Lucas Arruda

Since the release of his 2 first albums on Favorite Recordings, Lucas Arruda has quickly established himself as one of the most talented young artist and composer from Brazil. His music is filled with fusion style, mixing influences and elements from his Latin musical background, with his genuine admiration for Jazz, Soul and Funk music. In spring 2015, it was also not surprising to find Lucas Arruda back with a new LP called SOLAR, receiving great supports and feedbacks from international media and tastemakers. One of the highlight of the album was the song “Melt the Night”, on which Lucas asked legendary producer Leon Ware for his help, reminding his collaborations in the 80s with Marcos Valle, when they perfectly merged together the sophisticated Boogie and AOR touch from California, with the blazing sense of rhythm from Brazil. Today, Lucas Arruda and Favorite Recordings proudly present a brand new single, announcing the release of Lucas’ third efforts later this year. This new opus is pursuing the music direction set with SOLAR, mixing touch of Blue-Eyed-Soul, Pop, Soul and Brazilian styles together, and influenced by the path of legendary Brazilian producer Lincoln Olivetti, who recorded some of the biggest stars of Brazilian music (Marcos Valle, Jorge Ben, Tim Maia…). In Lucas words: “These two tracks represent the whole spirit of the new album. In this record I really wanted to honor Robson Jorge & Lincoln Olivetti. They are the main influence on this record. We recorded the basic tracks for the album in the same studio that Lincoln Olivetti did his last works. So, this was very important to capture the true essence of Brazilian Funk/AOR tradition. Hope you guys enjoy it!”

Since the release of his first album in 2013, Lucas Arruda has quickly established himself as one of the most talented young artist and composer from Brazil. His music is filled with fusion style, mixing influences and elements from his Latin musical background, with his genuine admiration for Jazz, Soul and Funk music.In spring 2015, it was also not surprising to find Lucas Arruda back with a new LP called SOLAR, receiving great supports and feedbacks from international medias and tastemakers. One of the highlight of SOLAR was the track “Melt the Night”, on which Lucas asked legendary producer Leon Ware for his help, reminding his collaborations in the 80s with Marcos Valle, when they perfectly merged together the sophisticated Boogie and AOR touch from California, with the blazing sense of rhythm from Brazil.Willing to enlighten even more this timeless song, which could easily be produced in the early-mid 80s, Favorite Recordings decided to give it a brand new suit and found the perfect tailor with Nu-Funk raising producer, XL Middleton. Part of the modern-funk movement and based in Pasadena, XL has released volumes of work, the sound of which embodies the party feel, bringing music back to where it was before it found its way into upscale clubs, while at the same time mixing it with a futuristic brand of funk inspired by legends such as George Clinton, Roger Troutman, or Morris Day.The result is a stunning remix, bringing “Melt the Night” into a futuristic Boogie-Funk world with massive basslines and heavy beats!! This great vinyl 12inch comes with Original and Instrumental Versions on the B-Side, to finalize a perfect package for DJs and diggers.

2 years after the release of his first solo album, Favorite Recordings proudly presents SOLAR, second album by acclaimed Brazilian composer Lucas Arruda.Lucas Arruda’s born in 1983, in a Brazilian state called Espírito Santo, near Rio de Janeiro. Coming from a musical family (his dad and older brother are musicians) he started playing and listening to music very young. At the age of 13, he was also playing professionally already. After studying electric guitar and playing in various bands, Lucas passion quickly turned into Rhodes and keyboards, expanding his musical range of skills.At the same time he started his own home-studio and a real musical career in Brazil, playing and producing for various projects with his older brother Thiago, and gaining great local support from people like Ed Motta, William Magalhães (Banda Black Rio), Robert Lamm (Chicago) or Hyldon (Brazilian soul legend).In 2012, Fabricio Di Monaco (from Modo Solar) introduced Lucas’ music to Favorite Recordings’ head honcho, Pascal Rioux, who was immediately seduced by Lucas’ demos and talent. One year after, Favorite Recordings released Lucas Arruda’s first solo album titled Sambadi, and received great supports from many international DJs and media, who all acclaimed Lucas’ natural skills for composition and arrangement.Following this successful first effort, here comes SOLAR, new and second solo album by Lucas Arruda. Pursuing the sound established with Sambadi, this new project is again fully composed by Lucas, and filled with his fusion style, mixing influences and elements from his Latin musical background, with his genuine admiration for Jazz, Soul and Funk music; On “Melt the Night” for example, Lucas asked legendary producer Leon Ware for his help, reminding his collaborations in the 80s with Marcos Valle, when they perfectly merged together the sophisticated Boogie and AOR touch from California, with the blazing sense of rhythm from Brazil. For “Uma Onda”, he invites Alex Malheiros, bassist of the famous Jazz band Azymuth, for a splendid tribute to their specific fusion sound and influence on the Brazilian music scene. Finally the song “Agua”, co-written with his longtime friend Fabricio Di Monaco, is a beautiful ballad which illustrates perfectly Lucas’ passion for Soul music stars such as Stevie Wonder or Curtis Mayfield.On top of these great collaborations and a few more surprises, SOLAR also differs from its predecessor by a lot more elaborated production process, offering an authentic and warm sound, faithful to Lucas’ heroes and inspirations. Mostly recorded at Sala A Studio in Brazil, many drums parts were also taken at the fully analog Ambience Studios in Finland, by label mate drummer Jarkko Lepisto. The entire mix was also done in Finland on a Neve 8108 console from 1978, and under the direction of Andre Solomko and Petri Asiala, using only analogic technology and a Studer master tape to record the final pre-master.The result is a timeless album, which should definitely established Lucas Arruda as one of the greatest and most talented Brazilian musicians these days.SOLAR will be released as a deluxe gatefold double LP and limited CD edition on May 4th 2015.