A short introduction 16 Billion Drum Kicks is the new major Sino outing introducing Brazil’s top electronic music producer, Renato Cohen. It delivers here a cleverly produced fusion of tribal-esque grooves, Samba Jazz and Funk amalgamated onto its firm foundation of its dancefloor Techno roots. With the help of legendary guest artists such as 70’s Brazilian Samba Rock Marku Ribas, Sao Paolo’s Samba virtuoso Bocato and Techno hero Technasia, amongst others, Renato conveys a combination of sonic subtleties and frenetic nuances that takes the listener through a myriad of emotions. A first fresh album sure to build on you, it is both a gem to listen in a relaxed state of mind as well when engaged in lightning pace. It’s in 2007, after more than 10 years of production and performances, that Renato felt he finally reached the maturity and level of eclecticism required to work on a bigger scale project. He spent the next two years working on the production of his first album, 16 Billion Drum Kicks. With the mainstream Techno style moving to a minimal, darker and melancholic sound, the album finds an alternative, conveying a global positive mood and dancefloor energy. It is an experiment that combines organic sounds with electronic music and features many Brazilian Jazz and Samba musicians, such as the 60 years-old Samba-Rock legend Marku Ribas on the track Cosmic Man, and the wellrespected trombone player Bocato, in an unexpected Samba-Jazz version of Pontapé. Techno producer and long-lasting friend Technasia also collaborated closely with Renato at the different stages of the production of the album, including mixing and mastering. It’s with this project that the two fellas realised they could bring the collaboration to the next level, and came up with the idea of a Live/ DJ performances series entitled Sino Live!, a mix of mashups of their original tracks together with loop and re-edits of well-known Techno classics. The newly formed duo performed during summer 2008 at