‘Brass Climate’ is the second single from his collaborative project Barbarossa Beat – a new project from veteran drummer Dave Barbarossa, teaming up with The Funky Ginger for a groove-led release that trades electronic pulse for jazzy swing and big-band Latin rhythms. Bringing a joyous sense of energy and some wonderful musicianship, the track is as comparable to Ezra Collective as it is to more straight jazz contemporaries.
Released via Invisible Hands Music / Virgin Music Group, the new single follows debut ‘Phattie’s Lunchbox’, which earned its first BBC Radio 6 Music support from Chris Hawkins, alongside airplay across US college radio. With ‘Brass Climate’, Barbarossa continues to explore the breadth of his playing, building an intricate, rhythm-driven track around a loop of his own drumming.
Best known for his work with the original Adam & The Ants line-up, Bow Wow Wow and Republica, Barbarossa has also collaborated with Fatboy Slim, Chicane, Roland Gift and Chime Oblivion. Barbarossa Beat offers a fresh platform for the drummer to push beyond familiar territory, with a different collaborator joining each monthly release through 2027.
On ‘Brass Climate’, the focus shifts towards a more organic, rhythmically complex sound, drawing on the swing of jazz and the energy of big-band Latin arrangements. At its heart is a loop of Barbarossa’s drumming, which collaborator Simon Law has transformed into the foundation of the track.
“This is as much about Simon Law’s genius as my drumming. He found a loop of my drumming and made it work. The drumming part is a jazzy, swingy thing with a paradiddle in it somewhere! I was inspired by big-band Latin rhythm sections, which I’ve boiled down to my four limbs — just trying to get an essence of the feel of it all.”
The single arrives after a standout summer for Barbarossa, who joined Tim Burgess on stage at Kendal Calling before the pair recorded live versions of ‘The Only One I Know’ and ‘Clutching Insignificance’. Released straight to vinyl as part of the festival, the recordings added another chapter to Barbarossa’s continuing musical journey.
Despite a career spanning some of the most distinctive names in British alternative and electronic music, Barbarossa sees his new project as an opportunity to showcase aspects of his musicianship that have not always had the chance to come to the fore.
“I’m proud of the work I’ve done through the years but I never felt it expressed the diversity of my playing like it did in the early Ants and Bow Wow Wow. In these collaborations, there are some real surprises along the way.”
With ‘Brass Climate’, those surprises are already taking shape. Moving between intricate percussion, Latin-inflected rhythms and a loose, swinging groove, Barbarossa Beat is establishing itself as a project driven by experimentation and collaboration, giving an accomplished drummer the space to put rhythm firmly in the spotlight.
Listen below:
