Tag: DEAFKIDS

Favorite Brazilian and Latin Albums of 2019

As much as a pain as it felt at the time, I preferred it when year-end lists didn’t print until February or March. Gave you time to suss through late-year releases and hear meditate a bit before compiling your own list. These days publications are putting out lists before a year even ends. So, although the new cycle has left 2019 behind, I’m finally ready to put out a list of what I liked most last year. And, hey, it’s my 100th post. So that’s fun.

My two favorite Brazilian albums on the list below are actually 2018 releases. So, yeah, it was a down year.  What’s more, there’s not a single full A, much less A+, record in the bunch. But that’s not to say these are not great, or at least pretty great, records. If nothing sounded ear-shattering or life-altering, well I feel lucky to get one or two of those from worldwide in any year.* So I’ll happily make do with the thoroughly enjoyable pleasures of Brazilian albums that have held up to dozens of listens each, many of which didn’t just make good sounds, but upped the political content for dangerous times in a homeland under rightwing siege.

Plus, it might be the most sonically diverse list I’ve assembled: hip hop, jazz rap, northeast meets central Africa, Krautrock revivalism, neo-samba, alt-rock. Three years into this project I continue to be surprised how deep and varied Brazil’s musical culture is, and how much American and Western engagement just nips the tip of the iceberg.

There is one notable gap, however. For the first time since 2010, not a single Clube da Encruza record made my year-end top ten. Douglas Germano is something of an affiliate member, but it’s not quite the same. It wasn’t because of bad product, but rather a lack of options: the Clube members and their side projects were quiet in the studio even as they maintained relentless touring schedules. I would have loved to see that Metá Metá/Passo Torto show, or Romulo Fróes tour interpreting Caetano Veloso’s Transa. But I don’t live in Brazil. The good news is, spoiler alert, one of them has already released a fine album this year.

And Latin music? I had plans of deeper engagement this past year, but life upsets plans, so I didn’t dig in as much as I wanted to. I still found several 2019 albums that made my ears perk up, so I’ll do a list there, too. As usual, I tend to feel the Brazilian stuff more because I devote so much more time to it, but for a change of pace, these albums more than merely serve the purpose. (I haven’t reviewed the Rodrigo y Gabriela one yet. Consider that a preview of coming attractions.)

*If you are interested, those two albums this year were James Brandon Lewis’ An Unruly Manifesto—my favorite jazz album of the decade—and Billy Woods’ and Kenny Segal’s Hiding Places, where creepy ssounds and lyrical detail keep drawing me in further. Billie Eilish wasn’t far behind. Don’t underestimate her.

Favorite Brazilian Albums 2019

  1. Dona Onete, Flor da Lua (2018) (A-)
  2. Ana Frango Eletríco, Mormaço Qeuima (2018) (A-)
  3. Douglas Germano, Escumalha (A-)
  4. BaianaSystem, O Futuro Não Demora (A-)
  5. Rincon Sapiência, Mundo Manicongo: Dramas, Danças e Afroreps (A-)
  6. Ana Frango Eletríco, Little Electric Chicken Heart (A-)
  7. Karina Buhr, Desmanche (A-)
  8. Leo Gandelman & Baco Exu do Blues, Hip Hop Machine Series #6 (A-)
  9. Ema Stoned, Yantra and Makoto Kawabata, Phenomena (A-)
  10. Siba, Coruja Muda (B+)

Honorable Mentions (alphabetical):

If I included compilations, two fine, recent ones that would make the list are Levanta Poeira: Afro-Brazilian Music & Rhythms 1976-2016 in the top ten and Jambú (E Os Míticos Sons da Amazônia), in the honorable mentions.

Favorite Latin Albums 2018

  1. iLe, Almadura (A-)
  2. Los Wembler’s de Iquitos, Vision del Ayahuasca (A-)
  3. La Yegros, Suelta (A-)
  4. Daymé Arocena, Sonocardiogram (A-)
  5. Las Yumbeñas, Yumbotopía (A-)
  6. Rodrigo y Gabriela, Mettavolution (A-)
  7. Yapunto, Yapunto (B+)
  8. Fumaça Preta, Pepas (B+)
  9. Femina, Perlas & Conchas (B+)
  10. Nicola Cruz, Siku (B+)

Honorable Mentions (alphabetical):

Oh, and I’m not quite done with the year yet. Expect something 2019 related around March 1.

Noisy Experiments: DEAFKIDS, Ema Stoned and Rakta

DEAFKIDS

Dwelling on the borders between hardcore punk, metal and psychedelic experimentation, DEAFKIDS began when guitarist/singer/multi-instrumentalist Douglas Leal began recording his songs by himself. Soon he added bassist Marcelo dos Santos and drummer Robinho for touring purposes. Drummer Mariano Melo replaced Robinho, and the band emigrated from Rio de Janeiro to São Paulo developed from a studio project into a functioning band. (They all just use their first names as stage names.) Loud and relentlessly experimental, the band has pushed its sound from driving elemental riffs to hypnotic ebb-and-flow noisefests. (One internet source claimed there was a full length album released before 6 Heretic Anthems, but I haven’t found any other information on that possible release.)

6 Heretic Anthems for the Deaf EP (2011) – With Douglas solo, the sound is at its punkest, but metal screams and riffitude lift it beyond hardcore retread. Fifteen minutes of fame? Fifteen minutes of roar is so much more satisfying. Grade: B+

I Am the Sickness EP (2012) – Half of a split cassette album with O Mito da Caverna, these five songs with genre-expected titles (“Christianity Standards”, “Man/Machine”, “I Am the Sickness”) fill out the sound of the debut EP, lean more metal, and are still a rush. Grade: B+

The Upper Hand (2013) – Their (likely) first full-length—and at this point it’s still Douglas in the studio solo despite the touring band being a unit—the sound moves into a slower, doomy direction. Since melodies aren’t usually the focus, or even the point, slower’s always tricky with metal, and Douglas struggles here to come up with as many compelling riffs as he did on those first two EPs. So while the results avoid the inevitable diminishing returns merely repeating the EPs would have garnered, the new direction isn’t interesting enough to keep your attention. Yet, at least. Grade: C

“Over the Days/Somewhat Damaged” single (2014) – Where The Upper Hand struggled with the slower tempos, here Douglas figures out how groove can sustain when momentum slacks off. Lead song, anchored by a loping bass line with the guitars, is mostly instrumental with screams toward the end providing texture for variety. The second song’s groove isn’t quite as strong, although the way the guitars build over the basic riff about a minute and a half in is tasty enough. Still figuring out a way forward, but this time Douglas sounds like he has a bead on the future. Grade: C+

Configuração do Lamento (2016) – In which the touring unit becomes a recording band, and the difference is heard immediately. The ideas Douglas explored on recent recordings are filled out and Marcelo on Mariano provide the sonic depth and detail to take the ideas somewhere. Starting with a hard Mariano beat that sounds like a fractured groove, Marcelo pairs up with the drummer while Douglas pours a jagged riff into the maelstrom. Then they repeat it for nearly three minutes. Next is two minutes of tribal hypno-beat, before they get back to more familiar metal territory, albeit with more fun than has been had since the early EPs. The experimental rhythm tracks tends to go nowhere, but the intensity Marcelo and Mariano bring a juice to Douglas’ riffs that had disappeared from recent recordings. Grade: B

Metaprogamação (2019) – A decade’s worth of experiments and explorations come to a head on DEAFKIDS’ latest album. Here they live up to their self-described claim as a punk/hypnobeat/noise/psychedelic band. Recalling the pulse and distorted echo of Killing Joke’s debut, they emphasize groove and flow rather than distinct songs, while whipping up an appropriately apocalyptic whirlwind as guitars crunch, drums pound and bass throbs. Tracks segue into one another resulting in assaultive ambience. A couple of numbers stretch out a bit long, and a song or two to breakup the wall of sound—something like what Code Orange did on Forever—could have put this one fully over the top, but despite those quibbles, Douglas finally fulfills the noisy nightmares he’s been aiming at for ten years. Grade: B+

DEAFKIDS music can be heard and purchased here.

Ema Stoned

Formed by peripatetic collaborator Sabine Holler (vocals, guitar, keyboards) with Alessadra Duarte (guitar), Elke Lamers (bass) and Jéssica Fulganio (drums, vocals), this São Paulo-based experimental unit pursued proggy dreams of the Krautrock kind. Holler moved on after the debut, and Fulganio left to be replaced by Theodora Charbel, although the latter hasn’t appeared on any recordings yet. Although the name might seem a cheap pop culture joke, the song “Stone Her” from their debut hints at darker meanings, and while Brazil’s macho culture has long made room for female singers, the chops are often left to the men, so you can imagine the challenges such an ambitiously musical all-female band might face. Regardless of the meaning of the band name, they make their mark with a compelling recapitulation of the high points of ’70s German rock experimentalism.

Gema (2013) – The band is still exploring its sonics on this debut, so they sound like an alt-rock band channeling Cluster, Neu and Kraftwerk. They’re still rooted in songs enough to include three actual ones among the seven tracks, but the selling point is those four instrumental ones. Dreamy keyboards swirls hypnotically. Clean guitars manage to be prickly and pretty. Holler and Duarte counterpoint and complement each other smartly throughout while Fulganio and Lamers find a pulse between rock and motorik to move things along nicely. The precision and care in the arrangements camouflage intense playing, but when they fully lock in—like at the 3:53 moment in “Estrábico”—the controlled explosion approaches transcendence. A good start. Grade: B

Live from Aurora (2016) – Six songs from the debut, most stretched out slightly. Like so many live albums the “you had to be there” element gets in the way. Sound is good, but the album lacks the full power of the studio versions. Grade: B-

“Proxima B” (2017) – With Holler continuing her wandering ways to other projects, the band is down to a trio, and they fully commit to the instrumental Krautrock move here. While there are flashes of interest throughout, the 12:30 track never quite coheres or compels. But they don’t embarrass themselves either. Grade: C+

Ema Stoned, Yantra and Makoto Kawabata, Phenomena (2019) – Without Holler, the band seemed to lose a focal point, so here the trio work with Acid Mothers Temple’s Kawabata and Yantra, who turns out to be none other than DEAFKIDS’ Douglas Leal. The pairing proves ideal. Kawabata and Leal bring a skronky roughage that plays off the controlled tension of the trio perfectly, but you have to skip the first track, which meanders frustratingly, to hear it bear fruit. After that it’s urban pastoral: hard, electric sounds that nonetheless calm and lull. That effect is due in large part to Fulganio who quietly moves tracks along and provides a coherence over which the noise can roar, buzz and shimmer. Like the best German experimental rock, solos abound, but they aren’t the point; how they contribute to the whole is. With track lengths like the 28:01 “Act II” or the 13-minute “Act III” that matters because you never really actively listen to the whole thing. It floats in and out of consciousness, different moments grabbing you on different listens. But thanks in large part to Fulganio, it never falls so far into background that you forget it. Her pulse keeps you connected until Duarte, Leal or Kawabata jolt you with noise or beguile you with something pretty and you listen hard again. The album closes with three shorter tracks that alter the mood created by the powerful punch of “Act II” and “Act III” without letting it down. The Sonic Youth guitars on “Act V” provide a nice comedown before the Can-ish outro “Act VI” closes things out. Grade: A-

Ema Stoned’s music can be heard and bought here.

Short notes:

Rakta – This duo composed of Paula Rebellato and Carla Boreagas has released several EPs, singles and a full-length album of metal-ly experimentalism. Their intriguing sound full of bass-y riffing isn’t quite matched by their songs or ideas, although they usually have a track or two that clicks. Music can be heard and purchased here.