Bongo
Forget the Bay Area - I am off for a few months to the land of big bums and Bossa Nova....so if you should ever find yourself down that way just pop me an email.
Hey, there is a whole new sound breaking loose from the favela's down there - Baile Funk. It is electronic music and has been around for a while, with its roots in Miami Bass and it takes a bit of getting used to - real raw and gritty sound with great hard core parties with huge walls of speakers and all those skinny gorgeous mulatos getting real nasty to it and a vibe similar to the early rave warehouse party days. You put your life in your hands going in there unless you are well connected. DJ Diplo is into that sound now and has even brought some of the acts to the states. On his first adventure into one of the parties in Rio he was greeted at the door by a bunch of 15 years olds, big blunts hanging out of their mouths, AK 47s slung over their shoulders and strapped up with hand grenades. One kid had a hottie bent over on the dancefloor and was doing lines of the devils dandruff off her ass!
Anyway, it is sweeping Brasil like crazy now and it is becoming relatively mainstream. It is at the point where a DJ in a regular cub just needs to drop a funk track and the roof comes off the place. I plan on hitting up a real favela party on this trip. My guess is it is going to be the next big thing here within a few years.