Certainly one of the greatest albums by this excellent (and oft-overlooked!) group from the 70s! The band of young Bahians deliver a great mix of tracks tinged with bits of rock, funky samba, and even a few psychedelic influences – with alternating male and female vocals, and some excellent songwriting that places the record right up there with some of the best work by Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil from the same time! We love this one to death, and find it to be one of the few records by the group that we return to again and again – a real post-Tropicalia classic that's filled with great songs. Tracks include "Preta Pretinha", "Besta E Tu", "A Menina Danca", "Swing De Campo Grande", and "Tinindo Trincando". LP, Vinyl record album

A totally great album from Novos Baianos – the earliest one we've ever seen by the group, and a session that has them sounding a fair bit like Os Mutantes! There's a wild range of influences running through the set – some psychedelic, some baroque pop, and some a bit more rootsy – as the group would explore more deeply in the mid 70s – and throughout the set there's a great sense of play in the music, the kind of tongue in cheek quality that we love in Os Mutantes, and which we never expected so strongly from these guys! Titles include "O Samba Me Traiu", "Ferro Na Boneca", "Eu De Adjetivos", "Outro Mambo Outro Mundo", "Colegio De Aplicao", "A Casca De Banana Que Eu Pisei", "Juventude Sexta E Sabado", and "De Vera". LP, Vinyl record album

Funky soul from the great Marcos Valle – a great blend of mellow grooves and upbeat tunes recorded at the same time Valle was working in the US with Leon Ware! The style here is very similar to Ware's 2 albums for Elektra – both of which feature work from Valle, and include tunes that are also done here in Portuguese versions! Marcos makes a real departure from some of his earlier work here, and emerges as a surprisingly great soul star with plenty of talents for penning two-step tunes and keyboard-heavy tracks that glisten with a sweet California groove. A few tracks recall some of Valle's Odeon work – like the baroque instrumental "Camina Grande" – but we're most partial to the soul tracks that dominate the record, and which include "Bicho No Cio", "Pecados De Amor","Garimpando" and "A Paraiba Nao e Chicago". LP, Vinyl record album

We don't know much about this guy, but this is a pretty sweet little set – a mixture of mainstream MPB and more soulful touches – all put together with some especially warm arrangements from Lincoln Olivetti! At some level, we'd almost be tempted to call this a set of Brazilian soul – especially due to the great use of keyboards, mellow grooves, and warm vocals on the record – but the overall style is a bit more mainstream, and gets slightly poppy at times too – a bit in a Free Soul sort of groove! Titles include "Num Paraiso", "Brenda", "Pensando Nela", "Renascendo Em Mim", "Saber Viver", "Nao Quero Mais", "Curtindo O Silencio", and "Menina Mulher". LP, Vinyl record album

A never-issued album by the great Hermeto Pascoal – recorded in the space between his 70s classics Slaves Mass and A Musica Livre – and every bit as amazing as those classics! The music here is fluid, open, and a fantastic mix of jazz and all of Hermeto's new ideas about musical structure – performed at a level that's highly organic, and with that completely individual vision that Pasocal brought to his sound from the start! This isn't typical Brazilian fusion of the time, but nor is it anything like the tighter sounds that Airto and Flora Purim were recording up in the US – instead, a musical mode that's completely in its own space, and which needs only one listen to convince you of the master's genius. The group here is overflowing with young talent – Lelo Nazario on keyboards, Nivaldo Ornelas and Mauro Senise on saxes and flute, Toninho Horta on guitar, Zeca Assumpcao on bass, and Ze Eduardo Nazario on drums – all important musical visionaries on their own, working together here to hit an even new level of creativity. Aleuda Chaves sings wordlessly on a bit of the record – and the whole thing has that blend of soaring sound and lyricism that marks Pascoal at his best. Titles include "Danca Do Paje", "Natal", "Casinha Pequinina", and "Mavumvavumpefoco". LP, Vinyl record album

Believe it or not, the title's a pretty good way to describe this modern Brazilian rock release – as the music's a mish mash of newer beats and grooves, grounded in a hip hop/dance tradition, mixed with samples of older Brazilian rock influences – including stuff by Os Mutantes, Gilberto Gil, and Caetano Veloso. We like this one a lot better than we expected, and we hardly mind the modern elements, when we can get an occasional treat like a sample of "Bat Macumba", or a remake of "Maracatu Atomico". The latter track is included here in 4 different mixes, and other tracks include "Sangue De Bairro", "Mateus Enter", "O Cidado Do Mundo", "Maco", "Um Passeio No Mundo Livre", and "Baiao Ambiental". LP, Vinyl record album