Four Brazilian producers have compiled two decades of experimental baile funk edits on "Collected Rips 2004-2024", blending the genre's bass-heavy roots with sounds from grime and drill.
The album brings together work from JLZ, VHOOR, Mu540 and DJ RaMeMes, who started releasing music together as Weird Baile in 2017 after connecting over SoundCloud edits. The collection reaches back to productions from 2004, according to the Guardian.
Baile funk emerged in 1980s Brazil as a syncopated blend of folk rhythms and hip-hop sampling. The genre has spawned regional styles including the hyperpop sound of D.Silvestre, DJ K's eerie "bruxaria" style, and MC Lan's house-sampling approach.
Weird Baile's signature sound strips baile funk to sparse essentials: vocals, bass and rhythm. The opening track, "Aquecimento Do Ih Caraca", pairs industrial sub-bass with chopped vocals and percussive beatboxing to create what the Guardian describes as menacing intensity.
The producers blend Brazilian and British dancefloor traditions throughout the album. On "Grime Do Weird Baile", they layer Portuguese lyrics and electronic percussion over the recognisable vocal sample from Skepta and JME's 2006 "Rhythm & Gash Freestyle" beat. Other tracks employ skittering drill bass, cavernous dubstep-influenced sounds and ambient passages reminiscent of dubstep producer Mala's 2007 track "Changes".
The Guardian notes the album's harsh, artfully arranged production creates a bridge between Brazilian and UK bass music traditions.