EXPRESSO 2222: the semi-official BRAZILIAN MUSIC LISTENING CLUB.

Free show at Lincoln Center Outdoors in NYC:

a double bill pairing the seminal krautrock of Hallogallo 2010: Michael Rother & Friends perform the music of NEU! and the visionary Brazilian "Sorcerer" of sound, composer/multi-instrumentalist Hermeto Pascoal (August 6);

My favorite Jorge Ben album is África Brasil and originally it was my choice for this week. But 'Tábua' is great. There's a friend of mine who used to tell us how this album helped in a sad period of his life. 'O Homem da Gravata Florida' is sweet and it sounds - in a really subtle way - Jorge was high on pot when he wrote the lyrics.

Ah a Tabua! Love this album. there is an amazing TV clip on youtube of him doing os alquemistas with an awesome backdrop of magicians and bubbling test tubes. I would be most interested to see some lyric translations, if anyone's got any...? I love so much Brazilian stuff, but the language barrier really makes me feel like I'm missing out on so much.

1. Acabou Chorare (1972), Novos Baianos

what is this? never even heard of it. and I know/love everything else in the top 10, so kinda amazed there's something I've never heard of that beats both Joao Gilberto AND Veloso. wtf

oh wait they are on that Brazil 70 comp aren't they

Simply put, Acabou Chorare is hippies doing samba

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oO0ZxrMmjU

Simply put, Acabou Chorare is hippies doing samba

I suppose that isn't inaccurate, but it's an excellent album, especially "Preta Pretinha" and I love Baby Consuela's voice. It's definitely on my mental list of albums to suggest for this club. Though claiming it's the best Brazilian record of all time is definitely a little o_O

yeah I'm sorry Joao should be number one and anything else is heresy imho

Shakey, that video is awesome! The other day I spent an absurd amount of time reading about The Emerald Tablet and Hermes Trismegistus on wikipedia because of this album. I too can't speak/read Portuguese and that fills me with regret (though fwiw I believe "estao chegando" means "are arriving").

this album helped in a sad period of his life

this is kind of why I picked Tabua: it genuinely makes me feel blissful in a way that is unique to this album. If I was forced to choose, I'd probably pick Africa Brasil as the better album, but I'm always better off for having listened to Tabua.

I love Acabou Chorare specially Tinindo Trincando (great guitar part by Pepeu Gomes) and there's nothing wrong with hippies doing samba

glad to hear it! and sorry: too many people I know irl use hippie as an epithet.

xp to Shakey, I doubt many people would disagree with you. That list is pretty much invalidated by #47 being so low; though I admire them putting Construcao so high.

I was literal when I referred to them as hippies. At the time of Acabou Chorare os Novos Baianos formed a hippie community in Rio. But I admit the word hippie tagged to a Brazilian record in ILM may suggest Widespread Panic having a shot at a samba school theme from the last Carnival.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7cmTFwrruo

"errare humanum est" from tabua blowing my mind right now tbh

and that rolling stone list wasn't necessarily posted cuz its ranking is dead-on, but it's got some intriguing mysteries there

can't really argue w/ this tho:

2. Tropicália ou Panis et Circencis (1968), vários artistas

Shin, that video is classic:)

I love Tabua de Esmeralda to bits. Like others on this thread, I am much more familiar with Africa Brasil. But I will have another listen to Tabua this evening and post again when it's fresh in my mind.

yeah, tabua's fantastic and spawned a jorge listening party over here. coming to grips with his discog is a massive and delightful task. forca bruta! ben! so many great albums in there.

Simply put, Acabou Chorare is hippies doing samba

^otm and def not a pejorative. wouldn't put it in my top 10 of brazilian albums but it is really solid and worth seeking out.

Yes, I stand thoroughly corrected on the hippie point: I had no idea they formed a commune!

Forca Bruta comes awful close to being on equal footing as Tabua and Africa Brasil for me. Hell, his first three samba albums aren't crazily distinctive but they are joyous. Whenever he lets loose on his falsetto...damn.

In short: Jorge Ben should be as widely known and loved as say, Stevie Wonder.

anyone found a way to listen to this outside of america yet? may have to *gasp* do it the illegal way.

maybe I've been spending too much time in the SST poll threads but about halfway through this novos baianos jam I start thinking the minutemen learned everything they knew from them

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WD2PcMgm-lE

I keep waiting for d boon to start yelling about capitalism

Love that we went from samba hippies to the Minutemen so quickly. Maybe this is the best brazilian album of all time?

Man, what a great moment would be Mike Watt jamming with Pepeu Gomes

Have burned this and will listen to at work :) (Also burned that Starlito mixtape to the same disc) rip my ipod long live my old cd walkman

I've tracked down and listened to just about every album on that RS Brazil list, and I can say that some of them are questionable. I really don't understand Chico Science and Nacao Zumbi, but then again, I don't understand Portuguese either.

Love that Jorge Ben album, would probably be my favorite of his if Gil e Jorge doesn't count, although his self-titled '68 album is almost as good as A Tabua. My favorite track on A Tabua would have to be "Minha Teimosia, Uma Arme Pra Te Conquistar."

Chico Science e Nação Zumbi are the most important Brazilian name of the 90s IMHO

hmmm I don't know either - what are they like?

IMHO, like Red Hot Chili Peppers circa Blood Sugar Sex Magik.

sounds terrible

Really, I don't see any basis for comparing both bands

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAY9VcjxPss

That's on Afrociberdelia, right? I admit I liked that more than Da Lama Ao Caos, which sounds exactly like RHCP any way you look at it: Shouty rapping over funk-rock, which is all I understand aurally, since I can't understand what it is they're talking about. And since the music on either album didn't affect me that much, I didn't care to find out.

Of the '90s stuff, I think I'd pick either Marisa Monte or Sepultura, though this list seems to have a huge blind spot when it comes to the '90s.

x-post

Chico Science died in a car accident at age 30 and Nação Zumbi was his band. Their brand of Northeast Brazil funk, rock, rap, Brazilian percussion and more was known in northeast Brazil as manguebeat.

All of this^^^^ makes me hope someone ventures into the 80s, 90s, and 00s in this club. My knowledge is very much limited to early 60s to late 70s.

Who is up next week anyway? Matt?

I'm gonna write about CSNZ and defend them from the comparisons with RHCP. But before I do this, let me post the video of the true heir of Jorge Ben sound in the 00s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVPPnEs_FZs

Crosby Sills Nash & Zung?

hmmm I don't know either - what are they like?

See now, if you ready Chuck Eddy you would know. He got me interested in them, but I actually lost enthusiasm really quickly (but not before buying a couple of their CDs). "Maracatu Atomoico" is the one I like best, and I also found Da Lama Ao Caos more difficult to get into than Afrociberdelia.

whoah yeah that is some good shit. thx for the tip Shin!!! luv the fuzz. are you Brazilian? how are you up on this stuff...?

See now, if you read Chuck Eddy you would know.

lol I do not read Chuck Eddy because his opinions are notoriously unreliable and wrong

Yes Shakey I am Brazilian but I guess there are other regular posters here more into Brazilian records than me - I spent too much time listening to, I don't know, Sunn O)))

If you liked the Curumin video, this is him in Morning Becomes Eclectic. This is so cool

http://www.kcrw.com/media-player/mediaPlayer2.html?type=audio&id=mb090210curumin

Shin, let me just say that I'm more than willing to hear out what you have to say about Chico Science. I admit that I have huge blinders when it comes to this stuff and am eager to learn more, especially from someone who speaks the language!

But, musically, the RHCP comparison still stands for me.

I'm not saying it's impossible these guys NEVER listened to 'Blood Sugar' and I know they were really into A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul but what sounds like rapping in their records has more to do with 'coco' or 'samba de coco', traditional chant and percussion from Brazilian Northeast.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH3FbhEHA-s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lv7PttUFAII

Unfortunately, lala is no longer accepting new members and about to shut down. I will look elsewhere, later.

Okay, I am ready. Unlike earlier in this week, or last weekend, this is a good night for me for listening to music. My problem now is I have too many things to check out (this stuff, some of the 90s stuff, maybe some of the jazz listening club albums). But I'm starting with Pascoal, and I'm not going to live blog all my responses, but I will say that it's awfully "proggy," which isn't necessarily a bad thing but then again it tends to be--for me. It just reminds me of the sort of stuff I used to listen to a lot on the radio back in the 80s, lots of prog./fusion kinds of stuff. I think I'm naive enough about Brazilian music that if I had heard this back then, or for that matter, if I heard it now, I wouldn't necessarily recognize it as Brazilian, but might think it was some Euro. jazz-rock-prog band doing ethnic music. Just being honest here. It's not that I really dislike it, but it's a general area of music that I'm not drawn to these days.

Not into the chipmunk voices, or whatever you want to call them. I don't get why he does some of the stuff he does, which just ends up seeming like gratuitous eccentricity.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CYu4EeAdybM/R-A8lYJg6UI/AAAAAAAAAEE/OxqEEKwBkSc/s400/novosbaiano_novosbaia_101b.jpg

novos baianos f. c. > acabou chorare

"Just Listen" is pleasant, but I'm easy to please these days with mildly dissonant piano. Speaking of quoted material, did I hear a bit of a Thelonious Monk tune in part of this track (somewhat early in)? (If so, it's probably something obvious, I just don't know Monk).

Did he record any solo keyboard albums with no, or minimal, vocals? Serious question.