DJ Narciso

𝙊𝙣 𝙖 𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙡, 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙙𝙞𝙜𝙢-𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙛𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙤𝙡𝙤 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙠𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙪 𝘿𝙅 𝙉𝙖𝙧𝙘𝙞𝙨𝙤 𝙚𝙥𝙞𝙩𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙇𝙞𝙨𝙗𝙤𝙣’𝙨 𝙠𝙪𝙙𝙪𝙧𝙤 𝙢𝙪𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙨 𝙫𝙞𝙖 𝙚𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙭 𝙤𝙛 𝙧𝙪𝙜𝙜𝙚𝙙𝙡𝙮 𝙞𝙣𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙛𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙪𝙧𝙞𝙤𝙪𝙨 𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙜𝙧𝙞𝙥 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙋𝙧í𝙣𝙘𝙞𝙥𝙚 - 𝘽𝙞𝙜 𝙍𝙄𝙔𝙇 𝙉𝙖𝙯𝙖𝙧, 𝙉í𝙙𝙞𝙖, 𝙉 𝙁𝙤𝙭, 𝙋. 𝘼𝙙𝙧𝙞𝙭.

The analogy between Lisbon’s mutant kuduro / batida / tarraxho scene and the ever shifting chronics of the UK’s late ‘80s thru ‘90s rave ‘nuum bears repeating in context of ‘Diferenciado’ - yet another high watermark of screwball grooves and wigged-out electronics from the nexus that gave us everyone from Nídia to N Fox or P. Adrix, and the likes of Nuno Beats, DJ Lima, and DJ Nulo, who make up RS Produções along with DJ Narciso.

Striking out on their ones, Narciso here continues in a fine vein of drill-adjacent mutability found in recent Príncipe zingers to really make fresh marks on the type of tricksy tresillo syncopations that effectively also set out Lisbon like some European answer to Havana in terms of their frankly odd but brilliant sense of rhythm, as deeply rooted in West African diasporic traditions, but always bifurcating into something wild and new.

The equilibrium of rude discipline and a clinamen toward nutty madness is fundamental to the heavy, wild traction of ‘Diferenciado’. Their distillation of drill and dembow in opener ‘Ziu Ziu (Reprise)’ is a big signal to the dare-to-differ badness inside, which tags in his RS bredder Farucox on the squashed and pitching ace ‘Cabelinho’, and mad-heeled lurch of ‘Underground dos Loucos’, before going sick in his very own style.

The skewed hyperfolk of ‘Vai Estragar a Câmera’ is comparable to early Nazar for its cantankerous offbeat oddness, but as with ‘Pipipi’ it bends to its own curdled, bloozy tunings and taste for twisted textures, as in the juxtaposition of queered bubble and eerie bells to ‘5 Do Jo’, thru the speaker buckling bass of ‘Jogo’, and a spangled concrète cut-up ’30 Paus’ going like Demdike or Andy Stott’s freakiest.