Frenétiko
Label: Man
Rated: NONE
WorkNameSort: Frenétiko
One of the highlights of the excellent 2004 Rio Baile Funk Favela Booty Beats compilation was De Falla’s “Popozuda Rock ‘n’ Roll,” a then-four-year-old track that’s now justifiably one of the genre’s classics. A manically thumping, riff-driven homage to big Brazilian asses, “Popozuda” stood out even on a disc so rugged and funky both for its rock-centric grunts and gleeful machismo. De Falla singer Edu K continues to milk that mindless, riffs-and-beats ecstasy on his debut solo album. Although he’s been a fixture on the Rio punk and funk scenes for more than 20 years, Edu K knows that the new international acceptance of baile funk via record junkies like Diplo (not to mention the K-Fed-sponsored introduction of the word “popozuda” into the dialect of white-trash America) means that if he ever wanted to sell any records outside of the favela, now would be a really good time. Accordingly, Frenétiko includes the song twice (once as a reggaeton remix), while the rest of the disc with cuts like “Quero ser Ator Porno,” “Sex-O-Matic,” “Hot Mama” and “Sexxxy” hews fairly close to the same formula of trashy beats and trashier lyrics. With material like this and a look that’s halfÐtattooed greaseball and halfÐhigh school jock, you’d be forgiven for assuming Edu K was little more than a Brazilian Andrew W.K. But if that’s the slight that an artist has to take for putting together an album as ruthlessly fun and party-ready as Frenétiko, so be it.
This article appears in Mar 15-21, 2006.