Dj b.bOy [TMP] - "Moh Cota" &"Ta Bonito"

"[...] Even though we say mind and body, they are actually two sides of one coin" - Shunryu Suzuki

Tortoisse and hares worldwide tell curious folk, "Faster does not always mean better." Where speed is concerned, the small game claims, so is necessity. Humans running with bulls is one such instance. Golf, art appreciation, and old men at sea, however, contend against such rapid action. Appreciating the journey - maintaining awareness through interminability - is the true source of joy at hand. Truth, as it were, has advocates all around. Fielding a victor, though, proves much more difficult.

Yet speed's advantage is undeniable. Kuduro provides an apt dance rhythm but its glory is in the power it wields. What kuduro accomplishes with minimal effort is to exercise effortless control over a room's energy. At breakneck speed this music maintains a crowd's spirits lifted well into a party's trajectory. Slower rhythms, though, need not be the loser. Beats comfortable steeping in a bath drawn from their own malaise seem uninspiring - a relic unwilling to adapt - but after the careful choreography of quickness, a free-form alternative is welcomed. Variety is life's best spice, and tarraxinha is it's advocate. A variant of a semba/zouk rhythm, tarraxo is just as Angolan, but half as frantic. An African born cumbia, its 2/4 time is suited both for dance and respite.

Allow Dj B.boy to curate this after party; he is more than just a member of the TMP (Tia Maria Producoes) crew. B.boy has the Principe Discos seal of approval and "Moh Cota," is tarraxinha track from a specialist. Two vocal samples - a male highlighting rhythmic accents while a female sheds light on the off-beats - are accompanied by a synth as the drums casually, lackadaisically, preface the work for :22. With a pace set the song confidently progresses. In addition to utilizing a second synth, B.boy begins ending phrases with a descending bass drum. As the song reaches its one minute mark "Moh Cota" takes full form. Two vocal samples, ambient texture, drums, bass, and three synthesizers are all used, but hardly simultaneously, each element starring in its own section. The song loops oddly in A-B-C-A-B form. The advantage, though, is the listener's and the DJ's, both prone to get lost in the loop. All of which is due in no small part to Te Pinheiro's mastering, if the original non-album version is to serve as any indication.



A situational master at the tarraxinha game, B.boy's strongest suit is organization. Lesser DJs would perhaps find themselves lost in the plethora of materials B.Boy brings to a worksite. An impressive sense of calm and order seeps through the subwoofer. For this reason "Ta Bonito," is a stronger track than "Moh Cota." What the former lacks in standard symmetry it gains in imagination. Its ten-second introduction presents a foundation of percussion and vocals, but does little in the way of foreshadowing. The following :30 seconds alone sees a second and third drum, along with a harmonic bass, begin to play their role. A drum-fill precedes the introduction of a second short vocal sample to further play up syncopation. With this unfolds the percussion suddenly fades out, introducing a bass effect not unlike an Indian tabla. Meanwhile B.boy still controls the song. Before a sinful amount of comfort is achieved at the track's half-way marker, the producer fades the vocals, unashamed to suddenly prefer a bouncing synth. The absence is short lived, however, and the multitude of elements converge into an audio zenith following the second crew tag at 2:15. No better or worse than kuduro counterparts of the same caliber, B.boy is just another side to the same coin.

- John Noggle