Som Imaginário
*2024 reissue* An essential psychedelic album and a must for fans of Tropicalia. Som Imaginário released a few albums during the progressive rock era which are also highly recommended but reissues are criminally unavailable.... The powerful grouping was a true academy of sound imagination: Wagner Tiso, Tavito, Luiz Alves, Robertinho Silva, Frederyko, Naná Vasconcelos and Zé Rodrix.Som Imaginário (Imaginary Music) is a Brazilian band from the 70s. They joined together to support Milton Nascimento…
Qualquer Coisa
2024 stock. Mini-LP Papersleeve Replica CD. Elemental Music proudly present a new LP reissue of Qualquer Coisa, a 1975 studio album by Caetano Veloso which was released simultaneously with the album Jóia. Qualquer Coisa differs from the more experimental modes of previous records like his Tropicália sets, or the 1973 album Araça Azul, but possesses a unique charm that makes it every bit as special as those. The set’s quite stripped-down and personal, and really has Veloso getting back to basics …
Caetano Veloso (A Little More Blue)
2024 stock. Mini-LP Papersleeve Replica CD. Following the stunning reissue of Transa (1972), Elemental Music, together with Universal Music, proudly presents a new reissue of another long unavailable gem by the one and only Caetano Veloso.
Also known as A Little More Blue or London, London, Caetano Veloso (1971) is the third self-titled album by the Brazilian genius and the first to be recorded in London, where the artist was living in exile from the Brazilian dictatorship. This masterpiece is c…
Caetano Veloso (Araçá Azul)
2024 Stock. Mini-LP Papersleeve CD Replica. The fifth solo studio album by the Brazilian genius, Araçá Azul, is considered his most experimental work to date and also the most controversial. In its time it was rejected by part of his audience, which expected a more pop-oriented record (following the trend of his previous UK albums). However, Araçá Azul received critical acclaim in 1973, and is almost unanimously regarded today as one of the most creative works from Caetano Veloso’s celebrated di…
Caetano Veloso (Irene)
2024 Stock. Elemental Music, together with Universal Music, proudly presents the 50th Anniversary CD reissue of the long unavailable third album by the influential Caetano Veloso. Also known as Irene or Álbum Branco (“White Album”), this masterpiece is considered one of the greatest Brazilian albums ever, and also a landmark set from the Tropicália years. The vocal and acoustic guitar tracks for the album were recorded in a small recording studio in Salvador de Bahia, where Veloso was confined f…
Mutantes
*2024 repress* One album into their career in 1969, Mutantes showed few signs of musical burnout after turning in one of the oddest LPs released in the '60s. Similar to its predecessor, Mutantes relies on an atmosphere of experimentation and continual musical collisions, walking a fine line between innovation and pointless genre exercises. The lead track ("Dom Quixote") has the same focus on stylistic cut-and-paste as their debut LP's first track ("Panis et Circenses"). Among the band's musical …
Todos Os Olhos
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 dancing to the fore here, with some of his more playful, delibera…
Guilherme Coutinho E O Grupo Stalo LP)
We are proud to present the Mr Bongo pressing of Guilherme Coutinho E O Grupo Stalo's self-titled mythical album. Blending lo-fi, Brazilian tropicalia, jazz, funk and MPB with a unique aroma, this record is pure perfection. It was originally released in 1978 on Erla - Estudio Rauland, an obscure record label from Belém in Brazil, that only released 7” singles, with this album being one of two exceptions. During the 1970s, Belém had a thriving nightclub scene, but it is thousands of miles away f…
Cantiga De Longe
With a few more instrumental solos than regular Lobo albums, Cantiga De Longe takes advantage of the genius of the arranger / instrumentalist Hermeto Pascoal. The album has other stars, including percussionist Airto Moreira and drummer Cláudio Slom. There are several important songs on this album: "Casa Forte" (which would be recorded later by Flora Purim), "Mariana, Mariana," "Cantiga de Longe," "Zanzibar," and others. Not Lobo's biggest hits, but beautiful melodies and lyrics on an album with …
Ben
*2023 reissue* The long unavailable ninth album by Brazilian star Jorge Ben. Released in 1972, "Ben" comes from one of Jorge Ben’s most artistically important phases, the early 70s. The album has some of Ben’s most famous songs, “Taj Mahal” (plagiarized by Rod Stewart on his song “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?”, as the British singer admitted himself in 2012), and “Fio Maravilha”, paying homage to Flamengo’s iconic football player Fio Maravilha.
Gal
2023 reissue After Caetano Veloso broke out with his solo debut, the self-titled 1968 release recognized as the building block for the now infamous Brazilian Tropicalia movement, his friends and musical peers released similar albums, always upping the ante in terms of outrageousness and inventiveness. This release, the second of two self-titled albums released by Gal Costa in 1969, set the high watermark in terms of overall insanity and complete experimental freedom for the entire lot; not Velos…
Gal Costa
*2023 reissue* A lot changed between Gal Costa's pleasantly straightforward 1967 debut Domingo and her eponymous follow-up two years later. Domingo, also a debut for young Brazilian songwriter Caetano Veloso, featured a set of airy, somewhat standard bossa nova tunes, sung ably by Costa. Mere months after the release of this relatively safe debut, however, Costa and Veloso found themselves alongside Os Mutantes, Tom Zé, and Gilberto Gil, recording contributions to Tropicália: Ou Panis et Circenc…
Transa
Transa is the fourth album by Brazilian musician Caetano Veloso, released on 1972 by PolyGram. Like its predecessor, it was recorded while the artist was exiled in London, though he returned to Brazil shortly after completing it. Evocative, eclectic, intimate, and rhythmically complex, Transa contains everything that has made Caetano Veloso the most distinctive and, arguably, most important voice in modern Brazilian music. The record was cut in 1972, shortly after Veloso's return from political …
Gilberto Gil With Os Mutantes
*In process of stocking* Gilberto Gil’s second album is packed with some of the best songs of his career; jubilant pop extravaganzas like “Domingo No Parque”, “Pega a Voga, Cabeludo”, and “Frevo Rasgado” that were equally inspired by the irresistible, brassy bombast of Carnaval and intelligent rock & roll from America and Britain. Even more than the other Tropicalistas, though, Gil blends his rock and native influences seamlessly, resulting in songs like “Ele Falava Nisso Todo Dia”, which chart …
Negro É Lindo
*In process of stocking* "Negro é Lindo is a worthy successor for the great album he had released in the previous year. Jorge Ben now takes his sound further toward a tropical Soul, a style that was his unique invention. But there are also still those hypnotic Samba grooves. Clearly, Negro é Lindo belongs to those master albums Jorge Ben bestowed to the world. With a good handful of records, Jorge Ben enriched Brazilian Pop and beyond, international Pop music. Negro é Lindo is one of them.
While…
Correio Da Estação Do Brás
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 many others and delivered an expressive…
Se O Caso É Chorar
"Wonderful 70s work from Tom Zé! The record's a bit more straightforward than some of his other records from the decade, and has a number of tracks with a samba sound at the base – but there's more than enough fantastic material to keep the record fresh, and Tom's writing is as great as ever. There's a vocal group that sings with Zé on many of the tracks on the record – but they also seem to sometimes act as a Greek chorus, in response to breakaway vocal passages that are dominated by Zé. The wh…
Fôrça Bruta
The combination of Jorge Ben and Trio Mocotó had already produced great things when Força Bruta first appeared in 1970. Ben's self-titled album of the year before had reeled off a succession of Brazilian hits, including "País Tropical" and "Cadê Teresa," and made the four musicians very busy as a result. Força Bruta was a slightly different album, a slice of mellow samba soul that may perhaps have been the result of such a hectic schedule during 1969. One of the hidden gems in Jorge Ben's discog…
Leaf-Playing In Quito, 1960-1965
Tip! *In process of stocking.* The out-of-this-world recordings of Dilson de Souza, leading a kind of tropical chamber jazz on leaves from a ficus tree. Dilson was from Barra do Pirai, in the Brazilian countryside; moving to Rio as a young man, where he worked in construction. He recorded his first record in 1954, for RCA Victor. He travelled to Quito around 1957, soon hooking up with Benitez & Valencia, who introduced him to the CAIFE label. Dilson played the leaf open, resting on his tongue, h…