In September 2011 I was invited to talk on Red Bull Panamérika, a radio show broadcast in Mexico, Costa Rica, Bolivia, Guatemala and Belize. For the show I chose three new songs from South America and talked a little about Sounds and Colours.
You can listen to the show at panamerika.fm/blog/red-bull-panamerika-no-160-%C2%A1chidongongo
To find my interview go to the third audio link. I get introduced around the 1:20 mark.
Review of Junio Barreto’s latest album for Time Out Sao Paulo November 2011:
Junio Barreto
Setembro
***
Any Junio Barreto release will always be dominated by his voice – a relaxed yet powerful croon, full of character – and Setembro is no different. Barreto flexes his vocal chords over 10 tracks that vary between classic samba-jazz and laid-back funky numbers with dashes of ska and reggae.
Tracks like “Serenada Solidao” and “Gafieira da Mare” are the kind of up-beat sambas that will make you want to get down to the beach straight away. Yet there are also reflective numbers such as “Alento da Alagoinha” whose tumbling drums tick all the ‘late night jazz’ boxes. In fact, percussion plays a pivotal role in this album, with the rhythm section ensuring you can dance to all the songs on the album, whether the party is in full swing or things have slowed down for the last dance of the night.
Barreto is joined by some of Brazil’s finest young musicians on this album, people like Céu, the guys from Nacao Zumbi and even Seu Jorge, who plays guitar on one track, and they keep the album musically interesting from start to finish, leaving a musical mix that will get your feet moving but will also warrant repeat listens.
Sound of the Underground preview written for Lucas Santtana’s show in Sao Paulo. Printed in Time Out Sao Paulo November 2011.
Sound of the Underground
Lucas Santtana
If there’s one person that represents the “melting pot” culture of Brazilian music it’s Lucas Santtana – each of his four albums has focused on a different musical style, starting with a mix of African grooves and Brazilian percussion on his debut, before moving onto the electronic-based beats of Rio’s favelas and later dub music. His most recent album Sem Nostalgia was constructed just using guitar and vocals, yet sounded like the free-flowing electronica of Four Tet or Thom Yorke. It’s an album that has earnt him much praise in both the UK and USA, where he is applauded for both his ability to write a great melody and the sonic explorations that his albums normally involve.
Live, Santtana sticks to his more up-tempo numbers, mixing relentless rhythms with infectious melodies and a sound that is clearly influenced by African, Jamaican and international pop music yet still sounds quintessentially Brazilian.
Review written for Time Out Sao Paulo August 2011:
Copacabana Club
Tropical Splash
Copacabana Club are not from Copacabana, or even from Rio for that matter; they hail from Paraná. Yet this is the kind of music you could imagine a bunch of friends from Copacabana playing. That is, if Brazilians made pop music like this. Copacabana Club’s music is closer to Alphabeat or New Young Pony Club than any Brazilian contemporaries, with their English lyrics suggesting this is how they think of themselves.
With their dual male/female vocals, spiky guitar riffs and bubbling synth lines, Copacabana Club show throughout this album that they are ready to become an international band, peppering their songs with the kinds of hooks that will instantly get people moving and melodies stuck in heads. This is most convincing on the opening salvoes of “Mrs Melody” and “Sounds Like Confusion” where the band’s non-stop energy never becomes grating, mostly due to the amount of ideas they manage to pack into each song.
They also manage to mix things up too, with “Sex Sex Sex” being the kind of slow-burning plea you might expect with that title, and “Peaches”, which continues the theme, albeit this time with the kind of biting guitars and programmed drums that you might expect from Sleigh Bells (one of 2010′s biggest revelations). The best track here though is “Comeback”, a summertime anthem which takes a minute to get going, but then never really feels like it’ll go away. With songs like this it is just possible that Copacabana Club may be a band that never goes away too.
Preview written for Time Out Sao Paulo August 2011:
Ed Motta
SESC Pinheiros
Ed Motta is that rare thing, a great Brazilian soul singer. In a country blessed with amazing voices, there are a surprising few that are able to belt out a powerful soul vocal. This is where Motta comes in. His work in the 90s saw him gain something of a following in the US, where they took a shine to his impassioned vocals and urban grooves. After this, he experimented a little with his sound, adding jazz licks and updating his production, possibly taking out a little of the raw quality that appealed to some people, and lost the odd fan along the way.
However, in 2009 he released Piquenique (the Brazilian way of saying “picnic”), with breezy, soulful gems like “A Turma da Pilantragem” and the title track, that suggested this was a man back to the top of his game.
It’s song from this album that Motta will be performing over two nights at SESC Pinheiros. Expect top-heavy grooves recalling Brazil’s soul great Tim Maia (whose worth checking out if you’re not familiar) as well as soul/jazz crossover artists like Roy Ayers and George Benson, and even a little of the funkiness of Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings.
An extended preview of Telefonica Sonidos written for Time Out Sao Paulo August 2011.
Telefonica Sonidos
The formula for Telefonica Sonidos is simple: match a tried-and-tested Brazilian performer with one from the rest of the Latin world, put them on stage together and see what happens. It was such a success on it’s debut last year that it has returned. The formula remains the same, with the event split across two stages, one focusing on jazz and the other on pop.
It’s the pop stage where many eyes will be fixed but there’s also plenty going on in the jazz section. It starts off with legendary Cuban pianist Chucho Valdés, who will be joined by Brazil’s mandolin virtuoso Hamilton de Holanda for the opening night (24/8); next up (25/8) is Brazilian multi-instrumentalist Jaques Morelenbaum, and Omar Sosa, another Cuban pianist; continuing the Cuban theme on Friday (26/8) will be Alex Cuba, a young singer/songwriter already with a Grammy award to his name, and an as-yet-unconfirmed guest; on the final night (27/8) will be Pitingo, a Spanish flamenco singer and the Carioca chanteuse Marina de la Riva, whose own fondness for Cuban rhythms, means you could very appropriately rename this the ‘Cuban’ stage.
Now, onto the pop acts. These are split over just two nights, Friday and Saturday. It is fair to say that this year has thrown up some mouth-watering combinations.
It begins on Friday (26/8, 22h) with the Venezuelan group Los Amigos Invisibles, purveyors of funky pop and jazz, who will be joined by Seu Jorge. Probably the biggest Brazilian name attached to the event, you will know Seu Jorge from his roles in City of God or A Life Aquatic, or simply as one of the most popular samba-soul singers in Brazil.
Marisa Monte is a Brazilian singer, unafraid to take chances, yet always recording songs that the Brazilian people take to their hearts. She is next up on Friday (23h30) with Julieta Venegas, a singer/songwriter from Mexico whose inventive approach to pop music has seen her become one of Latin music’s true crossover gems of recent years.
Rounding off the night (0h30) will be Juan Formell y Los Van Van, one of the most important Cuban groups still active today, and Carlinhos Brown. Recently they collaborated together on the Red Hot + Rio 2 tribute to Brazilian music, a collaboration they will be continuing here.
Saturday has a very different feel. Essentially it’s all about commercial pop and rock. The Mexican soft-rock group Camila (imagine a Latin Backstreet Boys) will be up first at 22h with a TBC collaborator. They will remain on stage later (23h30), where they will be joined by Victor & Leo, one of Brazil’s most popular sertanejo groups, essentially country music – cowboy hats and all – for Brazilians. The most interesting team-up on this final night will be the Argentine rappers Illya Kuryaki and the Valderramas’ meeting with Jota Quest (0h30), a Brazilian rock group with Maroon 5-like crossovers into r’n'b music. Neither group takes themselves too seriously, and together they should be able to instil the party atmosphere needed to see out this eclectic, and innovative, festival.
A preview of Cérebro Eletrônico’s show at Studio SP, part of my Sound of the Underground column, written for Time Out Sao Paulo August 2011.
Cérebro Eletrônico
Studio SP
In many ways Cérebro Eletrônico are the quintessential Sao Paulo indie band. Their lead singer Tato Aeroplano has been playing in bands in the city for years and has gradually built up a loyal following, yet it’s only in the last couple of years with Cerebro Eletronico that he’s started to get truly national success. Their music is a rhythmic blend of indie-rock with pleading vocals, plenty of hooks and sing-along choruses like on “Cama” and “Decência”. This is a great chance to catch a quality Brazilian indie band with the extra passion of a home crowd.
Preview for a Sao Paulo gig featuring two of metal’s biggest names, written for Time Out Sao Paulo October 2011.
Sepultura and Machine Head
14th October 2011
Via Funchal
A double header of Sepultura and Machine Head proves that heavy metal’s light need never die out, in fact it only seems to get brighter. Sepultura were one of heavy metal’s big guns in the genre’s hey-day of the 1990s – as well as being the most successful Brazilian heavy metal group of all time – setting the blueprint for modern bands like Korn and Slipknot. In the last 15 years they haven’t changed their formula much, the sound is just as heavy and the musicianship as intricate as ever, though line-up changes have seen their lyrics change from political to conceptual; their last two albums were inspired by Dante’s Inferno and Clockwork Orange.
They will be joined by Californians Machine Head, who haven’t been in the game quite so long – they started in 1992 – but entered with a bang. Their early albums combined the bombast of heavy rock with the ferocity of thrash metal for an intense manifestation of metal. They lost their way a bit after that but a resurgence in the 2000s has brought many of their fans back to one of metal’s true stand-out acts.
Here’s my preview for Seleta Coletiva, a monthly night at Studio SP in Sao Paulo. This was for my Sound of the Underground column in Time Out Sao Paulo, featuring in the October edition.
Sound of the Underground
Seleta Coletiva @ Studio SP
On the last Thursday of every month Instituto – a 9-piece band – get together at Studio SP to play some James Brown, samba funk (that’s Tim Maia and Banda Black Rio for the musos out there) and extremely groovy jazz. After getting the dancefloor moving they bring on their special guest, normally a MC (Criolo and Emicida are regulars) but sometimes one of the cities fine female chanteuses or even a group of percussionists or brass band from the north-east of Brazil. Whoever’s invited you’re guaranteed a great night of music that will get legs moving as well as introduce you to the variety of Sao Paulo’s music scene. Be warned though, the music often doesn’t start until the venue fills, so a promised 11pm start can often drift back to 1am. Special guests are announced only a week or two before the event so check the Studio SP website for full details.
Here’s my review of Moto Continuo by China, a Brazilian rapper-turned-pop-star. This was for Time Out Sao Paulo October 2011.
Album Review
China – Moto Continuo
Trama Records
****
Pernambuco, along with Sao Paulo, Bahia and Rio, is one of the musical epicentres of Brazilian music. Yet, it doesn’t currently have a musical icon in the way that the other have Céu, Seu Jorge or Carlinhos Brown. This could change with Moto Continuo, the new album from China that takes manguebit (a highly percussive mix of funk and rap from the region) and pumps it full of punk attitude, pop hooks and the occasional tender moment.
China has recently started as a VJ for MTV Brasil and it feels as if he has been absorbing the videos he has been watching on the channel. Opener “Boa Viagem” and “Nem Pensar” have the kind of crunchy synth lines that MGMT have become notorious for, “Só Serve Pra Dancer” is a surf-punk swagger though Tarantino-esque waters, and we also get the conventional strummed rocker “12 Queda” and melancholy duet “Terminei Indo.” The impressive thing is that China manages to pull off all the different styles that he embraces, and this is surely why if Pernambuco is to get it’s own national star it could well be him, especially if he can continue on this form.
