Zé Bigode Orquestra 'Tikulafe' (Veggie Tales Vol. 4)
14th April 2021
Zé Bigode Orquestra
'Tikulafe' / Tikulafe (Melodiesinfonie Remix)'
(Veggie Tales Vol. 4)
Watching the video of this brand new Veggie Tales cut patently illustrates the joy and passion exhibited by this band from Rio De Janeiro. Starting with a rock-solid bass line, 'Tikulafe' stays firmly in the Afro-beat groove, with just a couple of excursions, once into jazz fusion with a guitar break, but also into a group vocal that unmistakenly places their take on this sound in Brazil. It's all very slick with musicianship shining in every area of the studio, the precision of the arrangement and production is front and centre suggesting the writers have lovingly crafted this song.
On the B side we get a remix from Melodiesinfonie, who I can imagine relished obtaining the stems of this as they are so sweetly recorded. This late-night/Balearic/house mix is full of breakdowns and whooshing atmospherics that captures some of the spirit of the original's arrangement, but in that French housey vibe so loved by sunset soundtracking DJs the world over.
There is also 3rd track that is sadly digital only. The Filoq mix follows on from the Melodiesinfonie mix in its house vibes, but deepens it, darkens it and oozes energy and is this reviewer's favourite mix. This release most definitely needed to be a double pack!
Buy: Bandcamp