Gato Preto is the enigmatic duo of Mozambican MC Gata Misteriosa and German-Ghanaian producer Lee Bass. From their home in Düsseldorf, these Afro-futuristic bass travelers craft their own global take on MC-driven electronic club music, combining Lee's polyrhythmic explorations with Gata's relentless and passionate vocal delivery in Portuguese slang. They released their full-length album, Tempo, last March and show no signs of slowing down, with gigs throughout Europe, a festival scheduled in Uganda, and a recent trip to Cape Verde giving them the opportunity to collaborate with a wide array of contemporary Lusophone African musicians as part of the Lusafro exchange.
Today we bring you the video premiere for one of their latest singles. On "Feitiço," Gato Preto teamed up with Chicago-based vocalist MC ZULU and French producer Flore to deliver a club-ready kuduru/breakbeat track. The Portuguese word feitiço can be translated to "magic spell," and in the song Gata raps about the bewitchment of romantic relationships and their potential toxicity. In the video, Gata, MC ZULU and djembe player Moussa Diallo inhabit industrial hallways and alcoves whose walls are packed with fluorescent tube lamps, an environment at the same time intimate and jarring, like a disturbing dream. Dancers perform around them throughout, oscillating between elation and increasingly erratic and unsettling movements as they push themselves towards exhaustion. Gato Preto has always presented a powerful aesthetic drawing heavily from cyberpunk and science fiction imagery while being in constant dialogue with their African heritage, and this work remains in line with the consistency of their vision.
The video coincides with the release of the Feitiço EP, for which Gato Preto draw upon an international cast of global bass remixers: Boyfriend, Edu K, Ckrono, BAD ZU, DJ Emil and Lata Dub.
Check out the video for "Feitiço" below, and stay tuned for an in-depth interview with Gata Misteriosa and Lee Bass.
https://youtu.be/LT5ZreCL51I
Get the Feitiço EP below on Bandcamp or on iTunes.
