Cultura Dura is a Remezcla and Mike’s HARDER content and event series highlighting emerging Latin urban culture. We’ll be exploring scenes that haven’t really gotten any coverage anywhere else – from block parties and street art to underground sports and raw, young artists making movements pa’ la calle.
This Thursday, July 24th, catch the kick off of Remezcla’s 8-city Cultura Dura tour, where you can see Füete Billēte and Álvaro Díaz make their NYC debut at Santos Party House alongside Venus X and Brenmar.
You can learn more about the boricua hip hoppers in Remezcla’s new feature documentary, highlighting the growing scene that is throwing parties, dropping albums, and overall generating more excitement than anything else in Puerto Rico’s underground. In the meantime, we’re kicking off our Essential Facts / Essential Tracks series to showcase all of the artists involved in the Cultura Dura tour. Next up: Brenmar.
Essential Facts
Known as: DJ and producer, linking R&B and hip hop hooks with polished uptempo club beats drawing from Jersey Club, footwork, UK bass, and more.
Background: NYC by way of Chicago.
Sounds like: Self-described “club music for the present,” meaning his sample bank is endless as he flips current bass-heavy trends into his own high-velocity sound. It’s a versatile feel that takes him between between live dates like Austin’s cumbiatronic Peligrosa, LA’s flamboyant, genre-fluid Moustache Mondays, and NYC’s weekly House Party hosted by DJ Sliink and Just Blaze. He has a knack for connecting styles rooted in his own hometown’s traditions – house, footwork, juke – and linking it to current global musical conversations.
Why he’s a Cultura Dura guest artist of honor: Having reached the point of managing to balance non-stop touring with non-stop production, he’s beyond proved his prolific abilities. Brenmar recently unleashed a barrage of original club-ready tracks into the world with High End Times Vol. 1, with collaborations with Mykki Blanco, Uniique, Sasha Go Hard, and Ian Isiah. The remix series takes the release to an extra-special level with remixes across scenes from Byrell the Great, Falcons, and DJ Tiga.
Mega-Bono Fact: Brenmar was part of Red Bull Music Academy’s class of 2011. And, unrelated: there is some sweet cell phone footage of his performance at DF’s Salón Caribe DF in 2012.
Essential Tracks
https://soundcloud.com/ssense/brenmar-history-of-chicago-mix