Mu540 plays with mixes and brings the track to the 4×4 EP

One of the biggest names in Brazil’s electronic scene today, DJMu540 released the EP this week 4×4 (2024). About a year and a half after the release of A Smart Quebrada(2023), in partnership with Kyanthe artist brings to the public a mix of funk and house that gains an extra layer with partnerships with Garimpos, MC Laranjinha, Basement, MC Gw, Bia Soull and Mih.

In conversation with the Rolling Stone Brazil a few hours before the EP’s release, Mu540 was calm with the arrival of a new project on the platforms. “I don’t get nervous, no. I’ve already released a bunch of songs since SoundCloud,” he recalls. “Today I’m very comfortable and my audience already knows what to expect from me.” If the connection with fans takes away the burden of worry, on the musician’s part there is a desire to bring good music and fun to those who listen – on the dance floor or on the headphones.

Mu540 — artistic name of Murilo Oliveira Santos — however, he was nervous when releasing the track “DZ7,” which served as a preview of what the EP would be like. “I was excited because this was my first funk with house. The first, first, first, first that I did like this.”

I was having a conversation with the Mochakkhe was telling me about the dynamics of house and told me to study the beginning of house, I went to study. And he said how much fun I was going to have doing it.

The track was born from this conversation with his friend and professional colleague — at the time, the musician and content creator Lucas Viniciusknown as Uselessness was also present. “Otherwise, the other sounds, I wanted to do funk with house, but I wanted to bring other ideas from house: UK Garage, 2-step [garage]a very London thing too. And this oneDZ7‘ was the first one I wanted to do with a more Ibiza feel, a more hot European feel. When I saw that people accepted it well, there are already people who know how to sing, I was amazed! I was happy and it gave me more peace of mind with the rest of the EP.”

Music is exact science

The mix of funk and house may seem unusual at first and Mu540 explains how to make the result always sound so natural: “math, bro! Always.” He says that you need to know where a beat is not so that another can be fitted.

“It’s sum,” he says. “You make a sum and remove what won’t be so relevant. You have to study and know how to judge these things so that the listener hears it as something natural.” In this way, the artist has already ventured into mixtures such as house and funk, funk and drill, funk and trap. “Funk is a very adaptable language, you know?” And the DJ knows how to make mixes like no one else.

Mu540 He is a declared scholar. He is currently studying sinusoids and cosineoids based on material from the researcher Sueli da Silva Rossi. “This woman is absurd, I’m learning a lot from her about the relationship between music and physics.”

Asked about how this study adds to his art, the DJ responds: “When you hear ‘DZ7,’ move on to the next song, you’ll miss what you were listening to my. Listen to my songs and listen to anyone else’s, mine will be louder.” Despite the volume limitations of platforms, the artist uses science to raise the level of his tracks.

Meeting of friends

4×4 It has been working on for about a year. Mu540 reveals that he made several songs and chose the best ones. Some will not come out, they will be reserved for the sets. “The creative process also consists of this, of bringing the public into this mystery. Playing with me, really. It’s like a conversation.”

I like to bring the mystery, the dry cut and the breaking of expectations, and then come with a really cool deal. I like to be very interactive with people, on the album and outside of it. My person is like that.

The artist also talks about how his sets are put together. “With great affection! I think about the people who go on the tour, the clothes they wear, how much money they will take, how much they saved to go to the tour.” The artist knows that becoming recognized makes attending one of his performances more expensive, and he wants to make his fans’ money worth it.

“I’m very careful. I look at the party’s Instagram, I arrive an hour before, I read the track. I see if the line is long, if the security guards are ok and from there we’ll do the set,” he explains. Mu540. “It’s more about the environment and the people who make that environment than me arriving with the set ready and people having to swallow what I’m going to play.”

There are turns that I know are specific, that I can’t help but make. However, there are things that I have to get out there and educate the people about. I’m still a DJ, bro. It’s my job.

On the EP Mu540 brings collaborations with Garimpos, MC Laranjinha, Basement, MC Gw, Bia Soull and Mih and to select these names there was an initial criterion: “Everyone has to like me and I have to like them too. We have to, at least, have been out together.” Being friends with collaborators is a differentiator for the DJ.

All the people that the artist brought to the project are always with him and it is from these meetings that the work comes out. “In all these processes, the person asked me to make a sound and I said: ‘Then you make a song for me too,'” he reveals. “All on this exchange basis.”

Mu540 also reveals that there are still dream collaborations, like DJ R7the Venezuelan Ark and the Icelandic Bjork. “Me and Bjork it would be messy,” jokes about the artist, who has already been caught playing funk in some of her sets. “Bjork You’re a rascal, man. Björk is with us, she’s a drake.”

Visuals on another level

One of the tracks on the EP, “06:40 AM” won a music video directed by Nico Mascarenhasbetter known as Boy Princess. “We made a point of calling the Oakley bro, the André Mello,” said the DJ about the collector of the brand’s items. “The largest collection I know and all the pieces that were there, in the faces of the favela residents, were original, because you have to see that we are valuable too, that we have the aesthetics of clubber.”

This clip shows that the broken girl also wants to be on the scene and have access. “The broken people want to hang out, dance, be happy, consume. We like wealth, and the clip shows that. F**king frames, semiotics, it shows us dancing in beautiful clothes and it shows us enjoying electronic music.”

The importance of seeing yourself on screen as a protagonist alongside Laranjiha and Basement it was also important for the artist. “Everyone who contributed will forever be in my life, it’s a work of art!”, he says Mu540 who also says that the clip was approved by his partners.

Representing Brazil

Increasingly frequent presence at international events and festivals, Mu540 feels a responsibility to take Brazilian electronic music abroad. “I see it on an XYZ axis, it’s a cubic mess, you know? Because you have to pay attention to the sound you’re going to play, how, when and who you’re going to play that sound to.”

When we talk about playing for people from other countries, he understands that these people are not always aware of what funk made in Brazil actually is. “I don’t know how they understand funk there, so I have to communicate funk how it has to be communicated,” explains the artist, who makes a point of being didactic and explaining whenever possible that there is a history and a countless number of artists behind the movement.

Idol and reference

Mu540 He has fans of different ages and origins, for him the best way to communicate with all these people is through the affection he has for music. “I try to remove words that I don’t like, even chords, things that trigger,” explains the artist, who also declares that a smile is worth more than a verse.

Despite this, he still hasn’t completely gotten used to his idol status. “We are broken, we are not taught to have self-esteem from an early age, so I am learning. And it is very difficult. You don’t know how to be an idol, no one told you. I don’t know how to be an idol, I know how to be a DJ, that’s all.”

On the other hand, the artist who cites KL Jay, Iasmin Turbininha, Badsista and Evehive as your references, you can now handle this title better. “Reference is softer, it’s less impactful, because I have references too,” he explains.

Idol or reference, Mu540 show with 4×4 that does not conform to the common place. As he himself defines it, the project is “strong, solid, incomparable and unprecedented. It’s there, it’s ours!” See you on the tracks.