mpb

Mushi & Lakansyel: Koté Ou (1983)

2018/08/21

There’s something special about Haitian zouk music, if you look in the right place. Mushi & Lakansyel’s Koté Ou, much like the cover suggests, is a meditation on the intimate and quite unique musical style of this Caribbean nation. A product of all the touchstone influences that have set foot in Haiti — latin, French,…
Ziad Rahbani: Houdou Nisbi (1984)

2018/08/07

First, a huge thanks to Kyle for sharing this wonderful album with me. Too smooth for a Disco Tehran party he dj’ed, I can understand why he thought its sound might be appreciated elsewhere. From the first moment you put on Ziad Rahbani’s Houdou Nisbi (زياد الرحباني) you feel an instant pull that just floors…
Mebae Miyahara: Portfolio (1986)

2018/05/18

Now, I finally feel that we’re ready for an album like Mebae Miyahara’s Port･fo･lio. But first a huge thanks to Giacomo Lee for sharing it with me and, by extension, with us. Full of wonderfully gorgeous, lilting tropical techno-pop, Port･fo･lio should instantly remind you of all those artists you might have heard in the recent Walearic…
Judith Ravitz Participagao: A Banda Do Zé Pretinho – Bolerio (1983)

2018/04/17

Perhaps Yehudit Ravit’s story can explain the appeal of Brazilian music to the Israeli citizenry. Not to go into deep into cultural history (because Brazil does play a role in it to its storied, political relationship with Israel), but it seems due to its location right on the Mediterranean and it’s quite lovely, simpatico weather,…
André Geraissati: DADGAD (1988)

2018/04/10

Well, this one’s a tough ‘un to describe. Meditative, elegiac, and at points quite melancholic, André Geraissati’s DADGAD is another instrumental, guitar album that uses it’s one voice to say so many things. In this case, it is André Geraissati’s wonderful fusion of Americana and Anglophilic roots music with Brazilian sambista rhythms and edgings of open-tuned “eastern” music…
Grupo Zambo: Bahia, Grupo Zambo (1976)

2018/02/13

A mix of white and black. A mix of religion and spirituality. A mix of cultures, class, and race. Brazilian Bahian musical group Grupo Zambo does its best to look beyond miscegenation, to really get to the root of Brazilian musical folklore and experimentation. Bahia, Grupo Zambo, quite rightfully, holds a mystical memory to anyone…
Jorge Degas & Marcelo Salazar: Muxima (1987)

2018/01/30

Tread lightly, oh you who hate slap bass. Jorge Degas and Marcelo Salazar’s positively radiant Muxima has only two roles pushing all songs along: drum and percussion. Apropos they would remix Matisse’s “The Dance” into their own Afro-centered interpretative design. Deep, deep, Brazilian jazz funk that frequently oversteps its boundaries to go into the realm of…
Nara Leao: Dez Anos Depois (1971)

2017/12/19

Sometime, in the winter of 1971, a young Nara Leao is being besieged by certain elements. Walking through streets and bridges with fellow Carioca photographer Nei Sroulevich, not far from her home, by the river, they are not disturbed by the cold or the snowfall. Enjoying a bit of freedom and space provided by nature, now, Nei realizes,…
Tuca: Dracula, I Love You (1974)

2017/10/31

Periodically, I like to dive into my old “A Track, A Day” blog archives for music I’ve written about before but I feel still hasn’t gotten its fair shake. What better time than Halloween to revisit Tuca’s (real name Valeniza Zagni da Silva) curious masterpiece: Dracula, I Love You? Curious because it’s unlike much released at…
Mix: 6. Eastern Jungle

2017/10/03

It took two guiding lights to shepherd me through this mix I created for Mexico City’s brilliant Mitamine cultural curation blog. First, I knew the beginning had to start with Lins & Ford’s “Fast Roads” and it’s end had to be with Kyoko Koizumi’s “Eastern Jungle”. They felt like thematic book ends to something bigger. What was…