Cartas Na Manga

Whether you make out the boast “Nigga Fox na maior” as “the illest” or “the chillest,” depending on your translation of Portuguese street slang, Brandão still sounds far out there, inviting the rest of us into his headspace. PITCHFORK + While touring extensively for the past few years, Nigga Fox never neglected reaching inside his mind for unheard of signature tunes. Four years since his last EP on Príncipe, a year or so after "Crânio" on Warp Records, pressure could be mounting, but he kept his chill. What does in fact amount to an album can be seen as the proverbial show of maturity, if you will, but to us it's definite proof of vitality and personality in this game. As before, way beyond notions of African music, something definitely coming from the street but taking form in a collective headspace. More than dance music (which it obviously is), "Cartas Na Manga" offers introspective joy in our effort to connect many loose dots inside the groove of each track.. There's more piano in there, but what does that mean? Just as much as the expressive dancefloor anthem "Talanzele" or the offbeat bassline in "Pão de Cada Dia". Nigga Fox is following a strong intuition and still maintaining his flow within the grid: while some moves are clearly venturing into the future, this is a celebration of present times. We hear him say "Nigga Fox na maior" in the closing track and THAT keeps us smiling long after the sound expires.  And Márcio Matos came up with some interactive artwork. This one's for all us human artifacts free enough to change a cover any time we feel it :) :(

The Lisbon producer returns to his hometown’s Príncipe label with nine new tracks of hyperkinetic, defiantly experimental club music.

Rogerio Brandão cuts the center out of his sound on his debut album Cartas Na Manga, leaving in its place a throbbing force field that holds together the constituent parts of its nine tracks.