DJs Di Gueto II

Swaggering up after a 1st volume centred on DJs Di Guetto’s 2006 productions and issued, this 2nd volume drills down to the point when Angolan kuduro was adapted to the tastes of Lisbon’s Afro-diasporic youth, with results strikingly comparable to contemporary shifts in UK music from grime to electro-house and UKF. It’s all upfront club tackle, typically built on FruityLoops in unwieldy PCs and shiny but raw in all the right places, characteristic of a sound that would spur waves of internet nerds such as E+E, Cracksmurf (T C F) and Arca to era-defining work and influencer the course of dance music for decades to come.

The emphasis is on the upbeats here, packing pure energy in sequence from DJ Jesse’s rictus hard house jacker ‘Hard Tecno’, to DJ NK’s outstanding ‘Semba Do Zagaza’, recalling Mario’s horny and obscure UKF-meets-digi-steppers, as does DJ Pausas’ Apple-esque romper ‘Mottoo (Remix)’ and the bucking drive of ‘Macongos Graves’ by scene veterans DJ Marfox & DJ Nervoso, which previously appeared on the Boomkat Editions vinyl cut of ‘Revolução 2005-2008.’ Nervoso is also notable for a swivelling mid tempo zinger ‘Continuo Nervoso,’ and the sloshing tarraxho of ‘Arrepio’ with DJ Fofuxo, a lesser spotted producer also behind the squashed ace ‘Delirio.’