Carne de Pescoço

Carne de Pescoço (2018), by Heavy Baile, captures the soul of funk carioca and spices it up with electronic music. What started as a dance and music collective that produced funk carioca parties in Rio de Janeiro resulted in an album that expands the frontiers of a Brazilian genre that is famous for making hips move. While the lyrics make you dive into funk carioca’s symbolic universe (its codes, values, and language), don’t worry if you are not a Brazilian Portuguese speaker. Feeling (and dancing to) the electronic beats, bass and drums is the central experience in Carne de Pescoço. Provocative and honest, the album talks about the pleasures of sex in “Linguada de Ouro,” an explicit allusion to female oral sex; girl power and self-esteem in “Berro,” recorded with the iconic funk singer Tati Quebra Barraco; and feeling good smoking weed in the sensual and hypnotic “Maconha e Pente.” Alluding to the old school of funk carioca in the 1990s, “Heavy Baile Stylee” explores synthetic possibilities for vocals and gets close to the Miami Bass aesthetics — one of the currents that inspired funk carioca in its early days.