Almada Velha by DarkSunn

With almost 20 years of career behind the decks or at the frontline of the beats, DarkSunn - producer and DJ born in Almada - arrives in December with his sixth solo work. "Almada Velha", the 15-track album that the musician founder of Monster Jinx has built, is a love letter to the city that saw him born and, in particular, to the old part of the city. The electronica and hip-hop of the musician's particular beats walk around the historic Rua Capitão Leitão, contributing to put in evidence a "reliquary of the places and situations that the city has given me," in the producer's own words.

"It is a love letter that is also a bow to the city and an attempt to give back, without falling into the common places of sampling its sounds or those who live there," he says. In a register where one can perceive a depth of maturity when compared to other projects, the producer arrives with a work that is sometimes smooth, where the jazzy beats seem to rule, and sometimes cut by the more classic and frenetic sounds of old school hip-hop. The dynamism and drive of Rua Capitão Leitão are found in tracks like "Tasca do Cão", "Gandim" or "Ponto", a reference to the famous meeting place, Ponto de Encontro, while the nostalgia and sobriety found in "3 shots", "Almada" or "Boca de Vento", take us on a journey through the musician's adolescence and early adulthood.

"While "3 shots" is reminiscent of a bar where we used to go a lot, "Petisqueira" makes reference to the place where, late in the morning, we could end up eating something, where you just enter by ringing an almost invisible bell," explains the musician. Filled with memories and teachings, "Almada Velha" is a manual for understanding the producer's experiences, but also for making a sentimental cut of all the alternative culture that made and makes the city, and the musician, vibrate. "Gandim, for example, refers to Gandaia, an old skate store and cultural center of the city that later saw the birth of a skate brand called "Gandim" by the hand of Roka, who became one of my mentors in this idea of community and of giving motivation and confidence to those who were starting out", he points out.

Almost totally in charge of DarkSunn, "Almada Velha" also receives the rapper J-K to participate in the opening track, "Cacilheiro", a remix of the unavoidable "Almada", where DarkSunn's most classic broken beats are joined by guitar, wind and piano chords.

An unprecedented walk through the city, a love letter, a survival manual to nostalgia and memories, a reliquary, this is "Almada Velha".

Producer, DJ and communicator, DarkSunn - the alter-ego of almadense Bruno Dias (b. 1981) - has made music in general, and hip-hop and electronica in particular, his creative home for two decades.

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