Artists of the Day: Zuco 103 (Various Recordings, 2000-2009)

With a career spanning 7 LPs to date, including two remix albums, Netherlands-based Zuco 103 have pioneered a self-proclaimed hybrid musical genre called Brazilectro. This unique ecléctica blends elements of samba, bossa nova, acid jazz, funk, electronica, and house, with the electronica/house elements amplified in many of the remix tracks.

It's no wonder that there's a seamless flow and intermingling of musical styles in the Zuco 103 sound. The 3 core members have been collaborating together since the late 1980s, where they met in Conservatory school in Rotterdam, and initially became known as Rec.a. Vocalist Lilian Vieira hails from Brazil, and sings primarily in Portuguese, while the two Stefans, Stefan Kruger (percussion) and Stefan Schmid (keyboards/synth) are Dutch and German, respectively.

Zuco 103 is another one of the bands I first heard when I was working at Sony Studios in 2003, a nugget I found when digging through the notoriously chaotic piles of CDs in the 'Music Library,' which was housed in a particularly disorganized and essentially unfiled storeroom in the Film Soundtracks Department. For more detail on that experience, you can click on this previous post. The specific LP I uncovered there on my archaeological dig was 'Tales of High Fever,' Zuco's sophomore LP, released during the previous year, 2002.

I was immediately drawn in by the opening cut on the LP, 'Treasure,' with its mellow R&B/Funk/Acid Jazz groove and acoustic guitar picking (check out the live video below, for an even more groovified version!). The entire album exudes a tropical club/dance vibe throughout, most notably on tracks like 'Peregrino' and 'Brasil 2000.' But it is really 'Curso de Reclamaçao-Liçao 1' (Complaining Course, Lessson 1), with its propulsive guitar/keys opening, frenetic rapid-fire, multi-tracked vocal assault by Vieira, and infectious Tropicália percussion loops, that got me deep into the Zuco 103 groove. That song in particular contains elements that recall the Zap Mama sound, even the album artwork style is strikingly similar, check it out!!!

1. Treasure (2002, Six Degrees Records, from the LP Tales of High Fever)

      (2005, Live Video Version, Sofia Jazz+Festival!)

2.  'Curso de Reclamaçao-Liçao 1' (Complaining Course, Lessson 1) (2002, Six Degrees Records, from the LP Tales of High Fever)


My further Zuco explorations led me through their entire catalog, and I've picked 4 more tracks to share among my faves. Going back to their debut LP, 'Outro Lado,' there's the irresistible, house-inflected 'Zabumba No Mar,' with its speak-hop vocals, and lotsa scratching, 'ba' backing vocal chants, and squeaky synth effects to back dis' shit up right! There's also the title track, 'Outro Lado,' with its smoky multi-tracked Vieira vocals, sensuous basslines, and chillaxed keyboard stabs.

3. Zabumba No Mar (2000, Six Degrees Records, from the LP Outro Lado)


4. Outro Lado (2000, Six Degrees Records, from the LP Outro Lado)


The Brazilectro doesn't get any more fluid and slinky than on 'Pororoca,' my fave track from 2008's 'After the Carnaval' LP. It's soulful and jazzy, and smooth as smooth can be, with all the positive connotation of 'smooth,' rather than that notoriously flaccid 'smooth jazz!'

5. Pororoca (2008, Six Degrees Records, from the LP After the Carnaval)


What's even better than that track is the reworked 'Back Home,' from the same After the Carnaval LP, which is rendered completely unrecognizable from the original LP cut by Dutch house/breakbeat/trip-hop maestros Kraak and Smaak. Believe me, this is very good thing! This wild track, 'Back Home (Kraak and Smaak Disco 103 Remix),' appears on the 2009 Zuco release 'Retouched! After the Carnaval Remixes.' Punctuated by tribal-esque Vieira chants, synth fills that ping-pong around the song like some early 80s Atari video-game sound effects, some choice house beats, and a severely funkified repeating disco bassline, this is a DJ's dancefloor dream! Personally, I love to play around with this one during my DJ sets! Zuco 103 in Tha House!

6. Back Home (Kraak and Smaak Disco 103 Remix) (2009, from the LP Retouched! After the Carnaval Remixes)