Various Artists - Brazilectro, Vol. 9

Brazilectro 9 again focuses on hi-resolution quality cherry picking from the big, big basket of `now' music. The heavy and quite intimate flirt between original Brazilian soundscapes and European club culture seems to be a never-ending source of inspiration for a lot of producers from both fields. Most, if not all of the material included here by the way is professionally tested on international dancefloors by the cream of freestyle DJs.

Superb and truly timeless samba and bossa driven stand-out tracks by both Brazil based legends and/or up and coming super-darlings as well as fresh probes from the recording studios of top notch international club and lounge music producers make Brazilectro 9 a definite must have not only for the promising summer and all the cozy open air parties that come with it.

Brazilectro 9 holds 26 kicking examples for one simple truth: Let the sunshine in! Album Description

Nice and Mellow

I am really enjoying this volume of Brazilectro. There are several gems on this on and I suggest you don't sleep on it. In fact, I've several played on my favorite internet radio SkyFM/Datempo.com. For me this is a definite buy.
February 15, 2008

Okay, but sloppy.

Another summer, another Brazilectro and Brazilution. Since 2000, this series has been bringing nu-bossa and nu-Brazilian music with an electronica & European twist to the forefornt. Brazilectro's never been about pure Brazilian music or musical styles. It's always been about fusing different elements of Brazilian music with electronica or other msuical styles - all the while maintaining a distinctively Brazilian flavor. But that's not to say that none of the tunes are Brazilian, because a lot of them are. Having said all of that, after 8 Brazilectros and 5 Brazilutions, how does this one stack up? Is there still enough good material in the well to put out two discs of killer tunes?

Maybe there is, but the Brazilectro compilers are showing signs of losing their eye. I listened to it a few times... both discs, and still couldn't get too into it. Similar to volume 7. Only volume seven was maybe a cut above this one. The good thing is that there's n oshortage of Far Out Records artists, with Democustico's "Summer of Flora" starting the set out in a positive way. Great work with Gabriela Geruda and super-producer Roc Hunter there and the remix gives it a bit more of a vibe - although the original, which is very accoustic, is vrey nice too. Marcos Valle's always a positive and the remix to "Escape", given a face-lift after about 7 years, was cool & energetic. Colman Brother's "El Nino" had some great brass work on it and rounding out the other positives from disc one were Xantone Blacq's very cool "Samba de lagos". It seemed to be channeling that warmer time IMO in the summer of 2000 and early 2001 when the series started. Toco's Samba Noir was also a good touch.

Disc two was almost totally un-eventful. A few good tracks here and there - like Zeep's "Dreams", which reminded me of their work as Da Lata (it's very close to Da Lata's remix to Gabin's "Azul Anil"). But honestly, there was nothing else there that grabbed my attention other than Mo Horizon's "Ay Y Nama". For the most part, disc two was loaded with filler that I thought was pretty dull. And that's not what you want or expect in a Brazilectro - although it's been happening a bit more frequently in the later editions of both this and Brazilution.

The verdict? It's got a disc one stand-out, but was ultimately very sloppy. If you're a collector and simply want it to round out 'all Brazilectros', then by all means check this out. There were some good songs here but it's sub-par to earlier editions IMO and ultimately a bit uneventful. They also shouldn't have had two versions of "Broken Samba" there. And they made a very big mistake on the linear notes too with Zeep's song; simply put, other than the song title and artist, all of the information is wrong! It was a copy/paste that went wrong and shows they've gotten lazy. Also remember - Brazilectro has a habit of chopping songs short, and while I haven't heard the vinyl pressing of this, rest assured a few tracks on here were probably cut down in length. So if you want all the songs in full, ALWAYS go for Brazilectro on vinyl format. But I'd recommend a few series outside of this Brazilectro for more cutting edge sounds now, like Bossa House N Breaks or Bossa A La Mode, with the last one coming on strong after four volumes. September 28, 2007

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