And here’s DJ C, who with DJ Flack is one of the founders of the Beat Research party in Cambridge: “Actually, my favorite aspect of baile funk is the way many of the tunes sample random and often funny pop tunes, which are then chopped up and reconfigured. They use a lot of rock samples in their stuff too, which adds a fun contrast to the underlying electro beats.”
Edu K’s baile funk uses no samples, however, and in fact baile-funk band Bonde do Role’s own producer, Chernobyl, is coming on tour to play guitar licks. Frenétiko is unusual in that it takes funk carioca and adds reggaetón, salsa, and other forms, something that Beat Research is even more excited about. “We’re always on the lookout for new rhythmic styles to study,” adds DJ C. “We’re particularly interested in regional styles and the way regional styles have grown up to become international styles . . . and I like that these guys have a broad background that they’re drawing from.”
Edu K’s status as a punk icon in Brazil can’t be overstated, and neither can baile funk’s DIY punk-rock ethic. Add to this white surburban culture’s fascination with the music from the inner city and the rise of baile funk was almost inevitable. “It’s the ultimate ghetto outlaw music,” Edu K points out, “especially now that hip-hop is the biggest music in America, so very comfy in its mainstream nest. And I think it messes with people’s minds — in a way that you guys can’t get the lyrics and the music itself brings tropical scenarios to mind.”
The music itself was inspired by booty bass, the dirty, techno-enabled sounds of Miami in the 1980s. Today you can still hear 2 Live Crew bass lines and Dynamix II samples in funk carioca — all of which leads back to Germany and Kraftwerk’s Trans-Europe Express. Haaksman: “With baile funk now coming to Germany, the Kraftwerk cycle closes. It started in Dusseldorf, moved to NY, where it was picked up by Bambaataa, three years later it landed in Miami, and a few years later the Kraftwerk bastard made it to Rio, where it grew for more than a decade into what we know as funk . . . and in 2004 the sound is released on a German record label.”
In July, the baile fad hit Boston as Diplo visited Great Scott with Brazilian bands Cansei de Ser Sexy (CSS) and the aforementioned Bonde do Role — a sweaty mess of Allston glitterati, Boston bloggers, and Pabst. CSS returned this past Saturday with Ladytron at Avalon. But despite its hipster factor and party-party vibe, baile funk will last — if simply as the elevation of sampling culture. “First of all, what isn’t a fad these days?” argues Edu K. “People are eager to consume new stuff and throw it away next week, y’know? And it seems like this process is getting faster and faster by the minute.”
Baile funk is the ultimate InSinkErator of musical culture: throw music in, get funk out. In funk tracks, everything from the Verve to AC/DC to the Little Mermaid can be sampled, and many times to great effect. “It’s very basic,” Haaksman says. “Production is low-key, producers don’t care about copyright laws, so it’s a very open kind of music style. It resembles hip-hop’s golden age, when sampling was introduced and milestones were produced.”
