While in Lisbon, I paid
Buraka Som Sistema a visit during the second night of the
Optimus Alive festival. Lil’ John, Riot, Conductor, and MC Kalaf were curating the
Enchufada night (their label's namesake as well as Portuguese for "plugged in") on the clubbing stage which included a supremely hot and fun performance by the group themselves in addition to sets by Diplo and CarteBlanche among others. Before their thumping show (also the day of Riot's birthday), we chatted in their dressing room about the follow-up to their critically acclaimed album,
Black Diamond.
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| PERFORMANCE AT OPTIMUS ALIVE |
Formed in 2006, Buraka Som Sistema broke through with a fresh sound called "progressive Angolan Kuduro," that made club kids in their hometown of Lisbon scream and dance like hell. They are just putting the finishing touches on their forthcoming third album (slated for an autumn release) and unsurpisingly, they say the new album takes what you have known them for years up a hundred notches. Bring on the water guns.
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| PERFORMANCE AT OPTIMUS ALIVE. WATER GUNS INCLUDED. |
The next day, I met up with the guys again at LX Factory for an on-set of the first video off their new as of yet titled album. The night before we had joked that the new single/video would be called "Up All Night" since a name still hadn't been decided yet. The concept revolves around Ustream stars and a sweaty club scene in a warehouse. They may have invited me to scratch a couple of records, and I may have proceeded to actually attempt to physically "blow the roof off." Lil' John sweetly snuck in covering his ears while turning the volume down. If you're on zero sleep with a massive hangover, don't let me DJ. Lesson learned. Watch all the hilarity/my embarrassment and details on the new album on MTV News in September.
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| VIDEO ON-SET AT LX FACTORY |
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| CELEBRATING RIOT'S BIRTHDAY WITH CAKE NUMBER 3 |
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| THE CROWD FOR BURAKA SOM SISTEMA AT OPTIMUS |
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| DIPLO HEADLINING THE ENCHUFADA NIGHT |
