Rough Guide To Brazilian Electronica: Superagua

(photo by hugo*)

What does the term 'surf movie' bring to mind? Blue Wednesday or Blue Crush? For me, depressingly enough, it's Point Break, The Busey's finest hour. For Pepé Cesar it's a chance to mix his loves of poetry, surfing and music into movie form, and soundtrack it with today's artists. Superagua's first record was released in 2002 as the soundtrack to Trocando as Bordas, and the group comprise DJ/producer Jonas Rocha and guitarist/composer Ulisses Cappelletti. Working with other notables - up-and-comers such as Sabrina Malheiros, stalwarts like Orlandivo - they've carried on past their original scope to become one of the more interesting acts on the Brazilian electronica scene these days. I mean check them out, they've got a myspace, most of the artists here would struggle to get out of bed on the right day given the amount of information I can find.

Anyway, they check all the boxes they claim to in their bio: funk for sure - there's some of the Sly Stone blissed-out kind of grooves in there; jazz - of course, Brazilian pop has jazz running through it irreversibly, from the ubiquitous funky acoustic guitar chords to the beautiful electric piano; and dub, the unusual one here. Dub is not really something I'd associate with the chilled-out, but still carefully crafted Brazilian electronica I've heard thus far. Dub is substance music; it's music for people who aren't so much interested in a careful craft so much as creating a vibration. But check, the monster bass is in there, the space-FX, it's all good.

At least, on the rest of Superagua's sound. Stylish itself is actually more of the chilled, cool, acoustica with that oh-so-Brazilian acoustic guitar. I kind of want to say that, well, it's quite similar to what the rest of the album is like, it doesn't feature enough of this dub influence that I want to hear. But the fact of the matter is it's really pretty, and another calming tune well worth listening to. So do so.

The Music
Superagua - Stylish

The 'fo
Artist: Superagua
Website: MySpace
Recommended: Superagua EP
Label: Reverberations
Buy: Amazon/The Rough Guide
More: Hype Machine; elbo.ws
If you like this you might like: Fabio Fabuloso (2004)
Tags: Rough Guide; Brazil; Superagua; funk; jazz; dub