Silvestre: Tracks That Shaped My Sound

Silvestre—the self-styled “low IQ producer” from Portugal’s Bay Area—doesn’t so much release music as detonate it. His new single, “dead” feat. oneofunderworld (out July 11 via Studio Barnhus), opens by skewering Kylie Minogue before plunging into a dark, lurching breakbeat under a haze of haunted synths. It’s a perfectly abrasive tease for Fantasma, his forthcoming 16-track LP, and another reminder why labels from R&S to Secretsundaze keep his number on speed-dial.

When pulling together Fantasma, Silvestre sifted through the sonic ghosts of his past—club nights on Lisbon’s outskirts, half-remembered pirate radio broadcasts, and records he once rinsed to death in dimly lit bedrooms. He cherry-picked cuts that carried emotional static: rough-edged breakbeats from early jungle, moody electro obscurities, and pop hooks just warped enough to feel dangerous. Rather than chase trends, he hunted for tracks that made him wince, laugh, or feel slightly unhinged—the emotional textures he wanted embedded in Fantasma. The result is a record shaped as much by gut reaction and mischief as by technical precision. We spoke to him about the tracks that shaped the album.

Actress - Mentor 

I’m an actress fanboy, there’s no other way of putting it. I picked this track specifically, as it’s in the beginning of his journey to create his own sound. It's an electroish track with Detroit influences but you can already see Actress’s own Identity coming through, the way he sampled the vocal as an example.

It’s the first track of his own label Werkdiscs, as time went on I truly believe he created his own genre of music and I’ve been a fan until today. On my end, I also love to make electro tracks from time to time, but I don’t like to listen to European electro which is 100% a cheaper version of Detroit music, so this track inspired me particularly to try to explore genres I like but never forgetting my own style.

Marine Girls - A Place in the sun 

So I love the entire album ‘Beach Party’, their debut album. I love how Marien Girls made it look easy to make a beautiful summer love song. It’s simple , lo-fi and the melody stayed with me, it’s somehow dreamy which is a state of mind I try to replicate on my music. Maybe I’m reaching but I think there's a deepness in their ability of describing feelings without writing too much, I like when small sentences have layers, I try to think about it when I write my own lyrics.

Eliza - Whoever You Are 

Again, I love the full album, and decided to pick this one as it is a bit more minimalistic than the rest of her songs.

The album ‘A sky without stars’ carries a lot of self-honesty, raw vulnerability and self-reflection and I think Whoever you are is the climax of the Album’s Energy. Hard to pick between the studio or Live at RAK version. One of my dreams is to make a beat to Eliza ahah

2562 / A Made up sound - Melodrama

Ok back to electronic music. It’s so hard for me to pick a favourite on 2562 / A Made up sound  discography. I guess Melodrama is the one because how energetic and danceable it can be without a clear drum structure. I find it incredibly emotional as well, and such a banging intro for his album !! It’s one of those unique electronic artists where you struggle to label in one genre and I love him for that.

Gabor Lazar - Ep4 

Released on the incredible ‘Death of Rave’  Label. Ep4 from Gabor Lazar is such an emotional razor synth composition. What made me love this song is not being able to explain how such an alien synth could give me such goosebumps. It’s granular , single-noted ( but not really ) , algorithmic but human feelings come over the surface as it feels it could’ve been recorded in a one take single jam.