Music

Your Mix Fix: Shantisan

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The word mixtape has plenty of different interpretations. It used to be that mixtapes were actually DJ sets recorded on cassette tapes, but with the coming of the digital music age, the name remained the same, but the definition expanded. Nowadays, people call mixtapes many different things, some of which are not necessarily mixed and most of which were never taped. Here we try to cover them all. In this column, Juan Data gives you a worthy one every week.

DJ: Shantisan

MIXTAPE: Avenida Atlântica

Rio’s carnaval might be over, but here we’re still shaking our booties to the echoes of that batucada rhythm. This Brazilian-flavored mixtape however doesn’t come from anywhere tropical. Born Herbert Bachhofer, DJ and record producer Shantisan might be known for his deep knowledge of everything carioca, but he’s actually from Vienna, Austria.

Now, I know some of you will be wondering why I’m not featuring a truly Brazilian artist instead and I get it. But I love exploring these side-effects of globalization and, honestly, as a white South American boy who grew up on a strict diet of breakdancing and hip-hop culture, I’m in no moral high-ground to accuse anybody of cultural appropriation.

Anyway, Shantisan is about to drop his first EP on Royal Soul Records and I really dig what he’s done there, how he interpreted Brazilian soul with respect to the roots while simultaneously innovating. The EP includes remixes by DC’s Los Empresarios, Brazil’s Trotter, and many others. This mixtape is just an 18-minute-long abridged version of the EP.

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