Tag Archives: Sao Paulo

Truth and Lies Event at Rough Trade Nottingham

truth-lies-sao-paulo-1969-nottingham

I’m looking forward to hosting a talk at Rough Trade Nottingham as part of Truth and Lies‘ latest event, a celebration of Brazilian music, especially those revolutionary years at the end of the 60s. The event is called Revolution & Change: São Paulo 1969 and should be fun. I’ll be talking about the history of tropicália, pulling some interesting stories and facts out of the vaults, as well as looking at its enduring impact.

The event will be happening on Friday 27th May. There will be short films, followed by my talk, then lots of killer Brazilian tunes and dancing. If you’re in Nottingham you should pop by…

You can find out more about the event at roughtrade.com/events/2016/5/2237 and facebook.com/events/1352752204740652

Sound of the Underground: Lucas Santtana

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.

Sound of the Underground: Cérebro Eletrônico

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.

New compilation of music from Sao Paulo

Over the past month I had been working on a new compilation for Sounds and Colours. Entitled <em>Nossa, Cara! New Sounds of Sao Paulo</em> it’s a collection of music from many of the artists currently residing in the city, with an emphasis on the new, only using songs released over the last year or so, with the majority only being released in 2011 or still awaiting release.

You can listen to the compilation and download it for free here.

Artists featured on the compilation are Jucara Marcal e Kiko Dinucci, Karina Buhr, Lulina, Guizado, M. Takara 3, Chankas, Tulipa, Juliana R, Bruno Morais, R. Brandao, Bodes e Elefantes, Iará Renno, Barbara Eugenia, Rafael Castro, Psilosamples and Metá-Metá.