Represent b/w Juicy Fruit

Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band follow up their 2021 Expansions album with another solid 7” offering.

The A side, “Represent,” is one of the stand out tracks from Expansions. BRSB covers the DJ Premier-produced Nas classic, taking the original and expanding the arrangement with guitar and brass riffs. Tuba chugs along the drum break while the steel pans hammer out the famously infectious melody of the original sample making this an easy winner in hip hop circles and beyond.

The B side is a non-album cut available on this 45 for the first time ever. Bacao covers the Mtume classic “Juicy Fruit,” made popular again when The Notorious B.I.G. sampled it for his smash hit “Juicy.” A sure head-turner when people realize they’re dancing along to a new version of the classic melody.

Riviera Drive b/w Genius Of Love

Favorite Recordings proudly presents the new 12″ of Magic Source. The all-star group around producer Björn Wagner (known also for his cosmic and tropical-flavoured disco music as Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band and The Mighty Mocambos) creates here a hypnotic four-on-the-floor sound that is both earthy and spaced out and all their own.

Recorded on 16 track analogue tape with inexpensive vintage gear, the crew explores the more unusual facets of disco music off the beaten track in favour of more otherwordly and international stylings. In their music, one could hear echoes from lost tropical disco records, cinematic flavors from library soundtracks and a healthy dose of DIY garage funk rawness.

On A side, “Riviera Drive” is an extended Mediterranean disco groove based on hypnotic percussions and soulful horn themes that alternate with trippy keyboard excursions. The tune is equally at ease on the dancefloor as in a chill-out zone, but of course, prefers to be in its natural habitat in a classic car somewhere between Nice and Monaco.

On the flip, Tom Tom Club’s “Genius Of Love” is reimagined as a jazzy yacht soul instrumental with an echoed flute taking the lead. You’ll also find a shorter Radio Edit of “Riviera Drive”.

Expansions

Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band, the mysterious steel pan outfit hailing from Hamburg, Germany have amassed a cult following around the globe. With a slew of classic 7”s and two critically acclaimed full length albums, they set a high bar for themselves, one they clearly intend on pushing even higher with this new offering. On their third album, aptly titled “Expansions”, BRSB are back with more of the same, but more of the same with them is inherently different. Covering songs that span genres and range from mega hits to album cuts, they make them their own with their unique approach to the traditional steel pans of Trinidad and Tobago.

Part of the allure of a new record from Bacao is finding out what covers they chose. However, die hard fans are also waiting to hear the original numbers like the stellar album opener “Tough Victory”. Its airtight rhythm section, brass arrangements, and layers of steel pan melodies make the term “cover band” a shoe that could never fit Bacao. Within the next three songs they go from Jazz (Galt MacDermot), to Hip Hop (Slum Village / J Dilla), to a dance floor classic (Grace Jones) taking them all on with their signature style, expanding on the originals. An easy crowd favorite is their gritty, gully, and neck snapping cover of the Timbaland produced Jay-Z club hit “Dirt Off Your Shoulder”. The infamous crushing Bacao drums start the show and the moment they start playing the top line on the pans, all bets are off. Sure to become a dance floor filler is their bottom heavy, four on the floor version of Sylvester’s classic “I Need Somebody To Love Tonight”. They venture into some gutbucket funk with Ike Turner’s “Getting Nasty” and bring the steel pans to Minnie Riperton’s Jazz classic “Les Fleurs”. Digging deeper in the modern canon and paying tribute to a tribute, they cover Erykah Badu’s homage to the late great J Dilla, “The Healer”. This is the type of thing to make Spice Adams jump on his kitchen counter and scream. From the second the beat drops they give the original Madlib production a run for its money, shaking subwoofers with the eerie tremolo bass while the pans play E. Badu’s vocal melodies.

By the time the album is through Bacao has taken the listener on a journey that spans a myriad of energies, tempos, and moods while somehow managing to keep it all under one umbrella. For all that, these songs are alive, and they will be taken out of the context of this album and sewn into the fabric of DJ sets around the globe for many years to come. Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band is breathing renewed life into the originals and continuing to push the boundaries of steel pan music, or, as the title suggests, expanding on it.

Dirt Off Your Shoulder b/w I Need Somebody To Love Tonight

Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band, the kings of “wait, what is this!!!” are back with another two-sider that has a little something for everyone. Both of these songs are pulled from their forthcoming full length album Expansions.

The A side is a gritty, gully, and neck snapping cover of the Timbaland produced Jay-Z club hit “Dirt Off Your Shoulder”. The signature crushing Bacao drums start the show and the moment they start playing the top line on the steel pans all bets are off. They push the tune to new heights and places adding brass arrangements and working around the original riff never losing the groove. The way they walk the line between the original and making it their own will woo Hip Hop heads and Funk enthusiasts alike.

The B side finds BRSB taking it straight to the discoteque and ushering everyone to the floor as they cover Sylvester’s underground classic “I Need Somebody To Love Tonight”. While Bacao have laid down a few four on the floor numbers on previous albums this is the first one making its way to a 7” and we are sure it will get their music into a new sector of DJs playboxes.