Pancada Motor: Manifesto da Festa

One of Alfredo Bello's passions is to create field recordings of Afro-Brazilian traditions and religious ceremonies. These recordings then serve as starting points for his work as DJ Tudo, as he creates larger-than-life productions augmenting the sound of vocals, drums and instruments recorded around Brazil with his extended, brass-augmented funk band and his own driving bass lines. As with the drum-heavy street bands that he likes to record, the result is dense and heavily punctuated, which is part of the problem here. Though there are variations in instruments, vocalists and textures, you know that you’re never far away from a wall of drums and bass. It's a real shame, as interesting ideas such as the drunken New Orleans-style trumpet that leads ‘On the Bridge’ or the Eastern guitar noodling of ‘Sailor's Love’ are constantly drowned out by what feels like a noisy Brazilian drumming group rehearsing next door. There is real passion and love for Brazilian traditions here, as well as an ambition to fuse that with wider African, Eastern and North American styles. With a less busy production, there would be an opportunity to really appreciate that.