In order to get on track with where to start with Brazilian music, I began at the beginning, asking a few employees at the greatest coffee place in the world, Panificadora Modelo on Medford Street in Somerville, “Hey, I’m a white guy in a Slayer shirt, where should I start with Brazilian rock?” The two women at the counter had never heard of CSS and didn’t seem to care much about Os Mutantes, but, man, did they ever bicker over whether I would like Pitty and Legião Urbana. (Verdict: both rule.) Their recommendations of Sepultura and the soccer-anthem cheesepop of Skank aside, here are six albums’ worth of Brazilian rock madness:
SPECTRUM | GERAÇÃO BENDITA | 1971 | Shadoks Music | When hippie culture hits, it hits hard, especially in places where playing crazy music became an act of political defiance, like ’60s/’70s Brazil. Spectrum are less a band than a collective, and for the most part Geração bendita sounds like Helios Creed crashing a CSNY rehearsal: a decidedly lo-fi and uneven record that veers from plangent and harmonious folk yearning to pure skronk to communal bongos set against shimmery cascading wah-wahs.
LULA CÔRTES AND ZÉ RAMALHO | PAÊBIRÚ | 1975 | Shadoks Music | This meditation on the four elements is a true lost classic, as most copies were destroyed in a fire upon its release. Its CD reissue is an important discovery: an uncategorizable mishmash of rock, folk, classical, and tribal weirdness. The creation of humankind, face-melting guitar, druggy laughter, ominous Mellotron action, shattered glass, and mysterious chanting all add up to one of the most essential psych albums ever.
RITA LEE | BABILÔNIA | 1978 | EMI | Ms. Lee was a member of tropicália legends Os Mutantes, but after being ousted, she began cranking out a steady discography of pop/rock/dance hit LPs. Echoes of Debbie Harry’s spunk and classy sass can be heard on this one, especially on the dancy-yet-psychedelic floor stomper “Miss Brasil 2000” and the vaguely “Rock and Roll Hoochie-Koo”–ish “Sem Cerimônia.”
AS MERCENÁRIAS | O COMEÇO DO FIM DO MUNDO | 1982-’88 | Soul Jazz | A panoply of panicked vocals, relentless beats, and slashing-yet-mannered guitars that retains more of a samba tradition than other female-led post-punk units like, say, Au Pairs and Delta 5.
TITÃS | CABEÇA DINOSSAURO| 1986 | Wea | If Brazilian rock is tops when it’s railing against authority, this release is one of the nation’s blood-vessel-bursting best. A bizarre and schizoid mix of arch Gang of Four–ish weirdness with white-Reebok-arena-Nerf-pomp peppered with moments of reggae-via-Men-at-Work. Whew.
LEGIÃO URBANA | QUE PAÍS É ESTE| 1987 | Musicrama/Koch | Renato Russo could be deemed Brazil’s Morrissey, but his singing and LU’s playing are far too muscular and confrontational to be taken for a bedroom mope-about soundtrack. Top-rate tunes with stellar guitar layering on a par with the best of Johnny Marr and Will Sergeant populate the band’s first five albums, but this one gets the nod for its political urgency and topicality.
