South America Uncovered: Part 8: Brazilian Labels Volume 2

South America Uncovered: Part 8: Brazilian Labels Volume 2

10 October, 2007 | 10.58AM

• Written by: Felipe Javier
• Filed under: Music News: renato parreira, rodolfo wehbba, south american uncovered, tropic records

In our quest to know more about the prestigious Brazilian labels, we met with artists who are established in the scene.

Tropic Records is one of the most prolific labels in South America with lots of styles and collaborations from artists from all around the world.

In this installation of South America Uncovered, we spoke with the label manager for Tropic Records, who also happens to be one of the label’s most successful artists, Renato Patriarca. We also talked with Rodolfo Wehbba, one of Tropic’s leading artists.

The Mind

Renato Patriarca has been involved in music since 1995.

He started in the rock scene, where he released three albums, and he’s also done professional studio work recording, producing and programming Brazilian commercial music.

Patriarca started doing techno gigs with his mate Felipe Vasquez in 2000, and that’s when they started Minima, his renowned live project.

“Minima [right] is a live project based on the dub concept of live mixing,” Patriarca says, describing the project.

“We don’t usually work with fixed structures of fixed live sets — there is always a touch of living in the moment.”

Patriarca works with Ableton Live, a Quasimidi 309 drum machine, a live sequencer and some effects and a mixing desk.

The Tropic

Tropic Records started in 1998 at the hands of DJ Mau Mau [right], Manoel Vanni and Franco Jr., who were well-known as the electronic act M4J.

“Tropic released some EPs that received airplay from Gilles Peterson, and support from Carl Cox and Laurent Garnier,” explains Patriarca.

“I became involved with Tropic in 2004, when the label was slowing down a little,” Patriarca says, then detailing Tropic’s entry into the digital realm.

“We were having trouble with physical distribution, and that was when we started with the digital platform, including Beatport.”

“Digital shops are a very good way to promote and sell your work — it has taken our releases to places we would not have imagined before.

“Digital distribution connects everyone in the world, and there’s still more evolution to come in this virtual business, but the first steps are already showing their advantages.”

Brazilian ways

“Brazil is very, very big and has many scenes that co-exist, but most of the time, there is no interaction between them,” Patriarca observes.

“Yet we do have many different styles that do well at clubs and festivals.”

Running into run-of-the-mill happens anywhere, and Brazil is no exception.

“We have excellent clubs like D-Edge, Vegas, and Clash, but we suffer from the same thing as everywhere else in the world; the big names that repeat year after year and the DJs that tend to play the same tracks over and over.

“But there are new, great faces coming up, and it’s good to have audiences for all types of music, including house, electro, electro-rock, progressive and minimal.”

Running a record label in this environment has its challenges.

“We usually sell music to foreign countries while buying music from Europe and the USA, so there’s not much in the way of a connection within the record business in South America.

“But there’s a lot of energy and movement in every country, which I’ve learned a lot about in [Beatportal’s] South America Uncovered Series.”

Patriarca continues to play in Sao Paulo with his acclaimed project Minima and is also preparing a new release on Tropic Records with contributors from all around the world.

The Tropical Tech-Head

Rodolfo Wehbba [right and main] is his real name and he moved to Europe just two weeks ago, as the majority of his work is done there as a DJ and as a producer.

Wehbba has an excellent catalog on Tropic Records and is one of the most respected and successful artists on the label and in Brazil.

One of his most remarkable outings happened when his project, Hybrid Players, reached Number 6 on Beatport’s Top Techno chart.

We asked Wehbba to define his music.

“I work mostly with techno and its subgenres, although I really love electro and have been releasing some stuff in that style.

“The techno that I used to make and play all over the world (tribal, funky and groove techno) is being submitted to some kind of restructuring process,” explains Wehbba, referring to minimal techno’s affect on electronic music.

“Having minimal take over techno is not good for minimal lovers, because everything that gets commercialized gets boring and starts to lose power.

“But the popularity of minimal is really good for other genres, since it influences most people and then mutates into something new.”

Wehbba just arrived in the Czech Republic and is adapting to a new way of life.

We asked Wehbba about the differences between the two continents.

“Techno has gone down a bit, but I still find lots of respect for it here, especially in Eastern Europe and the extreme west, namely Spain and Portugal .

“The main difference is that I feel that most of the big events in South America tend to focus on commercial music, and not on various types of electronic dance music.

“So many producers and DJs are sounding too commercialized, and more underground music — or should I say ‘serious’ music, whether it’s techno, electro house or whatever — is not being promoted and played as it should be.”

However, Wehbba [right] does see a light at the end of the tunnel.

“In South America, the electronic music scene is still in development, and it changes drastically all the time.”

“There are excellent artists in South America, especially in techno, such as Minima, Tiago S, DJ Murphy, Alex Dias, Sandro Searcher and Marcelinho Cic — not to mention the former techno leadman Renato Cohen.

“There’s a minimal techno producer from Argentina by the name of JP Montesino who is doing excellent work as well.”

Wehbba recently played in Portugal at the Technolandia festival, and will be traveling through France, Spain and Slovakia.

He is also collaborating on more surprises with label mate and Number 1 techno DJ Mau Mau (also on Tropic Records); the two expect to have a release on Tropic Records in 2008.

A Tropical Future

Patriarca and Wehbba are two of the most interesting artists in Brazil.

Patriarca is a man who utilizes several musical resources and is very committed to his work, while Wehbba’s music reflects his very deep personality: very complex yet easy to understand.

Tropic Records is one of the great Brazilian labels that work with artists from South America to deliver great art and always propose something new — with that characteristic Latin touch, of course.

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