Basic_sounds. Singles. Albums. Album Reviews. Track Reviews. It has been four years since the percussive, polyrhythmic sounds of Lisbon's batida scene began trickling out of the city on the Tagus and making their way to the outside world (or at least the rest of Europe and North America)—first via DJ Marfox and his Príncipe Discos debut, Eu Sei Quem Sou, and then peers and protégés like DJ Nigga Fox, Blacksea Não Maya, Piquenos DJs Do Guetto, and Nidia Minaj.
The music's path has run parallel, in some ways, to Chicago footwork's: both are inner-city styles built around radically innovative rhythms that at first could sound forbiddingly difficult to untrained ears, and both have bubbled up to influence the wider electronic landscape. If batida no longer sounds quite as alien as it did upon a first encounter with its spinning rotors and elliptical movements, it's still dazzling in its rhythmic complexity: Atop a shuffling approximation of a 4/4 beat balances an unsteady beehive of motion, aswarm with kinetic energy. Album Reviews. Manalogue. Music | Reviews. Wednesday, April 16 2014 Woods: With Light and With Love With Light and With Love is Woods' most cleanly produced record to date, and the brittle edges of their sound now melt around bright, bittersweet songs. Tuesday, April 15 2014 The Both: The Both Aimee Mann and Ted Leo are a perfect pairing on their new band's immensely likeable debut.
The Fleshtones: Wheel of Talent Nearly four decades into their career, these veteran garage-rockers haven't lost their knack for creating catchy and infectious tunes. Los Lonely Boys: Revelation Los Lonely Boys deliver some of their best work, exhibiting exceptional musicianship on the eclectic yet consistent Revelation. Monday, April 14 2014 The Afghan Whigs: Do to the Beast Greg Dulli, John Curley, and some other guys they're calling the Afghan Whigs channel the rock, soul, and dark undertones of the band's classic work on an excellent quasi-reunion album Tony Molina: Dissed and Dismissed Cynic: Kindly Bent to Free Us Meridiem: A Scattering Time.