Gop Tun – A Maverick Collective

The Gop Tun festival is one of the musical highlights of the year to discover new Brazilian electronic music and to see artists I have been writing about in action. You can find anything from new Brazilian experimental artists playing live at the beginning of the afternoon to full-on peak-time techno headliners that in the past have included Helena Hauff and Octave One. This year they managed to outdo themselves by spreading out over two days and mixing up the hyper-pop of Hudson Mohawke, the exquisitely mixed techno of Ben UFO and the disparate genres of Avalon Emerson.

I arrived early so I managed to catch Numa Gama, whose album A Spectral Turn was one of my highlights from last year, play a live set of heavily reworked versions from the album, live-treated vocals with beautiful depth-plumbing bass drops while working in elements of breakbeat and weird outsider techno. Next up was Chilean based in Rio, Valesuchi, who despite clearly frustrating technical issues, managed to pull back from the brink and work the crowd with her complex techno, which can be found on her Cascada EP. The damp day before I had watched Omar Souleyman play a laptop-backed live set to what seemed to be a packed front row gathering of over-excited bead-swinging Paulista Syrian descendants. This was followed by a pumped-up rave-inflected back-to-back of Zopelar and Carista that despite the rain had us all cutting a proverbial rug. It’s a festival where the punter feels completely comfortable and everyone seems to be a friend of a friend, as I spent the days bouncing from conversation to conversation with old as well as new faces.

So, who are Gop Tun, beyond yet another ironic ’80s spoonerism? Gop Tun, which includes the label, the parties, the festival, and the DJ collective, was created by Bruno Protti, Caio Taborda, Fernando Nascii and Gui Scott in 2012. Since then they have been DJing and putting on parties in neglected neighborhoods in the city, specifically in the old centre, as well as the festival itself in a dilapidated old sports club in Canindé, near the equally dilapidated (though slowly recovering) Tieté River.

They also run a  record label which very much reflects the collective’s philosophy of eclecticism and demonstrates their commitment to supporting a national scene. Going through a random selection of releases, there’s a lot of millennial hot takes on ’80s and ’90s dance genres. A recent release by Kauan Marco is a super accessible mix of conga-led samba house and Dj ChãnceDaSilva’s “Hare Biba Hippie Rama” is a mid-’90’s-referencing breakbeat chugger that wouldn’t be out of place on Screamadelica. L’Homme Statue, working with producer wunderkind Zopelar, works up a dramatic bass-heavy mix of French and English in “Revolution”, and Niev produces the kind of thing that can be heard in the Danceteria stage tucked away in a corner of the festival; all summer vibes and ’80s Balearic programming.

I spoke to Bruno Protti about how they run the label and where do they find the releases? He told me, “[it’s] mostly people from the community, who work alongside us, where we met before, and see what they do. Some people send interesting stuff, then we start chatting, meeting at parties, and releasing something”. 

I comment that it’s a pretty eclectic label, “(There’s) no defined sound, just really seeking out good artists and good music.” Maybe the first time I really took notice of the label was the Forro Red Light release Tropeiros Trópicos. He replies, “Yes, we defo love Forro Red Light and are looking to work with them again.”

What about the future, anything interesting lined up? “We are planning to release some pop electronic artists from MPB, but with electronic music projects, but also a lot of new great producers from Brazil. To be honest, with all the work producing the party we kind of missed scheduling at the beginning of the year, but we are getting back on track now; a lot of great music to connect with so I think we will just do some two or three Varios Artistas [compilations] next alongside this pop electronic album from Clarisse Falcão.” This is, I presume, the actress and comedian, who also makes music. I recommend dipping into the catalogue, if you’re into eclectic electronic music styles, then you should find something you like on the label. Bruno also DJs under the name TYV and played a set at the festival, very much in the vein of the label: experimental, cross-genre, danceable with a dash of Krautrock. Here’s a link to his set.

Follow Sounds and Colours: Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / Mixcloud / Soundcloud / Bandcamp

Subscribe to the Sounds and Colours Newsletter for regular updates, news and competitions bringing the best of Latin American culture direct to your Inbox.

Share: