The Rough Guide To Brazilian Electronica: Fernanda Porta

("View from Pedra da Gávea", photo by Christian 3D)

In Europe, or North America, electronic musicians tend to be a fairly earnest bunch. Either they're in the RAM-heavy soft-everything league of using as many different sound effects to make minimal differences to their music, or they're in the see-who-can-use-the most-obscure-sample division, or whatever. Judging by this record, Brazilian's tend to take a more laidback approach, with less of the out-randoming and overthinking - see today's track, by Fernanda Porta. Although utilising drum'n'bass and particularly European electronic styles, the music is essentially samba/bossa nova (which is great for me, I'm listening to a lot of Bebel Gilberto and Celso Fonseca at the mo...), revealing none of the oneupmanship of elsewhere.

The track on the Rough Guide is De Costas Pro Mundo (the coasts pro world, according to Google, although that doesn't make any actual sense). It's a chilled, vocal-led piece with wonderfully subtle beaty touches, leading to a track that chills rather than energises. It's almost approaching the sort of thing you'll find on Balearic chill-out compilations, but without the overly familiar lack of anything approaching different that afflicts these. You have to admit that without the Ibiza-party-central connotations, the idea of sitting in a beach bar watching the sun come up with some mellow, sexy electronica/bossa nova in the background is remarkably appealing.

So: I present that guilt-free chillout track you've been waiting for, in De Costas Pro Mundo. Also available in bonus goodness is some more Porta, this time with some more of Brazil's great DJ's. Sambassim is a Porta signature tune, and is more upbeat and drum'n'bass-y. It was, I'm informed, the UK's biggest-selling drum'n'bass single of 2002. It's less chill-out, more go out, whereas So Tinha Que Ser Com Voce is a fun, funky but still relaxed version of the Antonio Carlos Jobim classic, somewhere between the two.

The Music
Fernanda Porta - De Costas Pro Mundo
Fernanda Porta - Sambassim (Madzoo Jazzy Remix)
DJ Marky & DJ Patife feat. Fernanda Porta - So Tinha Que Ser Com Voce

The 'fo
Artist: Fernanda Porta
Website: fernandaporto.com
Recommended: Fernanda Porta
Label: Trama
Buy: Rough Guide; Tunes
More: Hype Machine; elbo.ws
Tags: Brazil; electronica; Fernanda Porta; DJ Patife; DJ Marky; drum'n'bass