Macumba Quebrada by Daniel Maunick

From Far Out Recordings’ in-house producer, Daniel Maunick’s debut solo album Macumba Quebrada conjures scenes of collective hedonism from start to finish. Spanning Afro-Brazilian spiritual dance ceremonies, late-eighties Detroit techno parties and jungle and broken beat raves in nineties London, Maunick celebrates our instinctive, age-old desire to come together and lose our sense of self.

Daniel Maunick practically grew up behind the mixing desk. As the son of Brit-funk legend Jean-Paul ‘Bluey’ Maunick (of Incognito fame), he found himself immersed in music from an early age, and quickly became involved in London’s drum n’ bass, acid-jazz, house, broken beat and soul scenes, releasing his first production at the age of sixteen on Gilles Peterson and Norman Jay’s Talkin’ Loud label. Since then, he has produced albums by the likes of Azymuth, Marcos Valle, Terry Callier, Incognito, Ivan ‘Mamao’ Conti and Sabrina Malheiros.

Reflecting his dual residence between Rio de Janeiro and East London, Macumba Quebrada features deep house stompers and broken bangers littered with Brazilian rhythms - in the form of both dusty percussion and Maunick’s intricate drum programming. But the album sees Daniel draw inspiration from across the black music continuum, and the rich histories of communal celebration in Detroit techno, Chicago house, London D’n’B and New York disco. Bringing all this together in explosive peak-time club tracks, moments of eerie ambience, South American swing and tribal earthiness, Macumba Quebrada expands on Maunick’s recent vinyl-only EPs ‘A Vicious Circle’ and ‘Sombra Do Dragao’, with a 13-track double LP and 14-track CD and digital release.

Taking its title from a syncretism of South American spiritual practices, the cover art is photograph taken by acclaimed French photographer and self-taught ethnographer Pierre Verger, who travelled the world documenting civilizations that would soon be effaced by progress. Settling for good in Salvador, Brazil, Verger became initiated into the Candomblé religion, eventually officiating rituals and ceremonies within the community. Without having become an ordained priest, Daniel Maunick shares both Verger and Far Out Recordings’ love for Brazil: its people, its culture and its music.

Having produced records by the likes of Azymuth, Marcos Valle, Terry Callier, Incognito, Ivan 'Mamão' Conti and Alex Malheiros, Daniel Maunick’s own dance-floor focused productions retain that mysterious, unconventional quality that sets truly special club tracks apart from the rest.