Born in Maceió, in the Brazilian Northeast, Bruno Berle gives bossa nova the hyperpop treatment it deserves (should we call it hyperbossa?). No Reino dos Afetos 2 filters Arthur Russell-like melodies through inventive uses of autotune and DAW presets.
Category: Brazil
Grimório de Abril :: Castelo D’Água
A new release, Castelo D’Água, comes out now via the incredibly consistent Brazilian micro-label Municipal K7. It maintains the characteristic amplitude of Sanchez’ landscapes while attaining more closely to the wetness indexed in reverb. The tracks follow what Bachelard would call the homology between water and dreams: the oneiric as a fluid substance, a liquid flow, or rather a submersion into pre-formal matter.
Jarbas Mariz :: Transas Do Futuro
Jarbas Mariz was underground even in his ‘rediscovery’ as a Brazilian gem: when a first reissue of the 1977 7″ Transas do Futuro came out in 2012, it was in a limited edition of numbered copies. Now, Mr. Bongo shines a belated light on Mariz’s solo debut, a delight of lo-fi psych folk, mystic poetry, and free experiments with the musical traditions of Brazil’s Northeast.
Fabiano Do Nascimento :: Mundo Solo
Fabiano do Nascimento seems weary of the “Brazilian music” label, at least when it ties him to particular artistic expectations. He prefers to aim for an impossible universality than to ever be pigeonholed to an ideal of national sound. His new solo material, out via Brazilian music aficionados Far Out, complicates this ambivalence.
Airto & Flora – A Celebration: 60 Years – Sounds, Dreams & Other Stories
There’s an embarrassment of riches to be found on Airto & Flora – A Celebration: 60 Years – Sounds, Dreams & Other Stories, the latest compilation from London’s always dazzling BBE label, this time documenting the work of Brazilian jazz power couple Airto Moreira and Flora Purim. Compiling thirty tracks across just about as many years (1964 through 1996) from the various solo and collaborating outings of the duo (now in their sixty-first year as union), the set examines their evolving alchemy of samba, bossa nova, jazz-fusion, and outré-funk excursions.
Nana Caymmi e César Camargo Mariano :: Não Diga Não
In “Não Diga Não”, part of Voz e Suor (1983), with maestro Cesar Camargo Mariano, Nana Caymmi is covering not bossa nova but an obscure Tito Madi song, of the samba-canção generation, a crooner-inspired genre which bossa nova was precisely reacting against.
Sessão de Verão 4 :: Ana Frango Elétrico – No Promises Or Predictions
It has been almost 4 years since the release of Little Electric Chicken Heart but Ana Frango Elétrico has remained busy in the meantime, appearing on over 20 albums as a vocalist or instrumentalist.
Ente :: Eternamente Sua
Ente is the main project of Arthur Bittencourt, one of the most promising names of contemporary Brazilian music. “eternamente sua”, the band’s second ever single (and the first from a debut record scheduled for this year), sounds like Clube da Esquina if they had been heavily into shoegaze. Bittencourt says he was influenced by Popol Vuh and Shostakovich as well as by the landscapes of Minas Gerais.
Sonhos Secretos :: In Conversation With Producer Tee Cardaci
From the rare and obscure to the unknown, producer Tee Cardaci mines eleven genre-spanning gems produced during the waning days of Brazil’s military dictatorship, recorded by a new emerging class of artists operating outside of the major label system. Set to release August 4th, via AD and Org Music, we asked Brazilian music authority Allen Thayer to catch up with Cardaci in regards to the three year process it took to make the Sonhos Secretos compilation a reality…
Rogê :: Curyman
Cinematic samba-funk tinged with warm psychedelia and plenty of saudade, Curyman is a beacon of modern Brasiliana and an instant summer session staple. While Rogê would be easily at home alongside contemporaries like Sessa and Tim Bernardes on our Atençao! comp from last year, there’s a lush charm to Curyman that harkens back to the golden era of 70s MPB.
Sessão de Verão 3: Porta – The Old Man
Before the São Paulo bar and performance space Porta ever opened its doors to the public, Paula Rebellato, the co-owner, had a dream one night that she was visited by an old man. It was during the height of the pandemic and she was at a crossroads in her career, but in her dream an old man looked around the bar with approval, laughed, then exclaimed “Yeah, it’s going to be psychedelic!”
Baden Powell :: Tristeza On Guitar
While much of the Brazilian pop-music scene was caught up in the groundbreaking fusion of traditional folk stylings with Rock and Roll, Baden Powell was lingering further in the past. Tropicalia was taking the underground by storm; applying fuzz guitar, jazzed out sensibility, and tongue-in-cheek humor to far more danceable and groove-oriented cuts than the Anglo-American scene could comprehend. But prior to Os Mutantes massive breakthrough, Powell was working through his own vision of Brazil’s emergence into the mainstream. In 1966, Tristeza on Guitar was released as an essential first step on the road to full-blown Tropicalia.
J.B. De Carvalho E Seu Terreiro :: Fui Na Umbanda
Summer crate staple right here. All propers to Mr. Bongo for the initial hip, as featured on the third volume of their ongoing vinyl mixtape series. Brazil, 1972.
Pedro Santos :: Krishnanda
Via Brazil, polyrhythmic psych-laced orchestral steam heat. A kitchen sink kind of voodoo, complete with ambient bird calls, torrents of wind, hits of brass, and a bevy of unidentified “effects,” 1968’s Krishnanda is indeed greater than the sum of its parts. Genre-defying, the album’s thirty minute runtime touches upon myriad modalities and is now back in print via the Brighton, UK based Mr. Bongo.
Sessão de Verão 2: Thiago França – The Silver Saxophone
Thiago França may just be the busiest musician in Brazil. His typical performance and recording schedule is often filled up 6-7 days a week, sometimes with more than one performance […]