Brazil Remixed

Various Artists
Groove Gravy Records
General | Jun 2003

Reviews

Mandy Khoshnevisan
Reviewed 2003-08-07
Brazil Remixed (collection)
Fun songs that make ya wanna samba. Like the title says, it’s the traditional Brazilian-jazzy bossa nova instruments (guitars, flutes, percussion, etc) mixed with electronic beats and sounds. All tracks are playable and fun. Post-it on the front says: “jazza-nova/beats & breaks-Latiny, cool downtempo to fast sambas.” Like a good mix, the tracks all segue into each other if you need to leave the CD running.

* 1. (5:37) electronic bossa-nova, eerie but cool; guitars, strings, and female harmonies, all unexpectedly electronically manipulated. “One is the Loneliest Number”—sung by a cool female voice.
2. (5:35) dark and swirly: spacy noises, strings, saxes, guitars; strong midtempo beat, frenetic triangle, lady singing in Portuguese
* 3. (5:39) loud horns, retro organ, tambourine—upbeat and funky—“Hit the Road Jack” sung by a woman in Portuguese. Do we have this song on another album somewhere? Sounds familiar.
4. (4:25) cool beachy guitar and flute and samba-y instruments with electronic metallic beats and swirls. Occasional echoey female voice for accents. Uptempo, basically instrumental.
* 5. (7:23) danceable groove. middle-eastern-y echoy wails over dense percussion beat; horns. Cool marimba-like synth, buzzy sax. Instrumental.
* 6. (5:55) bendy manipulated guitars; groovy flute and male/female vocals in Portuguese. Electronic soars and buzzes and bass beats trade off with groovy flute solos. Background white noise makes it sound “live,” almost.
* 7. (1:38) groovy synth organ plus heavy electronic beats, woman talking informally and quietly in Portuguese. Very loungy and kind of circusy.
8. (4:15) slow and dreamy. guitar, sweet female voice singing in English; electronic backbeat enters after a little bit. Gets really strong towards end of the song.
* 9. (4:11) mid/uptempo. upright bass and flute plus electronic backbeat and squeaky flutters—jazzy.
10. (4:55) midtempo bossa nova— female voice speaking and singing in Portuguese, cello, woodblock, bossa; electronic radio tuner noises sometimes
* 11. (3:22) upbeat. faux vinyl cracklings; cute retro lounge sound with horns and vibraphones, plus turntable scratchings and loud strong beat; lounge singer lady singing in English. Kitschy and fun.
* 12. (6:26) fun beat! Upbeat, sounds noisy; has that instrument that sounds like a squeaky straw in a cup; strong beat, organ, loud shakers, slow dreamy instrumental solos over the chaos, which resembles a busy street with sirens.
13. (3:28) mid/uptempo, playful. Heavy electronic flashy beat, with women scatting over, with xylophone, guitar, etc.

Recent airplay

One
Hit the Road Jack (by Percy Mayfield)
Dreams of Eurydice
Dreams of Eurydice
Keyzer
Keyzer

Charting

2003-08-18 — 2003-10-20 Electronic
Week EndingAirplays
Oct 12 2
Oct 5 4
Sep 21 2
Sep 14 1
Sep 7 3
Aug 31 5
Aug 24 4

Track listing

1. One
2. Ponteio
3. Hit the Road Jack
4. Samba #9
5. Keyzer
6. Buweyah
7. Loungin'
8. Tenderly
9. Frenetic
10. Felicidade
11. It's Impossible
12. Dreams of Eurydice
13. Fancy