P034 – DJ LYCOX – Kizas do Ly

Vinyl 12″ / Digital
Written and produced by DJ Lycox;
Mastered by Tó Pinheiro da Silva, Artwork by Márcio Matos;
Digital release: March, 2020;
Physical release: November, 2020

VINYL/DIGITAL: Order from us

A1 – Jam
A2 – Red Lights

B1 – Babygirl
B2 – Hábitos

PRESS RELEASE (March 20, 2020)

You know and we know, what time is Now. Or picking up on classic KLF: “What Time Is Love?”. It’s Springtime and a reinforcement of love is much needed, so we decided to anticipate the digital version of DJ Lycox’s EP “Kizas do Ly” (expect the full hand-painted vinyl version when insanity reverts back to sanity).

In the popular style of Kizomba, these four tunes float above us, seeing the Beyond and celebrating the style’s core concern, which is romance and the attachment of bodies to one another. So if actual proximity seems to be ill-advised this Spring, let’s temporarily move to another realm and see what happens when mind does away with body. A sort of afterlife.

Vinyl 12″ EP; individually hand-painted sleeve, 350 copies available for the world.

A crítica a Sonhos & Pesadelos, álbum que DJ Lycox inscreveu no catálogo da Príncipe em 2017, terminava assegurando que esse trabalho representava “uma lição de sofisticação, elegância e eficácia absoluta” do que era “um exercício de imaginação ao serviço da pista de dança”. Lycox está de volta com um novo maxi que sucede a PML Beatz na expansão do catálogo da editora lisboeta em 2020. São quatro exercícios nas margens mais “tarraxadas” da kizomba, 9 minutos e 19 segundos de sensualidade suspensa em câmara lenta, doce geleia sonora que obriga a que nos movamos com a paciência que o amor impõe. Na verdade, “Jam”, “Red Lights”, “Babygirl” e “Hábitos” resolvem-se como os quatro movimentos de uma delicada suite de electrónica tropical, com Lycox a evidenciar, uma vez mais, mestria nos arranjos que se dispõem em camadas de frequências significantes: percussões polirrítmicas na base, graves redondos e geridos com parcimónia, nunca subjugando o plano harmónico em que diferentes ondas de cordas sintetizadas e leads melódicos se conjugam numa dança própria. E é perfeitamente possível abandonar o corpo aos comandos da cadência dolente da percussão e do baixo enquanto a cabeça vagueia por uma dimensão superior, puxada pelas nuvens de texturas sintetizadas que sobrevoam cada um destes temas. Bomba escapista de confetti multicolor que o mundo bem precisa agora. Para ouvir em repeat.
Rimas E Batidas, March 2020

DJ Lycox is one of the most notable members of Lisbon’s Princípe label, despite having only released one record back in 2017. But what a record: Sonhos & Pesadelos approached the Lisbon sound with an elegant swing, ornate synths and an ear for regal melodies. Almost four years later, Lycox returns with a four-track record that makes an even bigger statement than its ten-track predecessor.

Kizas do Ly is downright pretty. It’s inspired by a romantic, gentler dance style called kizomba, though you might compare its light, hollow textures to ’80s Japanese music or New Age. Lycox has his own sound, like an ensemble of MIDI musicians all locked in together. Just listen to the fibreglass synth strings on “Jam,” which have a folksy lilt. Though your mind might also be drawn to “Jam”s’ ambling beat, gorgeous chords or wandering, dub-inspired bassline. There are many things going on at once, but the music is as laid-back as a stroll through the park.

A lot of this is hard to even classify as dance music. “Babygirl” is more of a ballad or a lullaby, with its gentle drums and pan flutes. “Hábitos” pairs brash, wobbly club sounds with swaying drums and another poignant string melody. Lycox’s melodies tell stories without words, like a kind of folk music rooted in the electronic and dance traditions around him. Princípe has spent the last decade tracking all the ways Lisbon’s bustling club scene has refracted kuduro and other regional sounds. No one has made it sound as gentle and lovely as Lycox.
Resident Advisor, April 2020

Tending to the slower, more melodic and atmospheric side of the Angolan-Lisbon club equation, ‘Kizas do Ly’ arrives earlier than expected with a payload of sultry rhythms and wavey, dusky vibes that offer a warm glow of hope in testing times.

In four instrumental strokes DJ Lycox lets his fingers sing on the keys with with almost baroque-tight counterpoint between his strolling bass and quizzical top lines in ‘Jam’, while ‘Red Lights’ pulls steel drums, glassy percussion and elegant strings into a swaying style calling to mind a slow smudge of reggaeton and Kwaito tropes done by James Ferraro. ‘Babygirl’ follows on a soft focus, dry-iced flex like Palmistry meets Jan Hammer on a deserted Caribbean beach, and ‘Hábitos’ follows with a more lusting tussle of congas, strings and see-sawing bass bound for lights-up moments on the ‘floor.
Boomkat, April 2020

The ever-brilliant Príncipe Discos release another shining gem of modern kizomba sonics from label wunderkind DJ Lycox. Kizas do Ly follows up his 2017 debut Songs & Pesadelos with more sun-soaked, slow jamming rhythms, residing towards the more romantic end of the Angolan-Lisbon club spectrum. Top lines pulse with steel drums and keys, as bobbing percussion bring to mind soft lilts of kuduro and reggaeton.
Bleep, April 2020

Lançado na Primavera passada com todas as correctas vibes de amor, esta mostra de kizomba espacial por DJ Lycox só reforça a espantosa habilidade do produtor em fixar melodias inesquecíveis e universais em arranjos superiores. O álbum “Sonhos & Pesadelos” tinha mostrado versatilidade, mas aqui o momento puxava puro romance e comunhão. Na verdade, como se torna óbvio desde a primeira escuta, este é um disco desprendido de épocas e de fácil relacionamento. Lycox a reflectir, mas Portugal também a ser chamado a reflectir sobre o que é a sua música, o que é a pop sem letras que a lei não considera portuguesa. Forte, pela sedução que exerce.
Flur, November 2020

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