Nuno Beats Sai Do Coração

Usually spotted peering into dancefloor futures with his Rinchoa crewmates DJ Nulo, DJ Lima, Farucox, MC Pimenta and DJ Narciso, Nuno Beats tailors his own identity on ‘Sai Do Coração’, decelerating the tempo and ramping up the flirtation. His productions already stood out on RS Produções’ brilliant 2LP ‘Sa ú de Em 1º Lugar’, and the Portuguese DJ/producer has developed his signature in the meantime, re-sculpting the bruised batida shakes of tracks like ‘PrinCIPES’ and ‘Tribal’ into muted, voluptuous quivers. Tarraxo rhythms are always sexy, but Nuno Beats plunges deep into the thing, draping his hard-swung woodblock hits with silky amapiano basslines, reverberating vox and stargazing Detroit pads. It’s a bold fusion that shimmies to the far left of the dancefloor, but like we saw with DJ N-Fox’s AOTY-level ‘Chá Preto’, the risk fully pays off. Firstly, ‘Sai Do Coração’ runs like a proper album. Sickly piano phrases wheeze thru euphoric stabs and rubbery fretless bass knocks on ‘7 Apaixonados’, while on the title track, Nuno pipes hushed guitar riffs into Roger Troutman’s talkbox, suspending g-funk synths in icy, granulated minor-key wails. It’s those subtle soft rock and street soul elements that makes the producer’s rhythms pop so effortlessly, before the latent psychedelia of ‘Confusão No Ghetto’ unravels a haunted tangle of half-heard melodies and complex syncopations that sound as if they’re falling on top of each other. Nuno’s control of rhythm is mind-boggling, but it’s on vivid display here, drifting luxuriously off grid before the clattery drums are met with stringy twangs and rolling log hits. Similarly, he tucks the tempo into a tight corner on stand-out winder ‘N-Dengue’, upsetting a 4/4 chug with rattling knocks and a blunted sawtooth bass that’s had all its aggy power swapped out for sweaty carnal impulsiveness. Turn the lights down low and give it some quality time - it’s just too good