★Polysom
Tim Maia 1970
The first studio album by legendary singer and composer Tim Maia, picked by Rolling Stone Brazil as one of the top 25 greatest Brazilian albums of all time, changed the game by seamlessly combining popular Brazilian music, MPB, with the brassy soul sound associated with Memphis. In addition to Maia classics 'Azul Da Cor Du Mar,' 'Coroné Antonio Bento' and 'Primavera,' highlights include the funk-meets-baião 'Padre Cicero' and the soulful 'Cristina.'
Contrastes
A straighter album than some of the early experimental work of Jards Macale – but maybe a greater album as well – and one that really shows the singer coming into his own, and finding a way to nestle his fresh ideas within the best settings of 70s MPB! The shift's a bit like the maturation some of his contemporaries were going through at the time – like Caetano Veloso or Gal Costa – reaching for a new level of sophistication in his arrangements, which might tie him back to older historical modes…
Jards Macale
An incredible album by one of our favorite Brazilian artists! This gem from 1972 is an album that we'd rank right up there with work by Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, or Lo Borges from the same time – with an underground singer/songwriter style, performed in a manner that mixes rock and jazz styles, but all with a rough edge and a very rootsy feel. Macale is an enormous talent that's always been woefully overlooked by listeners outside of Brazil – but he's one of the greatest talents of the 70s, …
Gal (1969)
This Brazilian classic finally gets a proper U.S. release -- one of the greatest psychedelic albums of the late '60s, and a key part of the Tropicalia movement as well! The record is easily the most tripped-out album ever from Gal Costa -- far more sinister than Gal's debut of a few months before. The session was still recorded with full arrangements by the legendary Rogerio Duprat (who'd worked previously with Costa, Os Mutantes, and others), but it also features a lot heavier guitar and a blaz…
Krishnanda
2012 reissue, long out of print. Krishnanda is an album in the truest sense of the word – a spiritual, experimental psychedelic Brazilian masterpiece from start to finish – Produced by the artist himself in the CBS studio with arrangements Joppa Lins (codenamed Pacheco Lins ) and the endorsement of Hélcio Milito (then in the position of Production Director of the label), Krishnanda is a pearl of MPB and features poetic lyrics mystical perspective under a different linguistic structure.The sound…
Correio Da Estação Do Brás
2012 reissue, long out of print. A fluid, low-key effort, with less of the challenging, music box melodies of his earlier efforts. This is a record which eases its way past your ears (and I mean that in a good way!) It’s not sappy or unchallenging, but it is a lot smoother and less overtly avant than the stuff David Byrne loves so much.” – slipcue.com
Tom Zé began his career together with Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, and Maria Bethânia. As a composer, he influenced Caetano and …
Estudando O Samba
This is one of Tom Ze's best albums ever – and it's monsterously hard to find. The record is a fantastic blend of post-Tropicalia styles – and it features some strange arrangements that perfectly illustrated Ze's insane approach to songwriting. As with much of Ze's music, the actual sound is incredibly hard to describe – and the album bristles with imagination and creative fire. Documenting Zé’s most fertile and creative period, this album documents his kaleidoscopic experiments in the be…
Todos Os Olhos
2014 Reissue. Long-awaited legit (and High Quality) Brazilian reissue of this collectible avant madness LP from 1973 from one of the most influential artist in the Tropicália movement of 1960s Brazil. The joke with this album is that the album art -- which looks like an eyeball -- is actually a photo of a marble shoved up someone's anus... a little jab at the Brazilian dictatorship's office of censorship, which apparently didn't recognize a mirror when they saw one. Tom Ze's nutty side comes dan…
Box Os Mutantes
The birth of a legend – the first seven albums by Os Mutantes, packaged together in a single collection – all with original cover art, pressed on very heavy vinyl – and together in this very limited slipcover box! The first three records are amazing – and really represent the group at their peak – stretching out in a very experimental way during the key Tropicalia years in Brazil, and forging incredibly fresh music that's still as important today as it was at the end of the 60s! The albums easil…
A Virgem De Saint Tropez
A totally wonderful little soundtrack from the Italian golden era, originally released as 'Magia Erotica' in 1974 on Aguamanda Records, an Italian label active in the seventies, founded by Augusto Martelli / the style is a great mix of Italian and Brazilian, modes run from some of the cooler, larger arrangements you'd hear from Marcos Valle – especially in his early 70s years – to some moments that are a bit more spare, and mix in rootsy percussion, sweet keyboards, and jazzy touches on Fender …