They were "Born in the XXI Century..."

Tiago Matos, Marcio Duarte, Wagner Fernandes, Miguel Nicolau, Nuno Ruas and Carlos Sousa released last year the so-called Spartak! One EP, their debut EP.

They are pop meets electronica; they are Madchester XXI century; they are melodic tunes, little electronic gizmos and synthesisers.

A promising debut that lets us wondering about their next release.

Hailing from Coimbra, this four-piece band has shown us the way to salvation, with their brand new Luna Dance.
After the 2002 EP Too Flop Too Boogie and the 2004 album Trying To Lose, Bunnyranch are back to rescue you from temptation, and save your soul!!!

Kalo, on vocals, drums and percussion, Pedro Calhau, on bass, Joao Cardoso, on organ, piano, and vocals, and Andre Ferrao, on guitar, continue delivering us doses of furious, fast and melodic rock 'n' roll.

Inside My Head was the first single to be taken out of Luna Dance. On the prescription it's written that it shall be listened at maximum volume.

Do not resist! It is futile! Embrace the salvation!!

Somehow you find yourself in the wild west. Step into the saloon right next door!!! There's a band playing on stage. It starts slowly, with a slide guitar.

We're part of a film. A Western. Soon, the bad guys will come in and everything will change. No, they're already inside. They're 5, and they're playing dirty bits, spitting every word they say. The music, contagious, starts having its effect. Take off your shirt, scream out loud and dance!!!! The music comes bursting out of the speakers!!!!! The wild west is no longer!!!!

Welcome to the world of the Green Machine. Please join Joao Pimenta, Bruno Costa, Angelo Sousa, Pedro Oliveira and Rude on their mission. These 5 lads storming out of Barcelos, are rampaging not only Portugal but Spain as well. Prepare yourselves for this rock'n'roll machine. Expect nothing but guitars, dirty, noisy and damn fast, vocals, spitten and screamed out loud, uncontrolled bass sessions and drum sounds bursting out of your stereo.

Sometimes there's only one way out! No looking back!!! Run fast, as fast as you can!! Eyes closed, heart beating wild, sweat coming out of every pore, no time to rest.

This adventure kicks in with I Can't move (but my head runs like a horse), the album's first single. Catchy chorus, guitars played fast, dirty and noisy. After this track, there's no switching off. Summer boys continues in the same mood. In case you didn't surrender after the first track, you should be pretty convinced by now. Still, you've only gone through the first two tracks. There's five more to go.

Joao Guincho, Paulo Franco, Joao Leitao and Pedro Cacao released last year an album that breathes melody, punk and rock music; that crosses references such as Black Sabbath, Queens of The Stone Age, Kyuss, Clash or Fu Manchu, among many others.

Their music is to be listened loud and non-stop. Each track grabs you in such a way that you cannot stop dancing, you cannot resist it.
Feel the music coming out of the speakers! Feel the adrenalin going up! Feel .......... Ready!Set!Go!

Enforce The Funk is D-Mars and D-Fine debut album. After the adventures under the name of Rocky Marsiano, D-Mars returned and this time with a new project and a new partner, to what has revealed itself as one of the most interesting debuts in 2006.

In Enforce the Funk, we are asked to discover the new sounds of funk, to open our minds to the electro hip-hop, and to have an idea of what would have been if Afrika Bambaataa would have released something last year.

The Portuguese post punk electronic rock power trio returned last 2006 with Side Effects. The band of Joao Vieria, Fernando Sousa and Rui Maia brought us an electric rock and punk rooted album that has continued what was recorded on their 2004 debut album, Feeding the Machine.

Raw and fast guitar riffs, 80's synth atmospheres, catchy electro sounds, fit for the dance floor!!! Beware on these Side Effects!!!

"...Legendary Tiger Man is a one-man band show following the tradition of the roots and original Blues from the Mississippi's delta, where the blues-men performed playing and singing alone, and improvising rythms in the dance halls of the deep South...."

Paulo Furtado released Masquerade, his third adventure into the world of rock 'n' roll, soul, gospel and blues music.

On this album he managed to continue exploring his characteristic sound and still delivering an album that breathes freshness. The melodies, the slide guitar screaming sounds and the catchy tunes that put our feets moving to the beat and you singing along are all there in a wonderful shape!!!

Worth mentioning Nel Assassin's scratch on the track Say Hey Hey and Dead Combo on Let Me Give It To You.

This cd was released as a special edition together with a DVD with several films, a documentary and three videos.

You know what? Honey! Honey, you're so much......

The Oporto-based Alexandre Monteiro released last year one of the most interesting debut of the year. Cruisin Alaska brought us a new hope in the Portuguese pop music scene.

Likened to The Beatles, The Beach Boys or Syd Barrett, this is pop music at its best, with a touch of novelty and sophistication. Smooth electronics, delicate vocals, pink fluffy and dreamy melodies, children series' soundtracks, lyrics about love, hope and people. Lyrics about you and me.

In the end, this is an album to be listened several times. As the tracks swift constantly from one direction to another, we never get fed up of it, and on the contrary, we listen to it more and more!!!

"... If you only have one wish, You better make it big..."

From time to time, some try to renew Fado. Some make it , others don't.

A Naifa, with Joao Aguarela, Luis Varatojo, Maria Antonia Mendes and Paulo Martins leading the boat, have been doing it for quite a long time and last year they released their second album 3 Minutos antes de a mare encher, after the sucessful debut album Cancoes subterraneas.

If Musica, on Cancoes subterraneas, was an instant hit, now, Monotone and A verdade apanha-se com enganos do the same for this 3 Minutos antes de ......

Imagine the sound of Fado and the Portuguese guitar. Imagine the best of pop. Now imagine them merging. Did you manage to? Then, you've found A Naifa.

".... fui apanhado aos vinte e dois anos
em plena capicua inocente e rua
em amantíssima posse viral
a verdade apanha-se com enganos...."

Karlon and Praga, aka Nigga Poison, released last year Resistentes, an album that gathers the sounds of hip-hop, reggae, dub and Cape Verde musical roots, transforming it in one of the most danceable and damn explosive releases to see the light back in 2006.

It all started back in 1994. Later on 2001, they would release their debut album, Podia Ser Mi. 5 years later, the confirmation arrived with Resistentes and tracks such as the corrosive Governo Gosta de Di Paka, the danceable, funky, beat crowded Fazes Parte Deste Mundo featuring the sensual Romi, the fast forward spoken word and repetitive loops of Deixa Di Leru Leru and the bombastic and arse shakin' Yes Man.

Yes!!! The time has come for you to dance to this incredible duo.

Cindy Kat go back to the year 2003. Last year, their self-titled debut album hit the stores.

Paulo Abelho, Joao Eleuterio and Pedro Oliveira, together with very special guests Gomo, Sam, JP Simoes and Pedro Abrunhosa, are responsible for the spacey synthesiser and minimal electronic sounds, for the pop dating back to Setima Legiao, for the funk and groove of Nova Convention and Fix My Phaser, for the experimental Manifesto and the magnific Miudo, with JP. Simoes in charge of the vocal register.

2006 saw one of many Armando Teixeira's projects returning in great shape. A Grande Mentira was Balla's return, and what a comeback.
10 tracks where pop rules, always spiced with the best electronic in the house. Special note for the great new look on Mao Morta's Oub'La.

On Balla's third release, after 2003's Le Jeu, and 2000's self-titled debut album, he has returned with one of his best albums so far. Great lyrics, sensual sometimes, other times straight to the point, sexy and smooth vocals, full-bodied chorus, amazing arrangements, dressing up each track so elegantly and tempting. In A Grande Mentira we find some of the best pop production for 2006 and one of Portugal's best producer and composer.

With guests Joana Mateus (vocals on Saltei de Mim), Nanu (string arrangements on O Fim da Luta), Nel Assassin (scratch on Fugir?Ficar?), Vladimir Orlov (teremin on Construi uma Mentira) and Sylvie (vocals on Ola John Difool) we see these 10 pieces getting close to the universe of the film noir sountracks, blinking an eye to Jay Jay Johansson's pop, moving close to the elegant and sensual pop of Roxy Music and to the smooth electronics of the French band Air.

"... Gosto de ver-te passar,
Anseio por ver-te passar,
mas eu nao vou, nao vou...."

Lisbon-based Tora Tora Big Band is a collective of 12 musicians that make jazz their day to day language. .... but not regular jazz. Tora Tora is packed with warm and festive vibes.
Hailing from six different countries, Miguel Goncalves (Brazil), Johannes Krieger (Germany), Ze Maria (Portugal), Guto Lucena (Brazil), Lars Arens (Germany), Claus Nymark (Denmark), Peter Wetherill (USA), Filipe Raposo (Portugal), Francesco Valente (Italy), Hugo Menezes (Portugal), Andre Pacheco "Junior" (Portugal) and Davide Rodrigues (Portugal) have combined musical elements from African, Asian, Brazilian, South American and Caribbean music.

Spreading their musical happiness since 2001, this contagious dance machine grabbed the sounds of the world and delivered us nine wonderful tracks that burst out with vibe, movement, coolness and tunes from out there!!!!

Listen to this amazing cultural mix and to these twelve very interesting characters, each one with its very peculiar story.

"...you should go ahead and play without preconceptions, said an old man ........."

So they did..........
You Should Go Ahead are Pedro, David, Ines, and Tiago. Having heard advice, they did nothing else but taking it quite seriously and last year You Should Go Ahead released their self-titled debut album.

Their sound can be described as a combination of screaming guitars, 70's post-punk, rock and some melodic tunes. Imagine as well, Maximo Park, The Walkmen, Gang of Four or Interpol. As you can guess, their record came at the right time.

You Should Go Ahead, was released on the 29th of May 2006 . The first single taken from the album is this Like When I Was Seventeen, which was mastered by Howie Weinberg, known to have worked with names like Franz Ferdinand, Sonic Youth or The Smashing Pumpkins.

Buraka Som Sistema couldn't have thought about a better name for their first EP, From Buraka To The World.

Hailing from Portugal/Angola, this Lisbon-based collective has been spreading its music across the world. Australia, Sweden, England, USA, France, Canada, The Netherlands, Denmark, Germany,.... to name but a few, they've all discovered the new sounds of Portugal meets Angola .

This kuduro, kizomba, d'n'b, dub and hard-techno mix has taken everyone by suprise, making no prisoners. Kuduro and kizomba were a music genre partially ignored by some in Portugal. Thanks to BSS, this sound has conquered Portugal and is taking over the world, being compared to the phenomenon that hit us in 2005/2006 called Baile Funk.

After Underground Sound of Lisbon, back in 1994, taking the new electronic sounds of Lisbon to everyone, twelve years later the time has come to Angola and Portugal say "We're here" once again.

Goncalo Frota, Hugo Frota, Joao Palma and Ricardo Goncalves are the Houdini Blues. After the albums True Life Is Elsewhere (2001) and Extravaganza (2003), they are back with F de Falso, one of the most interesting albums to come out of PT last year.

The record starts with Bailare, the perfect opening track for this F de Falso, starring Adolfo Luxuria Canibal on vocals. Further on, Icaro, Tudo (starring Mito Mendes), Duas Balas, Charles Manson (cover for a Mao Morta's track) and Putuaria, are there to make this musical adventure a more pleasant trip.

Pop music: Joyful, original, fresh and addictive; guitar sounds that flow smoothly, sometimes faster, out of control, sometimes in a spiral; a touch of electronic and world music here and there; intelligent writing; scents of cabaret music; Spanish traditional chorus, samples in French ...........

First it was Punk, then ...... the guitars came...... noisy, arty, melodic.

Linda Martini are Andre Henriques, Claudia Guerreiro, Helio Morais, Pedro Geraldes and Sergio Lemos.

Last year, they released one the most waited and acclaimed albums in Portugal. After 2005's demo, the stakes were quite high for this band. Nevertheless, Linda Martini have successfully delivered us a magnificent 9 track album.

The rampaging guitars and vocals of Cronofago, the first single out of Olhos de Mongol, the melodic, spiral and heavy sounds of Da-me a tua melhor faca, the spacey calm loops and delicately sung Estuque and Quarto 210, the experimental and noisy O amor e' nao haver Policia, the explosive hit Amor combate, have confirmed Lindi Martini as one of the best new acts to come out of Portugal and one to watch for.

6 years after the release of Lupa, singer/songwriter Sergio Godinho came back with Ligacao Directa, one of 2006's most interesting records and one of his best albums released during these past years.

Our singer/songwritter by excellence returned with a marvellous album, an x-ray taken on Portugal year 2006. An album, superbly written, where stories of love meet with those of tremendous irony, humour and clever wit. A caricature of the Portuguese society version 21st century - reality shows, celebrity magazine heroes, our ridiculous criticism, our pessimism with roots dig deep down and, on the other side, our sudden bursts of confidence and happiness.

An album where tracks like A deusa do amor, O As da negacao, As vezes o amor or the great So neste Pais are sure to write their names on the book of portuguese music classics.

After 3 decades sharing with us some of the most beautiful music made in Portugal, we welcome this Ligacao Directa.

Samuel Martins Torres Santiago Mira is Sam the Kid, a 27 years old rapper/producer that has been taking hip hop in Portugal a step forth. Like Fisz Emade, in Poland, he's refused to keep doing more of the same, taking his own path that has led him to become one of the best rappers/producers in PT.

Entre(tanto), Sobre(tudo) and, more recently, the instrumental Beats Vol 1: Amor have confirmed Sam The Kid as one of the most important figures in the Portuguese hip hop movement. Making use of a very intelligent writing, we are talking about an artist that knows no barriers and that can transform every word into a lethal weapon.

Writing about the family, destiny, everyday problems, fake heroes and the illusion on easy success, together with his MPC2000, he comes up with beats, samples (using material such as old Portuguese vynil records, phone calls, recorded dialogues) and words just like a magician takes rabbits out of his hat. Words flowing at 200km/h and beats flying from A to Z never sounded so well.

Together with guests such as Melo D, Cool Hipnoise, Kalaf, Lil'John, Valete, Carlos Bica, NBC, Cruzfader, among others, this has allowed him to create a more organic album, where instruments have found a place to free their voice as well. Tracks like Poetas de Karaoke, Negociantes, Pus-me a pensar, 16/12/95 and Tempo will for sure grab your attention once you listen to them.

And now, Porugal's number One for 2006. Ladies and gentlemen, Dead Combo!!!

"Somewhere in the beginning of the 21st century, they met around the corner, in Lisbon city. Two wanderers, one a thin “fire horse” born in 66, a loner with a top hat and wrinkled face, the other, tall, born in 1970, who came from the dark world of Jazz, starsign “dog”, both swore to avenge the dead and resuscitate the living,
Influenced by Comics, they have misspent nostalgia in their pockets and the deaf soul lost in dark films. They play Lisbon, the city of the countryside, of the chimneys and of the white domes sceneries of a lost past, “fado”, western wanderer everything together in a voodoo of emotions, the Tagus, the lovers that go different ways abandoned angels on the crossroads of destiny, flowers with mixed up colours, saints, flaming chambers, naked guitars, spitted and thrown to the street, basses on fire, top hats chickens on the loose and things that roll in the street. there standing against the wall in the middle of all this mess, both of them bitting apple sins, while looking at you..." Taken from Dead Combo's biography.

Dead Combo are To' Trips on the guitar and Pedro V. Gonçalves on bass, melodica and guitar.
They got together in 2003 in order to record a track for the tribute cd to the great Portuguese guitar player Carlos Paredes. They came up with what was known later as Fado Western.

Last year Vol.2: Quando a Alma Nao e' Pequena saw the very important contribution of The Legendary Tiger Man, Marco Nunes, Sergio Nascimento and Peixe. Together they sung Lisbon; they sung fado and westerns with a double bass and a flaming guitar.

Perfect music for film scores, Vol.2: Quando a Alma Nao e' Pequena, sees Dead Combo taking a step forth into the sounds of South America and the world of Morricone.

With an album where it is quite difficult to chose our favourite track, we would like to recommend you to After peace swim twice, A menina danca #1 and Mr. Eastwood.