With its Brazilian Beats series Mr Bongo has been introducing the masses to the most innovative sounds of Brazil for the past seven years. For instalment number eight they have opted for a review of the back-catalogue and placed DJ Phat Kev in charge.

The danger with any cut n’ paste album, particularly one that is the work of a two times DMC finalist, is that attention to the art of turntablism will overshadow the music — thankfully Phat Kev avoids such pitfalls. He is clearly a talented DJ (his beat juggling on the ‘Drum Juggle Skit’ and exemplary mixing are testament to that) but he is not scared to let the music breathe.

As you would expect the coolman of Brazilian music Seu Jorge is featured, as is Juco Chaves’ incredibly infectious ‘Take me Back to Paiui’, but the album is more than a mere compilation of the most successful tracks collected from its predecessors. Quarteto Uai is hardly a household names in Brazil but ‘Marcos’ is one of the album’s highlights; the same can be said of Heavy Joker and ‘Take Me Back to Cola Bossa’.

The collection is not restricted to modern classics either; despite having died over 20 years ago Jackson do Pandeiro contributes one of the freshest tracks, albeit in a reworked form, with ‘Eu Balanco’. Another gem dug from the dusty crates is Miguel de Deus’s ‘Black Soul Brothers’ first released in 1977.

Drum n Bass heads will recognise Jorge Ben’s ‘Take it Easy My Brother Charlie’ and ‘Carolina Carol Bela’ while fans of Gilles Peterson’s ‘In Brazil’ podcasts will remember the start of Kev’s bonus remix.

‘Brazil Beats N’ Pieces’ is a carefully crafted selection of some of Brazil’s finest; it is a must for Brazil beat fans, turntablists and music lovers in general.

Links:
Mr Bongo
Phat Kev’s MySpace
Kev’s preview podcast