece um conforto que não sabemos bem explicar. Disco importantíssimo em 2013, na década e, arriscamos, em toda a linha contínua de música de origem africana a ser produzida em Portugal pelo menos desde a descolonização. O termo é pesado mas é mesmo assim. Temos muita sorte.
Flur, Novembro 2013

Infectiously stylish, hard-ass Portuguese techno from one of the best new dancefloor labels of 2013. Sounding like early Grime crossed with Apple or Champion style Funky and then spun out with overproof African groove juice, the label’s fifth release fires eight rounds of totally unique syncopations ranging from the stripped warehouse swagger of DJ Kolt’s ‘Afrooloove’ to the furious batacuda battery and trpping shuffle of DJ Perigroso and DJ Noronha’s hip-grippin’ ‘África Congo’ on one side, and over to the febrile, freakin’ drums and vocal stabs of DJ Firmeza’s pair, and the weird, organ-riffin’, brassy bump of ‘O Vento De Uma Verdadeira Amizade’ by DJ Maboku, DJ Lilocox, and DJ Firmeza. Recommended!
Boomkat, December 2013

Frontier tribal base / House super strong competent leading to the old Portuguese territory Angola production Kudo~uro!
From Portugal label Príncipe familiar, marginal Tribal House EP of play is divided into north and south side of the Tagus River is an appearance with the release of popular DJ Marfox from local and Lisbon know PHotonz!!
Under the concept of confrontation of the north shore and side (Piquenos Djs Do Guetto) this PDDG the south coast side and (Blacksea Nao Maya) this BNM, powerful track with the participation crew of the event that has been held for two years on the stage of the club of Lisbon is full of !
Google translated from Soundfinder, December 2013

Portugal is easy and would say dangerous seeding the African cut-up house, the release! BASS MUSIC after passing once again from PRINCIPE label to deploy based in Lisbon, but samples indigenous dancing in the scattered and a muddy one piece that deep-core and deep-doped Shitatameru a groove that sticky! Check This essential … Masu Kite pretty!!
Google translated from Disk Union, December 2013

! ! ALBUM OF THE MONTH ! !
Príncipe’s new release pulls back the curtain on quieter, more abstracted sounds from the Angolan diaspora. What they all share in common are resonant sampled percussion, loping polyrhythms, and an exceptionally porous sense of texture; scraps of accordion and voice flutter like laundry in the breeze. The plucked electric bass and fluttering congas of DJ Kolt’s “Afrooloove” evoke darting moths and dripping faucets, and Noronha’s “Africa Congo” mirrors staccato organ melody with stuttering hand percussion and machine snares, while Maboku’s similarly pointillist “Instrumental Pe” daubs flute synths over drums that land like fat, scattered raindrops. Mabuku, Lilocox, and Firmeza’s “O Vento de Uma Verdadera Amizade” is the record’s most outwardly emotional song, with lilting accordion melodies played against lithe synth fillips and tinny brass stabs — it brings to mind Doctor Rockit’s “Café de Flore” as reimagined by DJ Mujava — but Firmeza’s solo tracks are entirely different. “Dedicado ao Projecto Príncipe” pairs jubilant shouts and yelps with wildly syncopated and pitch-shifted toms, and the shuffling “Remeche as Coisas” is a slow-motion swirl of hand drums and hiccups in 6/8 time. DJ Perigoso’s “Dia da Moka” and “Decaléé” are the most disorienting songs on the record, dissonant and soaked in echo, and recasting techno futurism in corrugated tin and pirated electric current.
Philip Sherburne for SPIN, December 2013

These two crews use familiar sounds, sure, but they put them together in uncommon and often surprising ways. Their tracks have curiously spacious atmospherics—despite the crowded structures. DJ Kolt’s “Afrooloove” feels huge and roomy, with plenty of hand percussion lolling around behind the track’s gentle skip-and-strum. It’s built with wacky synth sounds, rowdy vocals and unsteady rhythms, and often feels like some tribal ritual from a lost culture. The drums on DJ Noronha’s tunes sound as if they were played live on drum machine pads, especially the feverish “Africa Congo,” which is banged out with a hard-to-pin-down swing that that gives them an off-time quality.
Comparisons have been made between the music’s fiercely local nature and that of grime, and there are some similarities. DJ Perigoso’s tracks have a certain snap that we often associate with the resurgent UK genre, while DJ Maboku’s “Instrumental P” has grime-style sounds—MIDI strings and flutes—cast in a tropical new light. But you won’t get much further with comparisons here. Try to find something else that sounds like DJ Firmeza’s “Dedicado Projecto Príncipe,” with its fathoms-deep bassline and delirious vocal gasps. Even more impressive is how he follows it with a track that’s all prettied-up with chimes, an elegiac counterpart to its wild predecessor.
Andrew Ryce for RESIDENT ADVISOR, December 2013

Specifically to P.D.D.G.’s credit, side B contains a stylish array of phases and moods, complex in structure, with abstract beats, broken up and woven through a tense patchwork, but grounded by a heavy center. They handily weave stripped down instrumentals (horns and percussion) through traditional African melodies, amounting to an intoxicating palette of soulful dance rhythms.
Caitlin Greene for IMPOSE Magazine, December 2013

More dope Lisbon-based music. As is expected, this release features some incredible underground talent by combining local artists. Drawing from the strong African influence these modern sounds are ground breaking. The rest of us are slow to catch up with what is happening in Lisbon but when we get wind of it all, we go crazy.
El Guero Unico for THE GLOBAL BASS EXPERIENCE, December 2013

Digital bandoneón and brass wheezes along, a snare skips, with digital bloops skirting about the spare and breezy rhythm. It’s as strange and spacious as early grime, yet suffused with tropical warmth. But instead of thinking it “tropical grime,” maybe think of it as “sand.”
Andy Beta for PITCHFORK, January 2014

Future-facing split from Blacksea Nao Maya & Piquenos Djs Do Guetto for the ever on-point Principe, B.N.M. / P.D.D.G. is a release that perfectly encapsulates the cross-genre-defying scene built around the Principe label and club night. Elements of electronic music designed to move minds and feet alike spanning the globe are taken apart and built back together in the form of something completely new. Opener ‘Afrooloove’ starts things off on a subtle, deep number constantly feeling like a drop is around the corner while ‘Decaléé’ is a tough house cut, liquid percussion flows through early highlight ‘África Congo’ with a off-kilter synth line runs wild. More essential wares from this incredible imprint that’s really pushing the boundaries of club music.
Bleep, February 2015

——————–