- Hypnotic is a clichéd term in electronic music, often used to describe dynamic rhythms and melodies that don't actually hypnotize the listeners. But a visceral, profound and yet simple combination of elements makes Superpitcher and Rebolledo's music together as Pachanga Boys indescribable in any other terms. Hypnosis is what they do best.
Terraza, where Pachanga Boys played their most recent Brazilian gig, is a small venue with room for 500 people, located in a music complex that also includes Pacha and Stage Music Park, the latter of which draws thousands to see the likes of Tiësto and David Guetta. A few years ago, the tiny underground space began opening every now and then together with Pacha and slowly created it's own audience.
Expectations were high on the night Pachanga Boys played. Even though artists like Portable, DJ Koze, Margaret Dygas and Jay Haze have played the club before, most performances there have come from locals. Also, the high season's Thursday nights had just been cancelled due to low attendance, and this event was on a Thursday. Still, when I arrived at midnight, the line to get in was already long.
The night began with resident DJ Ricardo Lin, who built a classy, dreamy atmosphere that would have perfectly set the stage for the night's headliners, though there were still two acts to go. Heading in a funkier direction, another resident, Daniel Kuhnen, brought a more bouncing sound as the dance floor filled up. Next, Webba took over with his characteristic tech house style.
With a dance floor neither too packed nor too empty, Pachanga Boys played a two-hour set of raw sounds, simple drum patterns and short melodies that always had an organic feel. It put the club in a dreamlike state. Rebolledo once said his inspiration for making music is not other artists but his own childhood—he wanted to reproduce memories of himself as a child into music. That seemed to be very much what he and Superpitcher did on this occasion.