One For The Weekend: Rogȇ with Menahan Street Band

Just in time for summer, Menahan Street Band go full-on 70s samba soul for "Tropical Man" with Rogȇ out now!

Here's the scoop...

"'Tropical Man' is the coming together of 2 of my musical worlds, Brooklyn and Brazil. The energy of Rogê with Menahan Street Band jumps right off the record." – Tom "TNT" Brenneck

It’s the origin story for a Samba Super Hero: Rogȇ, a mild-mannered sambista is accidentally exposed to intense levels of funk and  transforms into . . . “Tropical Man.” The song isn’t his first collaboration with Tommy “TNT” Brenneck, the producer behind Budos Band, Charles Bradley, Molly Lewis, and Menahan Street and more, but it’s the perfect introduction to the  Brazilian singer, songwriter and guitarist. Building off of last year’s Curyman, Rogȇ’s international debut on Diamond West Records, the Tropical Man 12” EP documents one insane night in the studio with the Menahan Street Band as they unlock a previously unreachable hybrid of samba and soul music.

On the “Tropical Man (Club Mix)” Brenneck re-imagines and refines the organic swing into three minutes of spit-shined samba funk. Rogȇ invites you to “só chegar” (just come) to his samba de roda, an informal, afro-brazilian samba session, but instead of the usual battery of percussion instruments, he’s backed by the tightest rhythm section in the business, soaring female vocals, kinetic clavinet, and joyful brass accents. Samba has never slapped so hard.

Over one insane night sandwiched between two weekends of Coachella performances for the east coast-based El Michels Affair (many of whose members overlap with the Menahan Street Band) Roge, Tommy and gang wrote and recorded two new songs live to tape at Diamond West studios in Pasadena, California. In addition to a few different mixes of “Tropical Man,” the 12” EP (released via Diamond West Records) features two versions of “Mis Filos,” a slinky mid-tempo ode to Rogȇ’s children that could easily pass for a previously undiscovered early-seventies slice of syncopated, soft-psych samba soul.

Have a listen to "Tropical Man" below. 

Catch Rogȇ on tour: 

August, 2024

Sun 18 - London, UK - We Out Here

Sun 31 - Porto, PT - Feira do Livro

September, 2024

Mon 01 - Rotterdam, NL - BIRD

Tue 02 - Amsterdam, NL - Paradiso Noord

Sat 06 - Stockholm, SE - Fasching

Sun 07 - Oslo, NO - Cosmopolite

November, 2024

Fri 01 - Denver, CO - Gothic Theatre (Support The Budos Band)

Sat 02 - Aspen, CO - Belly Up (Support The Budos Band)