The estimable Far Out Recordings scores another hit with Bruno Berle’s latest album, one which perfectly blends a more updated bossa nova sound with a more R&B-style groove underpinning the release. Elegant.
Música Popular Brasileira
Seu Jorge – The Life Aquatic – Studio Sessions featuring Seu Jorge
There have been many covers of David Bowie’s songs from all over the world, but this is one of the most intriguing and one of my favorites. Seu Jorge is a Brazilian singer who does justice to Bowie’s work by modifying it to the Portuguese language, giving it a samba-like Continue Reading
Moyses Dos Santos – Maria
Far Out Recordings should be lauded forever for bringing so many great modern (and a few elder) Brazilian musicians to the attention of Western listeners. On that note, we welcome a debut from a new talent who will serve as a vanguard to Brazil’s diverse music scene in Moyses Dos Continue Reading
Brazilian composer Hermeto Pascoal, known as ‘The Sorcerer’, dies aged 89
In what has turned out to be a difficult week, we have received the news that we have lost another legend. Hermeto Pascoal, who collaborated with many of the greatest Brazilian musicians and even had a stint with Miles Davis’ bands, has passed away at the age of 89, according Continue Reading
Marcos Valle – Túnel Acústico
It boggles the mind that Marcos Valle, who is close to having a sixty-year career making music, can still come up with sounds that are so fresh while referencing the past. One can still hear bossa nova, a genre he helped make popular, sit inside a stew that includes funk, Continue Reading
Marcos Valle & Leon Ware – Feels So Good
Thanks to Marcos Valle doing a bit of cleanup in his home, Far Out Recordings proudly present a 7-inch single of a track Marcos and the late Leon Ware worked on in Los Angeles during the 1980s. Here’s the back story, courtesy of Marcos’ Bandcamp site: “In 1979, together in Continue Reading
Fabiano Do Nascimento – Mundo Solo
The indubitable Far Out Records have produced what might be my favorite record of 2023, a guitar album by Brazilian guitarist and fellow Los Angeleno Fabiano do Nascimiento. I’ll let the label’s crack promo team describe this absolute beauty of a record below: “Adopting Hermeto Pascoal’s concept of Universal Music, Continue Reading
Joyce Moreno – Visions of Dawn
I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing Joyce Moreno’s music in November of 2022, and it looks like the legends at Far Out Recordings have found yet another long lost masterpiece by the Brazilian queen of Brazilian acid-folk. Does such a genre really exist?! Take a listen to the track Jardim Continue Reading
Soyuz (Союз) – Force of the Wind (Сила ветра)
Belarus is not what one would think of as a Brazilian music hotspot, though, if my friends in the country could enlighten me to the local music scene, I would really appreciate it. Still, Soyuz, led by singer Alex Chumak blend a Brazil-meets-Santana-meets-funk beat and this album engages you quickly, Continue Reading
Joyce Moreno – Feminina (produced arranged and conducted by Claus Ogerman)
Joyce Moreno (known mononymously simply as Joyce in Brazil) is one of the country’s finest exports, bringing a sultry and joyful voice to bossa nova, Música Popular Brasileira and jazz. She’s been covered by artists like Annie Lennox, Gerry Mulligan and Omara Portuondo, but this piece, a one-track opus, is Continue Reading