Auntie Flo
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Auntie Flo

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"Future Rhythm Machine - Bleep Review"

Glaswegian label Huntleys & Palmers provided one of the surefire surprise aces of the first part of 2012 with fellow Glaswegian Brian d’Souza aka Auntie Flo’s follow up to his hotly tipped ‘Goan Highlife’ EP. With ‘Future Rhythm Machine’, d’Souza further explores his affection for pan-global flavours, serving up eight tracks of percolating bass manipulations, lush Afro-futurism and catchy, groove-some appeal.

One wouldn’t usually associate the weathered climes of Glasgow with the sun-drenched humidity that pours out from d’Souza’s infinitely infectious debut, yet the Scotsman undoubtedly knows more than a thing or two about the bodysonic appeal of such a tropical hybrid. From the moment the opening track ‘Haven’t Got Any Body’ lifts off, energy levels are optimised with a swinging picked-string rhythm, futurist, soaring FX, shaking hand drums and the vocal help of Chilean singer, Mamcita. Elsewhere, ‘La Samaria’ swings with pendular weight between the sexed-up sounds of cumbia and a more eerie sense of placing, created with screeching effects and haunting distant howls, whilst ‘I Want to Blow Your Mind’ is a high octane, uptempo frenzy replete with shuffling percussion and vocal shrieks of sheer delight. The rest of the album continues in a similar vein in a wild blur of colour and sunshine - a series of afro-instrumentals inspired from the sounds of highlife to kwaito house, and fully charged with addictive energy. A debut to behold... - Bleep.com


"Future Rhythm Machine - Resident Advisor Review"

Glaswegian Brian D'Souza's Auntie Flo project always seemed like a potentially problematic one to me, taking afrohouse and tribal tropes to a place of pseudo-ethnographic facsimile. The few tracks bearing the Auntie Flo name before this release, however, have worked in spite of their obvious gimmick, and the "problems" begin to fall away completely in the wake of Future Rhythm Machine.

Over the course of 33 minutes D'Souza plots out a course far beyond the purview of those previous tracks. Things start out predictably but promisingly with "Haven't Got Any Body," a bass-heavy rattler loaded with twangy strings that poke out from between the beats, and flow into "La Samaria," a vocal track with Mamacita that balances its UK-friendly shuffle with even-more-UK-friendly descending basslines. While there are still clubby tracks like the mellotron-heavy "He Makes the People Come Together"—which sounds like Crazy Couzins transported to the late '70s—the longer format allows D'Souza to play around, so we get gorgeous little interludes like the string-led lament of "Can I Have Him," or even better, the spiraling arpeggios of "Yllw Fllw."

Future Rhythm Machine is more inviting than your average "bass" project. The imposing squalls of sub on the percolating closer "Futurismo" are more like a friendly hug than a blow to the chest. It's that happy medium that Auntie Flo is most comfortable in: I can't decide if the highlight "Train" is dance floor dynamite or consummate headphones music, with a plaintive lope that recalls Pittsburgh Track Authority and striking string/percussion interplay, but like most of Future Rhythm Machine it's bound to tickle your pleasure centers, strike you dumb and move your feet all at the same time. - Resident Advisor


Discography

Goan Highlife EP
Oh My Days
Auntie Flo Remixed [Pearson Sound / SOPHIE / Alejandro Paz]
Future Rhythm Machine LP
Rituals EP

Remixes
Crystal Fighters - Plage (PIAS)
KonKoma - Handkerchief (Soundway)
Miaoux Miaoux - Hey Sound (Chemikal Underground)
Drums of Death - Waves City (Civil Music)
Dave ID - Zulu Bounce

Photos

Bio

Brian d’Souza aka Auntie Flo hails from Goa by way of Glasgow, where he is currently resident DJ at the Sub Club with his own Highlife parties which focuses on ‘future afro-beat’ sounds from the across the black Atlantic diaspora – everything from Chicago House, Detroit Techno and Disco to Cumbia, Kwaito and Afrobeat.

Auntie Flo’s productions have been causing a recent stir following debut 'Goan Highlife' EP on Huntleys and Palmers winning him fans across the musical spectrum. It sold out on pre-order and was rated ‘Tune of the Week’ at Rub a Dub and Boomkat. This lead to an immediate repress, Radio 1 airplay and receiving support from Ricardo Villalobos, Gilles Peterson, Andrew Weatherall, Caribou, Tensnake amongst others. Next up, ‘Oh My Days’ was rinsed from the likes of Jackmaster, Ben UFO, Blawan, Joy Orbison and Pearson Sound, the latter of whom liked it so much he asked if he could remix it.

Auntie Flo’s 'Future Rhythm Machine' album dropped in Spring 2012 to critical acclaim from across the board including a recent inclusion to Bleep's Top 10 albums of 2012 (so far) and a very commendable 4/5 rating from Resident Advisor. The album also presented opportunities to perform live on the Boiler Room and at the hallowed BBC Madia Vale studios for Rob Da Bank on Radio 1.

Auntie Flo’s influences are far flung, referencing; Villalobos, Four Tet and Caribou, to Fela Kuti, William Onyeabor and kwaito, alongside Kode 9's Hyperdub, Chicago house, Matias Aguayo’s Comeme imprint. DJ'ing in Glasgow over the past ten years has helped him develop a tight mixing style and an uncanny ability to read a crowd.

These skills have recently been in demand across Europe including appearances legendary venues including Panorama Bar, Fabric, Razzmatazz and Plastic People. Not to mention festival appearances at the likes of Dimensions, Stop Making Sense, Bestival, Love Box, Rockness, TinThePark and many more.

The Auntie Flo live show is a work in progress, utlising a strict "No laptops policy" and a full hardware set up alongside Glasgow's favourite South African, Esa Williams (Rememory Music / Subclub) to provide live percussion designed for dancefloor destruction.

The end of 2012 will see him release records on Kompakt, Mule Musiq and Soundway, headline Optimo's notorious NYE party and play alongside Ame and Henrik Schwarz at Berlin's legendary Panorama Bar.