One More Disco

Ok it’s been quite a while since I last posted, pretty much all of summer, but thought it was well about time that I kicked things off again. Over my nice long summer I have been listening to loads of different stuff, and have thourougly gotten into Baile Funk! - If you haven’t heard much before you will now. Today we have an exclusive interview from the head of a masssive Baile Funk Lable Man Recordings - Daniel Haaksman, as well as two lovely tracks for you to enjoy!

So Daniel Haaksman, for those who don’t know, fancy giving a little introduction to start things?

My name is Daniel Haaksman, I’m a DJ, producer and music journalist and I run the label Man Recordings since 2005. Before Man, I ran Essay Recordings, together with Frankfurt DJ and producer Shantel (of “Bucovina Club” fame). In the 90s, I was DJing everything from down tempo to dub, 70´s brasilian music to hip hop and house, since a few years I get my kicks out of baile funk from Rio De Janeiro and other unclassifiable rhythms from around the world. I’ve released the compilations “Rio Baile Funk Favela Booty Beats 1+2″ on Essay Recordings and just released my debut EP “Who´s Afraid Of Rio?” in which I present my interpretation of baile funk.

You worked with your brother on many projects; did you guys ever have any sibling rivalry when you were younger both growing on the decks?

Well we´re six and half years apart, I´ve been DJing since 1990, Felix only started in the late Nineties and we always had similar but not equal tastes, so there´s actually no rivalry. In 2000-2003 we DJed a lot together but since then our musical tastes have differed. Felix is more into disco and boogie and I´m into the whole ghetto stuff.

How did you get into the Brazilian influenced baile music that man recordings is renowned for?

I´ve always loved Brasilian music, in the 90s I listened to a lot of old Brazilian stuff from the 50s to the 70s. At one point I got a bit bored by the whole backwardish attitude that many of my fellow DJs had towards Brazilian music and the lack of access to more contemporary stuff. But then a friend came back from Brazil in 2003, and he brought me a stack of funk CDs he bought on a Rio street market. I was blown away by the music and thought: This is it. At that time I was at a point in my DJing life when I got really bored by hip hop, or house music and the whole electro thing. I couldnt relate to minimal techno or the whole electronica stuff coming out of Berlin, it was not dope enough and it was too formulaic and lacked fresh ideas. When I heard baile funk for the 1st time, I had flashbacks of enthusiasm to when I first heard Def Jam stuff in the mid 80s, LL Cool J, Public Enemy and Run DMC were my teenage heroes, and to me baile funk was this sound reborn, but in a more postmodern, Brazilian version. My baile funk compilations on Essay sold really well  so I realised there was a market for this music so I decided to leave Essay and start my own label, entirely dedicated to the contemporary sound of Brazil.

Who are some the up and coming artists you have really taken an interest to this year? Any new names to look out for in the New Year?

Oh there’s a lot of talent around, lately I have been inspired by various producers from all over the place. In house music I dig Oliver $, Jesse Rose and - still - Switch. I love Maurice Fulton’s stuff, he keeps making mind-blowing and fresh house music, the same is for Zombie Disco Squad from London. In the more bouncy dance areas I think Edu K really has geared up his productions and has started to produce absolute club bangers, Scottie B is on a roll too. The new Basement Jaxx album sounds promising. In hip hop I love the Flying Lotus album, I like Dabrye, Kanye West, Ghislain Poirier, Madlib. I´m a big fan of Angolan producer DJ Znobia. In Rio De Janeiro, there´s some hot new producers coming up, guys like Dedé Mandrake, Fú+Dinho or Marrentinho who bring baile funk to another level. Still strong in Rio are DJ Edgar, DJ Amazing Clay and DJ Sandrinho. One of the big names to watch for 2009 is certainly KU BO a.k.a. Stereotyp´s new project. He is an amazing producer who has futuristic Afro-Brazilian stuff about to be released.

You’ve had many big electro artists produce records under man recordings – crookers, diplo etc., who would you most like to work with in the future?

I´m happy to say that I have worked with many of my favourite producers for Man Recordings. But of course, there’ll always be some people which are still on my wish list, such as Maurice Fulton, Sly+Robbie, Madlib or Pepé Braddock. I hope to release a volume by DJ Znobia in early 2009.

What’s next for Man Recordings? – The new Funk Mundial,  Jesse Rose & Oliver $ release sounds very promising

There’s an EP in the pipeline by London MC ISA GT, produced by Crookers and Edu K. Edu K will release his “Party Munky” Ep in late October, which is a crazy baile funk twist on early 90s rave music. Ku Bo will release his 3rd single in November, which sounds very West-African, followed by a full artist album in spring 2009. Also in spring 2009 I´ll release a compilation of the Funk Mundial series with some exclusive tracks, as well as a “Baile Funk Masters” compilation. I myself am working on an album to be released in summer 2009 and I’m working on a Funk Mundial edition with funk god MC Mr.Catra. 2009 will also see the album release of Deize Tigrona on Man Recordings

You’ve recently released “Who’s afraid of Rio”, what is next for you – your Bossa Nova remix collection, can you spare any information on what this will involve?

My EP will be followed by a remix EP called “Who´s Afraid Of Remix?” with remixes by KU BO, Scottie B, Riva Starr and DJ Beware. Parallely, I´ll release the “Bossa Do Morro” compilation, which I commissioned for Universal Jazz in Germany. It´s a compilation celebrating the 50th anniversary of bossa nova with baile funk remixes of some of the most known Bossa Nova songs. The idea for this compilation was to let the producers from baile funk, a culture emerging from the favelas of Rio (located on the hills of Rio = the “morro”, thus “bossa do morro”= “bossa from the hills”) touch songs of Bossa Nova, which emerged in the late 1950s in Rio´s quarters Copacapana, Ipanema and Leblon (=bourgeois, wealthy quarters). So far, there hasn’t been a similar compilation. A) Because of legal problems as it is pretty hard to get official access to original bossa tunes B) the favelas of Rio and Copacabana are very far apart - culturally and socially. So actually in Brazil no one would’ve ever thought of a remix compilation like this, though both Bossa Nova and baile funk come from the same city. But then I think it just needs a geographical distance to come up with an idea like that. A Londoner also wouldn’t think of London’s East End Grimesters would remix the London Symphonic Orchestra?? But for me, Bossa Nova and funk are both music styles that reflect the various moods and sounds of Rio.

What do you use to create your funk?

I work with Logic, Ableton and a MPC.

If your entire music collection was on fire and you only had the chance to save one song, what would it be?

That´s a hard question. Maybe “Egyptian Reggae” from Jonathan Richman?

And finally top 5 tracks your loving at the moment

1. Oliver $ feat. Deize Tigrona “Ta Com Medo Do Mim?”

2. Ku Bo “Kaggua”

3. Sergio Mendes + Brasil 66 “Day Tripper - DJ Fú+DJ Dinho Remix)

4. Daniel Haaksman “Who´s Afraid Of Rio? - DJ Beware Remix”

5. Chavy Boys Of London “Friday Night Flu’

Thanks very Much Daniel!

and here are the two tracks from Who’s Afraid of Rio?, enjoy…

Jogo Do Bilhar feat. MC Betta - Daniel Haaskman
*unavailable at this time*

Who’s Afraid Of Rio? feat. MC Jennifer - Daniel Haaskman

(onemoredisco download link)