Rio De Janeiro state's vibrant cultural scene has, over the last decade, proven influential internationally. Its musicians, poets, and others embrace the future by utilizing and revisioning the past to shape it.
Sounds and Colours, a website, label and magazine, is dedicated to the culture and creativity of Latin America and the Caribbean. Since 2013 they've issued more than half a dozen compilations from Peru, Argentina, Colombia, and Brazil.
Hidden Waters: Strange and Sublime Sounds of Rio De Janeiro, focuses solely on Rio, not Brazil at large. Among the contributing artists are
Negro Leo,
Ava Rocha,
Dora Morelenbaum,
Antonio Neves and
Letrux to namer scant few. Its varied sounds derive inspiration from sources as diverse as Tropicalia, samba, bossa nova, disco, Candomble, lo-fi, indie rock, jazz, R&B, funk, and experimental electronica. Opener "Saudade" by Ana Frango Eletrico, an artist of fusions, is a trippy samba that reflects the influences of
Luis Eca and
Manfredo Fest, with organic and synthetic percussion, samples, a sumptuous melody and chorus. "Soar Estrhano" by pop vanguardist
Thiago Nassif with
Arto Lindsay,
Vinicius Cantuaria and
Gabriela Riley, joins wonky synths, pianos, watery electric guitars, an oscillator, snare, kick drum, spoken vocals, a soulful female vocal chorus, in wedding punky rock, electric jazz and funky rhythms.
Negro Leo grafts sonic abstraction and rock instrumentation onto pagode and mainstream samba.
Maria Romano's "Amâ??eâ??lie" ingeniously stitches a catchy MPB hook onto indie pop. The first part of
Morelenbaum's "Vento de Beirada" juxtaposes her mysterious, resonant clarinet playing (on B flat and bass clarinets) and truly haunting singing voice, to in an ethereal compositioncrosses Gothic (as in
Lisa Gerrard), jazz, MPB and chorinho. Vanguard sonic explorer
Cadu Tenorio and singer
Jucara Marcal Nunes offer "Candombe - Ia Cacunde Iaue" a droning, reverential, sacred song.
Jonah Sa's Motown homage "Gigolo," follows with strings, clattering snares, kaleidoscopic electric guitars and the best falsetto on the entire album. "Bandeide" comes from
Troa, the rocking indie female duo of drummer
Manuella Terra and vocalist-bassist-keyboardist / producer
Carol Mathias. They combine indie pop, experimental rock, MPB, synthpop and even jazz. Immediately following,
Marcelo Collado's and
Silivia Machete's "Simbora" melds spaced out neo-psychedelia, martial drums, flute and chanted vocals; it's a modern tribal anthem. The glitchy, electronica in
Raquel Diamantas' "Flecha Azul" offers a dreamy melody, anchored by crisscrossing synthetic rhythms.
Antonio Neves, the canny multiinstrumentalist, composer and arranger, is the enfant terrible of the Rio scene. Here he teams with master percussionist
Thianguinho Silva for "Das Neves," an elegant, swinging exercise in carioca jazz influenced by the great composer/arranger
Moacir Santos.
Letrux, (aka Latin Grammy nominee
Leticia Pinheiro de Novaes) offers "Dorme Com Essa," an unabashedly sophisticated gothic pop ballad saturated in gated drums, synths and reverb.
Ultgimately,
Hidden Waters: Strange and Sublime Sounds of Rio de Janeiro, is arguably the most revelatory Brazilian compilation issued since
Tropicala 2. It's not merely a sampler, but a carefully curated reveal of Rio De Janeiro state's abundance of musical treasures. ~ Thom Jurek
![Greatest Hits [Ltd. Ed Bonus CD]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0724381131626_p0_v1_s90x140.jpg "Greatest Hits [Ltd. Ed Bonus CD]")
