The sound of summer: Franco-Brazilian duo PPJ

0:12Hello and welcome to the Monaco Weekly. I am Fernando Augusto Pacheco, and while in Paris, I had the pleasure to interview the Franco-Brazilian duo PPJ, who just released their EP called Joker, an eclectic mix of baile funk, techno and hyperpop. Here is Paula and Povor.

0:54We were coming back from different countries. We ended up in the same place during lockdown. Paola was just coming back from Brazil. I was coming back from Italy. I used to live in Italy at the time. We ended up in my dad's house in Normandy for the lockdown. A very big green place. It was a lovely lockdown and that's how we started to make music together. Was Pimavera one of your first? It was exactly the first one, yeah. I loved it. I loved that song around when it came out. And Paola, of course, there's a strong Brazilian component to PPJ in terms of its influences as well. So tell us a bit more because you are Brazilian.

1:35Yeah, I was born in Brazil, but I grew up in the north of France. And I was adopted when I was young by a French family. When I was 18, 19 years old, I started to do some research about my country. So I first traveled there to search my parents' origin and stuff when I was 20. And since then, I started to play music with a producer in Lille, telling all about my searches, about this story. And I put all my little poems on electronic music because I grew up in north of France, like border with Belgium, where I first had my clubbing experience. and then I mixed my two worlds and for me it was so important to stay connected with Brazil because of that crazy story, me reconnected with my country and since this first travel I've never stopped about digging, searching, connecting with people connecting with my biological family so yeah, this is a big mix and big influences on the PPJ music I think that's very beautiful And, you know, I always have this theory, Paola, I don't know if, Paul Voigt, you would agree with me that I generally think Brazil and France, they have a very strong music admiration for each other.

2:59Because every time I come to Paris, I listen to a lot of Brazilian music. A lot of Brazilian artists come here, much more than in London, I would say. What was your relationship with Brazilian music before you start PPJ, before you met Paola? Yeah, it's a whole world with its own music. It's its own thing. It's very specific and it's really, really fascinating. So I've always been curious about it, but Paola really enriched my knowledge about it. You brought the electronic, because you had your style, you're not just in PPJ, you also do some stuff solo as a producer. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So yeah, I'm really into club music, I would say, in all its forms.

3:40But yeah, with PPJ, we can mix together the Brazilian softness and beauty of Paolo's voice and all her culture around it with the club music because we like to celebrate in the club. So it goes really well together, you know, with the strength of the club music and the softness of that part. And the new EP, it's a celebration. It's very carnivalesque. I mean, it's called Joker, right? Yeah. Maybe, Paolo, you can tell us a bit some of the songs. I wonder if we can start maybe with corps.

4:40It's a bit bossy, it's a bit MPB, but then you go to the dance floor, you know? So it's quite innovative in that sense. I love to listen to this music. It's so perfect for this new season, very sunny. We want to dance. I don't know, for me, it's like the summer tune. It can be danced in Brazil. It can be danced here in France. It can be danced in London, everywhere, all around the world. So yeah, we can imagine Roda de Samba for my part. Pauvoi is saying it started like wanting the bossa nova. But the only thing I can hear, it's like Roda di Samba. A lot of musicians around the table with guitar, cavaquinho, quicker.

5:22But there's no quicker on it. But I can imagine the happiness. A lot of people around the table drinking caipirinha or very fresh frozen beer. And dancing, being happy, wearing only a little soft dress for women. And with the electronic music, it's such a great vibe. It's unexpected. We're starting with this guitar riff, and then it comes from this amazing electronic beat in the middle. So it's kind of perfect. And it was a collaboration with Chloé Calle. We did it in the studio. It was really, really fun to do it. Really positive. I was very inspired by this track I had learned on the guitar when I played the chord.

6:04Remember, we played it together a few times. She got us our dad. you. Yes. So it's a bosa, right? Beautiful, yes. It's all together, bosa, a little bit of samba as well. Yeah, yeah. And I love, for example, I was huge, it was my first movement, electronic movement, it was Electroclash. I was quite young when it came out. There's even a little bit of that. Yeah, for sure. Joker, right? Yeah, yeah. Do you also like kind of that period? Yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure. But it's not that much on pop, as I would say. People are saying, we are Electroclash. I knew this period when I was a young adult with sexy sushi, this kind of band.

6:43But yeah, it wasn't on purpose with PPJ. And for the fans of PPJ, will we be able to see you guys live somewhere during summer? Is it still early days? Do you know anything? Very soon in Paris, actually. We'll be on the 23rd at print. It's a pop-up venue in the 20th, in Paris. It's so cool. It's a six-floor building with a massive sound system. So it will be so nice to play on that venue with such a great view of Paris. It will be so nice. We invited a lot of DJ and artist friends to play as well with us. And after, during summer, we will play in Bordeaux for Madame Loyal, invited by Ed Banger, the label, and a little festival nearby Marseille.

7:33It will be so nice. Nearby a river. And then there's not a lot of show, but a lot of things to be announced and confirmed. Well, I'll be listening to a lot of PPJ this summer. Tracks like Sexy Dossy, you know. I really, I was enjoying. One final question. I just want to know, because I always ask people, what are you guys listening to at the moment? Because my recommendation is PPJ, but Povor maybe. And I want to hear from you and from Paula. I'm listening to a lot of music because I have a DJ project where I played all my Brazilian records. And at this moment, I'm listening. I just bought the Maria Beraldo vinyl.

8:17It's a track we are listening a lot from the album Cavallo. And this is the best track of the album. And for me, it's a mix with electronic. It's such a great producing electronics, traditional music for her. With a crazy voice, it's like a sample and there's a lot of crazy cuts. And I really love this music. Oh, check it out. What about you, Pavel? Yeah, I had to have a little thought about it because I listen to so many music and I don't really have a big genre I listen to. But I just thought about something that Brock's an artist. She's Australian, but she lives in New York. And I had a session a few days with her.

8:56And she told me about that style that I've been listening to a lot recently, which is bubbling. It's like very accelerated perreo. It's Dutch Caribbean music. So it's very unique. I love that. I'm learning a lot of things here, guys.

9:32Amor, amor, amor, amor, amor, amor, amor, amor.

9:43Thank you, Paula and Povua from PPJ. Their EP Joker is out now. I'm Fernando Gusto Pacheco and the show was edited by Jack Dewars. Thank you for listening.

10:01Thank you.