Genes is the moniker of Luís D’Alva Teixeira (1997), a musician, composer and producer from Montijo who made his debut at ZDB’s Aquarium in July 2017 when he opened for US rapper Gizzle. Founder of the independent label Cachupa Records, the blog Indieota (an online community dedicated to music reviews and critiques) and a music festival of the same name, his role in boosting independent music has been commendable: “Luís behind Genes,” Sérgio Felizardo wrote for VICE, “is a kid who doesn’t give up. He insists. With others and with himself.” Genes has always viewed eventual technical and/or technological limitations with inspiring optimism, seeing them rather as coordinates of freedom and aesthetic authenticity. Lo-fi, rather than disdained, is celebrated here for its expressive qualities and for the way it gives itself to experimentalism, something very convenient for someone who is always in search of his own sound: “I prefer however to know that I’m working on an irreplicable sound… I don’t want to make money with a futile product,” he declares in his press release. Genes was the first rapper to play at Barreiro Rocks, but the truth is that, in recent times, hip hop and trap have been giving way to R&B, neo-psychedelia, and dream pop, as we can see on his latest record, the homonymous Genes, released on January 27th. It is this same record that makes him return to ZDB six years later, for a promotion concert that counts with guests that will be revealed during the concert. AR
