mpb
Album Review: Sessa –‘Pequena Vertigem de Amor’: Uncanny magic and lush funkiness from the rising São Paulo songsmith.
Sergio Sayeg (aka Sessa) is an artist who travels through distances and circumstances with his music. Coming from São Paulo his first pull was towards the psychedelic pop-toned Tropicalia mash-up of Garotas Suecas, a band he guitared and sang with until his family moved to New York. Sessa then made the most of the Big …
Track/Video : Rising São Paulo songsmith Sessa previews upcoming album with the blissed out bossa-funk of Vale a Pena.
It’s been a long wait for São Paulo songsmith Sessa’s follow up to 2022’s sultry and succulent ‘Estrela Acesa’ album. That record, all cosmic haziness wrapped in the soft power of relaxed bossa-funk, marked a highpoint amongst the rising new wave of MPB with its illusive moodiness and uncanny magic. After the introspective delicacy of …
Album Review: Wolfgang Pérez-‘Só Ouço’: Bringing a new avant-pop, no-wave edge to MPB lushness.
Chance happenings sometimes take music to the right place. For Spanish-German, Cologne-based singer-songwriter/arranger Wolfgang Pérez that place is his new succulent album ‘Só Ouço’ out now via Hive Mind Records. Two albums into Pérez’s pop fusion experimentation, ‘Who Cares Who Cares’ from 2021 and last year’s ‘Ahora’, the thrilling tones of Música Popular Brasileira were …
Album Review: Dora Morelenbaum – ‘Pique’: a dynamic new MPB voice which really delivers.
Anyone who caught Bala Desejo’s set-of-the-day at WOMAD UK in the summer would’ve already noted the dynamic Dora Morelenbaum flying in the front line of this exuberant nu-tropicalia band. A vocalist, instrumentalist and composer she’s been at the epicentre of the surge of MPB powering out from Rio in the last few years, not only …
Track/Video : MPB new wave mover Dora Morelenbaum previews incoming album with the lush and lyrical ‘Essa Confusão’.
The jet-stream of MPB may stretch right back to the sixties but it keeps powering onwards with singer/songwriter Dora Morelenbaum right there at the epicentre of this latest surge. She’s an artist steeped in a weighty musical heritage with parents, composer Jacques and vocalist Paula, having CVs which include work with Tom Jobin, Gal Costa …
Album Review : Arthur Melo – ‘Mirantes Emocionais’ : a dazzling alt pop escapade from the Brazilian guitarist and composer.
In the same way that last year Bala Dejeso and Ana Frango Elétrico swung the spotlight back on the wild creativity of the Brazilian pop scene, 2024 looks like it’s facing a repeat. Alongside the whispers of the enigmatic Sessa, gathering a new album together, there’s another name filtering through to the surface, the multi-talented …
Track/Video : Rio producer Ana Frango Elétrico announces new album with delicious, disco-funking single ‘Electric Fish’
Now here’s more signs that the MPB new wave shows no intention of turning tide. Musician/producer Ana Frango Elétrico, one of the key pivots of today’s kaleidoscopic Rio scene is releasing a new album ‘Me Chama De Gato Que Eu Sou Sua’ via Mr Bongo/ selo Risco on 20th October. An artist whose inspired production …
Album Review: Ricardo Dias Gomes – Muito Sol : re-imagining post rock with a tropicalia soul.
In the shimmers of the recent loss of Os Mutantes founder Rita Lee that follows Gal Costa’s passing last year it’s poignant to get a reminder that music doused with tropicalia is most definitely out there and still determined to make those bigger splashes. Enter the inestimable Hive Mind Records latest release, Muito Sol, a …
Track/Video: Brazilian guitar supremo Fabiano Do Nascimento previews next album ‘Das Nuvens’ with the gliding, nu-beat title track.
After five albums for the global beat connoisseurs Now Again, Brazilian acoustic guitar supremo Fabiano Do Nascimento has sidled across LA to join with the Leaving Records community. The result, the album ‘Das Nuvens’ set for July 21st release and previewed by the title track to signpost what we can expect. The track is a …
Album Review : Lucas Santtana – O Paraiso : Sophisticated samba pop that goes deeper
It seems a long while since Lucas Santtana first pushed to the front of listening lists beyond the Bahia with his first Mais Um releases. The natural flow of his songs, his giddy experimentation and ability to dig the finest grooves may have come as a surprise at the time but with a back story …