Rough Guide to Psychedelic Brazil
Reviewed by Sadie O., 4/19/13
Bits from Brazil’s long-running and very popular psych-Tropecalia movement. Most tend to be “psych-folk”, definitely tending toward the acoustic and pretty, and there’s a heavy Samba/jazz background influence. Tracks get stranger and psychier as CD 1 progresses.
All in Brazilian Portuguese, so I have no idea about FCCs…
CD 1:
1. 3:39 ***60’s style jangly guitars and flutes, totally hippie-dippy but rockin’.
2. 2:56 **terribly pretty, rather melancholic plinky guitars and gentle hand percussion, humming and violin in second half, but essentially instrumental.
3. 5:07 **pretty keyboard and tenor vocals. Gets a plonking 4/4 rock beat every so often, then a swingy shuffle after about 1:40.
4. 4:39 ***sitar, fretless bass, female vocals, swingy sambatastic groove. A bit jazzy, very Brazilian, a bit of hip hop vocal. Quite the mashup.
5. 3:57 **drones intro, then extremely laid-back groove with lots of strings but no beat. I could totally see dropping acid to this, although I always preferred rock. Suddenly gets be bop vocals and electric guitar halfway through. Definitely odd. Almost entirely instrumental.
6. 3:55 ***a bit of samba, a bit of Sgt Peppers, some spoken word, then swingy upbeat groove with handclaps.
7. 3:24 ****a bit of spoken word, then a quirky limping groove with flutes, pretty singing. A bit loungy, a bit groovy 60’s. Fun.
8. 2:52 ***relaxed guitar and flutes, with odd echo-laden dripping noises, pretty baritone vocals, could have been a fairly normal Brazilian pop song but for all the oddball elements. Some really nice guitar work.
9. 3:45 *****gnarly, electronic, disjointed and quirky. Think Frank Zappa with a funky Brazilian beat and a truly nutty group of vocal noisemakers. Nice.
10. 2:45 ****farfisa chords, extremely light and pretty tenor vocals. Classic 60’s acid-rock after 30 seconds, very downbeat but thoroughly psych.
11. 3:12 ****bit of drumbeats, then some sort of odd samba circus march with tuba, steel drums and steel guitar, female vocals. Some weird quavering something butts in halfway through, and a heavy metal guitar goes head-to-head with marimbas.
12. 3:20 *echo-laden drips, pretty acoustic guitar. Very pretty tenor and female vocals. Way on the “folk” end of “psych-folk”.
13. 4:50 ***odd bass noises and skreeky electronics and echoes. I would hesitate to drop acid and listen to this – it’s kind of alarming… pretty guit/sitar sounds, though. Definitely psych.
14. 2:37 **downbeat, almost standard samba intro, but with creepy keyboards… Pretty male vocals, almost liturgical sounding backing vocals, acoustic guitar. Sparse and strange.
15. 3:10 ***pounding keyboard chords, then bouncy upbeat psychosamba. Jazzy flutes. Hallucinogenic.
16. 6:09 *****bit of bass and percussion, growing into some serious African-style polyrhythm. Ooh, bang, electric guitar. Psychedelic jam, takes me right back to Sundays in the park in the 60’s… (false ending a couple minutes or so from end and another about 10 seconds from end.)
CD 2: Elements of just about every 60’s British psych band you can think of…
1. 5:02 ****backmasked flutes intro, then funky, boppy midtempo 60’s rock. Lots of wah-wah and chunky guitars.
2. 4:42 ***downtempo, twangy reverb, psychy processed vocals.
3. 5:43 ***rather dischordant but happy chorus, 4/4 folksy march with significant strangeness and cries of Mr. Frog…
4. 3:13 ***very uptempo and goofy, silly vocals, twangy guitars.
5. 5:56 ***twisted downtempo baroque chamber music, evocative singing, bit of Sgt Pepper type chaos. Complete cacophony by the end…
6. 3:46 ***fast reverby guitars – vocals sound a bit like Fred Schneider.
7. 2:46 ***fast garage rock with a bit of harmonica, offkey vocals.
8. 6:44 ***uptempo and loud, and pretty much total psych. Gets seriously messy…
9. 3:17 ****uptempo, loud, wah-wah for days.
10. 5:00 ****pretty hippy trippy with flutes and fairies. But still weird!
11. 5:12 ***water sounds and chugging guitar. You can do the Grateful Dead dance to this. Until the last minute, which is all random weirdness…
12. 7:03 **theremin(?) intro, backmasking, then midtempo chunky march which pretty much falls apart into cacophony about halfway through, comes back into psych jam.
13. 3:18 ***pretty little calliope waltz, very light and pretty vocals. Seems so normal after the rest of the record!