Aparelhagem

DJ Dolores – Aparelhagem (Crammed Discs)
Reviewed by Sadie O., 12/8/05
Brazilian mix of urban and country folk vocal styles with dancehall grooves and bumpin’ beats. More energized and electronic than your usual samba stuff; great balance of indigenous Brazilian and international dance/hip hop sounds. (DJ Dolores is a he, by the way.)
If there are FCCs, they’re in Portuguese. It’s really hard to pick favorites – all have their own feel, but all are great in their own way. Track 5 (and 11, to an extent) is the only one without some kind of dance beat. 10 is slower and dubbier. Everything is GREAT.
1. 3:56 upbeat midtempo syncopation, mostly drums and female vocals with a bit of bass and horns. Singing is based on “embolada”, a humorous back and forth duet common in Brazilian country folk music. Fun and funky. Ends with a few seconds of a guy talking.
2. 3:42 cool uptempo syncopation, a bit of jungle groove, mostly solo female vocals, definitely a booty shaker.
3. 5:47 uptempo, like a carneval parade in a nightclub, mostly instrumental with a bit of male voices “preaching”, plenty of electronic sounds, but also horns and great beat.
4. 5:00 random sounds form the midtempo beat, really fun. Lovely female vocals wind around the mix ethereally. Some reggae/dub influence. Long fade with moment of vocals at end.
5. 4:13 slow, strange start, lots of electronics, fast jungle groove comes in and out, not so much dance as trance or electronica.
6. 5:04 midtempo beat, drunken party vibe, raw male and female vocals, dizzy bits.
7. 4:42 solo horn intro, hard midtempo groove w/ drums and accordion as well as electronics. Frank London from Klezmatics guests and adds jazzy klezmer overtones. Solo horn ending.
8. 5:20 soulful female vocals, somewhat uptempo beat, based on dance music of the lower classes of northern Brazil. There’s a bit of everything in the mix. Wacky “yaa yaa yaa” ending.
9. 4:53 beat comes together gradually, very funky slightly uptempo syncopation. Influenced by music from northern Brazil/Caribbean. Instrumental, great beat. Slow fade.
10. 4:57 solo horn intro, slow snakey beat, soulful female vocals, definite reggae/dub feel. Female spoken outro/fade.
11. 3:37 electronic tone at start, slightly uptempo beat, lots of electronics and mystery/melancholy. Based on Madame Bovary! Spoken female outro.
12. 3:55 crazy guitar/electronic noises at start, hard midtempo beat after a few seconds, pretty random instrumentation, but definitely great dance groove.