The Brvtalist is pleased to premiere a new track by Código Vermelho. One of the hottest names of São Paulo's electronic music scene deliver their debut album on Under Division, presenting 10 tracks of Industrial, Acid, EBM, Trance and beyond. With a strong political character, 'Runtime Exception' criticizes the present and past of Brazil's political scenario, exploring systematic problems of society through a computational analogy to shape the texture and personality of the tracks.
Out August 12th on Bandcamp. Pick up the release here now.
We also had a chat with Código Vermelho talking about their project, the new album and much more. Read more below.
-Melanie Havens
Melanie Havens: What brought you together to start the project Código Vermelho? Could you tell us a bit more about the project's identity, concept, sound?
Código Vermelho: The project started in January 2019 with the desire to play what we wanted to hear, motivated by the underground São Paulo's techno scene and the politics in Brazil. The name alludes to the red pill in matrix as a choice to leave the status quo and be active in the techno scene. Our sound reflects our references both inside electronic music, like Detroit techno, EBM and trance and outside as the aggressive and liberating aesthetics of São Paulo.
MH: Who do you draw inspiration from? How would you describe the development of your own original, personal sound?
CV: In the process of constructing our aesthetics and sound identity, we didn't draw inspiration exclusively from specific artists or electronic music genres. But to list some techno artists specifically, we would say that our sound is inspired by a lot of different subgenres, a part of it is similar to continuous and “serious” techno, taking inspiration from names like SHDW & Obscure Shape and Perc. However, in the majority of the time, our sound fits in more of a Rave genre, with influences from Dax J, Anetha and I Hate Models. Recently, while composing the album, we started to enter the world of Technotrance, with strong influences from artists of the 90's trance scene, such as Nostrum, Emmanuel Top, among others. For our Live Performance, without a doubt our taste for the 303 came a lot from 999999999, and we tried to bring a more dynamic experience like that of Fjaak.
But with all these influences, the development of our sound definitely came from within the project, through the construction of our own language to describe music. We created names for certain sounds and sensations within the music, almost like a synesthesia. From there, all concrete influences began to merge with our understanding of music, thus creating our own identity that is in a process of constant metamorphosis.
MH: Tell us a bit about the concept of your new album. What are the themes, philosophies, ideas behind it?
CV: The album had its conception in the pandemic's beginning, on a moment of uncertainty and deep political discontentment, forcing all to reflect on how society has fallen into a ruin, the government role, the capitalism role and the wills and desires of each citizen. That way, society, as a computer, is deeply planned, systematic and rigid. From that reasoning the album's fundamental idea emerges: that all oppression is systemic. Each track is named by a computing error, from initialization errors (analogous to errors in the society's conception) to real time errors, Runtime Exceptions, which happen daily.
MH: If you had to pick 3 tracks only from the album to play it live, which would you pick and why?
CV: That's a tough question, but here are 3 tracks that summarize quite well the album experience:
Access Denied represents our view on the apocalyptic dystopia our society is heading into, it has a massive intro, with a huge EBM bass and a sample of “Doom, Havoc, Pain and Destruction” taken from a News program early in the pandemic.
Invalid Authority definitely is our pick when it comes to speed and power, with quite a Trance feeling overall it packs a modern synth bassline and a really “sharp” lead, perfect for the peak time of the night.
Unexpected Termination drives the listener to a uplifting trance contrasting with sharp and aggressive percussions
MH: What impact does the current Brazilian political situation have on your music and the country’s electronic music scene?
CV: Brazilian society, although seen around the world as very sexual, is still largelly moralistic and conservative. In each gap caused by inequality there is authoritarianism, religious fundamentalism, the exploration by the financial system and the abandonment from the state. Violence and hedonism repressed in each one of us are a mirror for the systemic repression by the social machinery. So we understand the scene was forged with the duty to free the people of morals that condemn them. Several collectives and parties have guided their aesthetics and artist selection from this point of view and that's where we came from. Our sound will always allude to the violence as a catalyzer of catharsis, which, in the end, frees the individual.
MH: To you, what is the purpose of music today? How do you believe music should influence people, artists, ravers, etc?
CV: We understand that music should not be labeled and there is no recipe for music that connects listeners and generates strong emotions. We believe that this is a time of a lot of experimentation, every week there are new releases bringing new techniques and crazy sounds that prove this point repetitively. This is something that captivates us a lot, the constant experimentation and innovation. We would say that our purpose with music is to unveil new ways to impact, in this constant “remix” of what’s already consolidated with the latest discoveries in production studios.
For sure the electronic music scene is a great place for this avant-garde to flourish, people go to festivals and parties not to judge or listen to music they already know, but to have new experiences and get to know more of what music is capable of. Not to mention the dance and collective trance that these songs are able to generate when played on a big fucking sound system.
MH: What’s coming up next for you?
CV: In the short term we are increasing the flexibility we have in our set, bringing new synths and controllers. We are also going to release more remixes that resonate with the scene's hedonism. An EP to deepen the intersection of techno, trance and EBM will also come out this year.
In the long run our vision is for the project to advance beyond music, getting into audio-visual, synesthetic poetry, fashion and become a complete experience to communicate our dystopian and liberating vision.