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Sound of the Underground: Cérebro Eletrônico

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A preview of Cérebro Eletrônico’s show at Studio SP, part of my Sound of the Underground column, written for Time Out Sao Paulo August 2011.

Cérebro Eletrônico
Studio SP

In many ways Cérebro Eletrônico are the quintessential Sao Paulo indie band. Their lead singer Tato Aeroplano has been playing in bands in the city for years and has gradually built up a loyal following, yet it’s only in the last couple of years with Cerebro Eletronico that he’s started to get truly national success. Their music is a rhythmic blend of indie-rock with pleading vocals, plenty of hooks and sing-along choruses like on “Cama” and “Decência”. This is a great chance to catch a quality Brazilian indie band with the extra passion of a home crowd.

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Preview: Sepultura and Machine Head

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Preview for a Sao Paulo gig featuring two of metal’s biggest names, written for Time Out Sao Paulo October 2011.

Sepultura and Machine Head
14th October 2011
Via Funchal

A double header of Sepultura and Machine Head proves that heavy metal’s light need never die out, in fact it only seems to get brighter. Sepultura were one of heavy metal’s big guns in the genre’s hey-day of the 1990s – as well as being the most successful Brazilian heavy metal group of all time – setting the blueprint for modern bands like Korn and Slipknot. In the last 15 years they haven’t changed their formula much, the sound is just as heavy and the musicianship as intricate as ever, though line-up changes have seen their lyrics change from political to conceptual; their last two albums were inspired by Dante’s Inferno and Clockwork Orange.

They will be joined by Californians Machine Head, who haven’t been in the game quite so long – they started in 1992 – but entered with a bang. Their early albums combined the bombast of heavy rock with the ferocity of thrash metal for an intense manifestation of metal. They lost their way a bit after that but a resurgence in the 2000s has brought many of their fans back to one of metal’s true stand-out acts.

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Sound of the Underground: Seleta Coletiva

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Here’s my preview for Seleta Coletiva, a monthly night at Studio SP in Sao Paulo. This was for my Sound of the Underground column in Time Out Sao Paulo, featuring in the October edition.

Sound of the Underground
Seleta Coletiva @ Studio SP

On the last Thursday of every month Instituto – a 9-piece band – get together at Studio SP to play some James Brown, samba funk (that’s Tim Maia and Banda Black Rio for the musos out there) and extremely groovy jazz. After getting the dancefloor moving they bring on their special guest, normally a MC (Criolo and Emicida are regulars) but sometimes one of the cities fine female chanteuses or even a group of percussionists or brass band from the north-east of Brazil. Whoever’s invited you’re guaranteed a great night of music that will get legs moving as well as introduce you to the variety of Sao Paulo’s music scene. Be warned though, the music often doesn’t start until the venue fills, so a promised 11pm start can often drift back to 1am. Special guests are announced only a week or two before the event so check the Studio SP website for full details.

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Review: Chino – Moto Continuo

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Here’s my review of Moto Continuo by China, a Brazilian rapper-turned-pop-star. This was for Time Out Sao Paulo October 2011.

Album Review
China – Moto Continuo
Trama Records
****

Pernambuco, along with Sao Paulo, Bahia and Rio, is one of the musical epicentres of Brazilian music. Yet, it doesn’t currently have a musical icon in the way that the other have Céu, Seu Jorge or Carlinhos Brown. This could change with Moto Continuo, the new album from China that takes manguebit (a highly percussive mix of funk and rap from the region) and pumps it full of punk attitude, pop hooks and the occasional tender moment.

China has recently started as a VJ for MTV Brasil and it feels as if he has been absorbing the videos he has been watching on the channel. Opener “Boa Viagem” and “Nem Pensar” have the kind of crunchy synth lines that MGMT have become notorious for, “Só Serve Pra Dancer” is a surf-punk swagger though Tarantino-esque waters, and we also get the conventional strummed rocker “12 Queda” and melancholy duet “Terminei Indo.” The impressive thing is that China manages to pull off all the different styles that he embraces, and this is surely why if Pernambuco is to get it’s own national star it could well be him, especially if he can continue on this form.

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Review: Mauricio Maestro feat. Nana Vasconcelos – Upside Down

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My review of Upside Down – a new album by Mauricio Maestro and Nana Vasconcelos, and essentially a follow-up to their 2009 album Visions of Dawn which also included Joyce – has just been published on the Revivalist website. Here’s a little taster of the review:

What’s immediately obvious with Upside Down is that to compare it with Visions of Dawn would not do it justice. That album featured one of Brazil’s most revered vocalists in Joyce, as well as a couple of songs that have gone on to become her best-known. Upside Down is a darker affair with extended song structures and a greater predilection for repetition. The pop credentials of Visions of Dawn are gone, but what we’re left with is a dense, hypnotic affair.

You can read the rest of the review here: revivalist.okayplayer.com/2011/11/15/mauricio-maestro-ft-nana-vasconcelos-upside-down

Writing and Editing by Latin American music expert Russell Slater