For years I've maintained that I have no favorite band, and whichever band might be the nearest to that status fluxes far too often for it to be realistic. This is only partially true. Ever since I first heard a song by Os Mutantes (meaning 'the mutants') I have religiously listened to them everyday for years. Nevertheless, in a very typical American fashion, I haven't a damned clue what they are actually saying in most all of the songs. What I do know is it is the most amazing sounding music that I can imagine, and the Portuguese singing blends and enhances it to an astounding degree. I wake up to, drive my car whilst, and entertain everyone from my grandfather to girls I desire to become intimate with Os Mutantes. I am told by Brazilians, or those other persons in the know, that the music is very politically charged, and was very important in Brazilian culture, who has experience harsh military dictatorship in the past. However, when I heard it I see it as the fountainhead from which all the best American and Canadian indie pop for the last 3 decades have sprung. Just as it is nearly impossible to avoid influence of the Beatles or the Velvet Underground, Os Mutantes belongs in the legendarily foundational music catalogs world over. When first listening, and even after considerable time spent with it, the music is hard to imagine being produced in 1960s Brazil. A benefit of them being this old too is that their discography is already pretty large, if not huge, and widely available. Because of this I have never tired of them, always finding a new affection for a track I had previously paid little attention to. I am going to post all of their main albums, and a collection of singles and rarities, and I'll tell you which songs I've gotten stuck on recently thereupon, not just what are normally considered the hits. The last two albums (not to count the compilation) are different, they changed to a more progressive rock sound, and the last one only features a single original member in it, but is considered a laudable prog album nonetheless. I do apologize for not knowing more about what they are singing of, if you are Brazilian or know anyway do please share your feelings, and if there is a desire there is one album they made with some of their more popular songs in English, so you can get a translation there, but I forgot to upload it this time. I sure hope you've heard most of this before, but if not this is a huge must pilgrims.
I'm stuck on Brazilian music, if you haven't picked that up yet. Perhaps a phase that I'll revisit from time to time in the future, such as my fluxing interest in Finnish avant-garde. However, for now I'm gonna load this blog up with all the Brazilian greats I missed out on being raised in Anglophone America. Nara Leão is just such the artist that can undeniably be considered a great, in fact I read that her 1950s household jam sessions are sometimes cited as a birthplace of bossa nova music. She didn't rest with being on the forefront of one musical advent, as she joined the Tropicália movement in the 1960s. I stress again I haven't any Portuguese language skills, nevertheless I find her voice mesmerizing. You can be sure I'll be hunting down lyrical translations when it is slow at work this week. Anyhow, not as wild and psychedelic as Os Mutantes, but as skillful and lovely. Lastly, while the music might not feel as radical, the songs were written best Tropicália had to offer like Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil and Chico Buarque.
