Nuno Beats

Real stunning high-heat romancers from Príncipe with probably the most sensual release on the label in recent memory – if not ever. Swinging silken tarraxo syncopations around wavey synths and breathy vocals to forward a unique vision of cosmic, syruppy soul/R&B, it’s a properly heady album of late night batida heaters from what is, still, one of the world’s most forward facing labels. If you’re into anything from amapiano to Amaarae, or even the moodier end of The Other People Place, it’s just about as good as it gets.

Usually spotted peering into dancefloor futures with his RS Produções’ crew, Nuno Beats digs deep into his own thing on ‘Sai Do Coração’, decelerating the tempo and ramping up the heat. His productions already stood out on RS Produções’ brilliant 2LP ‘Sa ú de Em 1º Lugar’, and the Portuguese DJ/producer has further sharpened his signature in the meantime, re-sculpting the bruised batida shakes of tracks like ‘PrinCIPES’ and ‘Tribal’ into muted, horny quivers. Tarraxo rhythms are always sexy, but Nuno plunges deep into it, 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.

‘Sai Do Coração’ runs like a proper album too; low-lit piano phrases wheeze thru euphoric stabs and rubbery fretless bass knocks on ‘7 Apaixonados’, while on the title track, he pipes hushed guitar riffs into suspended g-funk synths and icy, minor-key wails. It’s those street soul elements that makes the producer’s rhythms pop so effortlessly, before the latent psychedelia of ‘Confusão No Ghetto’ unravels a 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 his 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 a sweaty carnal impulse.

Turn the lights down low and lean into it – it’s just perfect music for hot summer nights.