Nunca Tarde – a round-up of recent new albums (LUIZGA & iZem, Nina Maia, Congadar, Roger Glenn, Los Zheros, Lila Iké and many more)

Cor! It ain’t ‘alf been hot, mum. On days of near-40-degree temperatures, there’s nothing for it but to find yourself a darkened, shady spot where you can don the headphones and listen to what’s new. Here are the results of my research…

LUIZGA & iZem: Yemamaya (Elis Records)

We’re hearing a lot recently from this Brazilian singer-songwriter currently domiciled in Portugal. There was the album with Edgar Valente, the collaboration with the Huni Kuin community from the Brazilian Amazon, the lovely EP Real Cinema at around this time last year. Now he’s collaborated with the itinerant French DJ and producer iZem on turning their previous 5-track EP into a 10-track album that shimmers with sunny highlights. There’s the reggae-fied “Txaísmo (feat. Txana Tuin Hunikuin & Oreia)”; the Afro-Caribbean-infused title track based on a word apparently whispered to LUIZGA in a dream that became a catalyst for an ode to energy, the ocean and the feminine side of life; and “Say My Name”, a re-imagining of the old Destiny’s Child song. All in all, it’s a felicitous marriage of songwriting chops and electronic textures that scales the kind of heights reached of late by Lucas Santtana.

Nina Maia: INTEIRA (Mr. Bongo)

I’ve been trying hard to love this debut album from an indecently young Brazilian singer-songwriter, instrumentalist and producer, because it’s inspired by Brazil’s musical heritage (and the Clube da Esquina movement in particular), it channels the influence of British trip-hop, there’s a significant quota of jazz and simply because it’s released by the ever-dependable Mr. Bongo. The songs are sophisticated and well-crafted, the vocals are affecting and it resonates with ambition and quality. And yet… there’s something about its beauty that seems to my ears too forced, too self-conscious. The album has been picked up by Jamz Supernova of BBC 6 Music among others and has earned Nina Maia a “Breakthrough Artist” nomination, so it’s clearly worth our attention. The title track for one, though, does trigger my neurones. Here it is…

Congadar: Aprendi Com Meus Antepassados (Forestlab)

Here are some more devotees of Clube da Esquina. Congadar hail from the state of Minas Gerais, an area with a deep connection to Afro-Brazilian traditions. On their third album (and the first recorded live in-studio), Congadar honour their ancestral heritage and traditional rhythms via seven original compositions and three reinterpretations of Afro-Brazilian classics. The basic line-up of guitar, bass, drums and vocals is hitched to choral chants and the pulse of traditional caixa percussion. “Since we started the band seven years ago, we’ve been searching for our sound,” bassist Marcão Avellar suggests, “– a blend of Congado rhythms and other Brazilian traditions like the Clube da Esquina movement. With this album, it feels like we’ve finally arrived.” He could well be right.

Roger Glenn: My Latin Heart (Patois Records)

Let’s leave Brazil before we get lost in its hinterlands – for the Bay Area of California, where this multi-instrumentalist put together this long-awaited second solo album. You’d be forgiven for asking Who he?, because it’s the octogenarian’s first solo outing since recording the semi-legendary Reachin’ in 1976 for the semi-legendary Mizell Brothers (semi-famous for their Blue Note productions for Donald Byrd and Bobbi Humphrey). This fascinating saxophonist/flautist/vibraphonist has played in the past with the likes of Mongo Santamaria, Dizzy Gillespie, Cal Tjader, Herbie Mann and the aforementioned Mr. Byrd; he’s been featured by Taj Mahal and Kurt Elling and has opened for Steely Dan. So it’s quite some musical pedigree – which makes it all the more perplexing that he hasn’t recorded more on his own. Perhaps he has been too busy serving as a pilot for the Civil Air Patrol on search and rescue missions. I only hope that he’ll amuse himself more frequently in the studio now, because this album of Afro-Caribbean rhythms and suave, sophisticated Latin jazz earns a Lord Buckley leaping beauty rating.

Óscar Agudello y el Combo Moderno: Pa’ mi muñeca (Vampisoul)

This one derives from Discos Fuentes, 10 years even before Roger Glenn’s debut album. Vampisoul re-released it back in June and I’m only now catching up with this delicious Colombian classic. Shame and scandal in the family! Señor Agudello’s combo was only a small one, but they pack a rum-and-Coca-Cola punch and their brand of cumbia reminds me of two of my favourite vintage Colombian big-bands: those of Edmundo Arias and Lucho Bermúdez. A similarly delightful and infectious vintage feel about the music makes it tailor-made for a carnival. How I love to shuffle, shuffle off to Bogotá…

Los Zheros: Psychedelic Cumbia Party (Vampisoul)

Fast-forward to August and hop across the Andes if you will to Peru. This latest LP from Vampisoul (in conjunction with the Peruvian Rey Record label) is one of their trusty compilations, focusing on this occasion on just one band: Los Zheros, whose brand of Amazonian cumbia was taken generally at a faster lick than Combo Moderno’s. The surf-style electric guitars twang for all their trebly might and the cowbell-prominent percussion bangs away jauntily throughout a cool dozen mainly instrumental numbers that include the five-minute (and quite different) psychedelic rock of “Cuarto Oscuro”, the number which kicked off the band’s recording career in 1973.

Arthur de Faria & Pedro Longes: Canciones con Drama (YB Records)

Sometimes there’s nothing quite like a stark contrast. S it’s down to Brazil’s frontier with Argentina for something even more different than chalk is to cheese. YB Records can generally be relied upon for something a bit hors norm – and this is no exception. The title translates, as you can guess, as “dramatic songs”. The seven slices of vocal and instrumental passion are indeed just that. Bizarrely, they transport me back to the kind of gentle light-comedy purveyed by the likes of Joyce Grenfell and Flanders & Swann; the kind of material that emerged from the golden days of British music hall. Pardon my peculiar conceit because there’s nothing at all comedic about this music. Here’s a sample that’s representative of an album recorded in São Paulo with guests such as Miriã Farias on violin. In what the publicity describes neatly as “a meeting of traditions and reinventions”, it mixes new works and re-imagined classics such as Fernando Cabrera’s “El tiempo está después” in a way that leaves a palpable impression of border-crossing drama.

Various Artists: 80 Anos Remixes (Amor in Sound)

Talking of drama… 2021’s 80 Anos was full of it. Produced by Mario Caldato jr., co-founder of the Amor in Sound label, the album celebrated the legacy of the Afro-Brasileira Orquestra, the Brazilian big band formed in 1942 but recorded only twice previously: in 1957 (Obaluayê) and the orchestra’s eponymous follow-up in 1968. With Caldato once more on (co-)production duties, the new album assembles a stellar cast of re-mixers from Brazil (Criolo, Marcelo D2 et al) and beyond (Mix Master Mike, Cut Chemist and Mexican Institute of Sound for three of the most notable). While some re-mixes work better than others, as is usually the case with a project of this kind, taken as a whole the 15 tracks manage to convey the drama of the original, but in a very different, often very electronic way. Here’s one of my favourites, probably because the original is still very recognisable.

Wolfgang Pérez: Só Ouꞔ (Hive Mind Records)

If Wolfgang Pérez doesn’t sound very Brazilian, that’s because he’s not. He is, as his name suggests, part German and part Spanish. But his new album (that translates as “just listen”) is inspired by Brazil – and Rio de Janeiro in particular. It was made during an 18-month exchange residence in the city, during which he was introduced to the likes of Arto Lindsay, he assembled a band and he was granted time and technical assistance in Wolf Estúdio by its owner Angelo Wolf, engineer for the Bala Desejo gang, Ana Frango Elétrico and the drumming saxophonist Antonio Neves (who leads the brass and woodwind section on an album apparently influenced by MPB in general and Tom Zé in particular). Even so, it seems that the encounter with Lindsay, the ubiquitous high priest of no-wave, might have had a more discernible influence:  the music is fragmentary and dreamy, inventive, ambitious and experimental, and always absorbing. As love letters to Rio go, Só Ouꞔ  is a curious one, but well worth investigating.

Lila Iké: Treasure Self Love (Ineffable Records)

I would suggest that there’s quite enough self-love going on in the world right now. However, let’s put aside geo-political concerns and concentrate on a debut album by this rising star, our cover artist this month, who blends reggae, dancehall and modern-day R&B with the help of some high-profile names. She features, for example, Barrington Levy and rapper k-os on “Top of the World”, one of several of the album’s 11 numbers with the potential to stand as singles. The song, she explains, “celebrates reggae music and the power of its messages to reach and inspire all over the world.” Could the chanteuse raised by a single mother with three sisters in the rural outback of Jamaica be going global? Treasure Self Love is a good start along the road to world domination.

Sérgio Krakowski: Boca Do Tempo (Rocinante)

“Stick with it,” the publicist warns. “It’ll grow on you.” Well I guess the Brazilian pandeiro-master’s latest work – a blend of hand-percussion, electronics and voice (spoken, sung and simply breathed) – can at times challenge your patience. Nevertheless, it casts a spell on you if you listen without prejudice, and it sure beats death-metal and avant-garde jazz. Conceived between the death of his father and the birth of his son, Krakowski has created nine improvisatory “Engrenagens Sonoras de Ativaꞔão” (or “Sound Activation Gears”, as he dubs them) with the help of producer Pedro Durães and artistic director (and label chief), Sylvio Fraga. You won’t spot anything much like this on Spotify, that’s for sure.

Buena Vista Social Club^TM: Original Broadway Cast Recording (World Circuit)

Here’s one with perhaps a little more global commercial appeal – and note the trademark addition to the name now (just in case you were thinking of launching a new musical venture). Back in April, I featured the Estrellas de Buena Vista’s Live in Havana. This time around, it’s the original Broadway cast and the BVSC Broadway Band running through all those numbers that have become so familiar since the 1996 album triggered a phenomenon that surely no one could have predicted. Variety called the spectacle “the most intoxicating and rapturous show of the Broadway season.” You have been hipped or forewarned, depending on your view of such theatrical ventures.

Santiago Motorizado: El Retorno (Nacional Records)

Quick! Someone’s doing a crime. Call El Mató A Un Policía Motorizado…! Sorry, I couldn’t resist it; I just love that name for a band. And Santiago Motorizado is the voice and creative force behind the Latin GRAMMY-winning Argentine indie rock outfit. I like the video for this number (cinema audiences can be so annoying) and, while indie rock is not necessarily my bucket of popcorn, he and the band do what they do very well. Although I don’t speak enough Spanish to understand the lyrics, it’s clear that this is a songwriter to be reckoned with: talking of one of the standout tracks on the album, “El Gomoso”, he observes, “Maybe that’s what it’s about: being a likeable loser, laughing at yourself, planning small emotional revenges.” Wonderful!

Kikimora: Kikimora (Self-released)

We’ll end for this month on an Argentine note. Kikimora actually hail from El Paso, Texas, but the five-piece outfit includes expats from both Argentina and Mexico, so that earns them a place in this column. Besides, I rather like this album: on a first casual listening, you could be forgiven for bracketing it with indie-rock, but subsequently you notice more the jazz, funk and soul influences. Kikimora’s third record is strong on melody and groove, and , and Hayley Lynch’s enticing vocals resonate with a certain je ne Sade quoi. It should appeal to anyone sufficiently at peace with themselves to admit to still liking artists like Sade and Jamiroquai.

Summer’s nearly over now, but bonne fin d’été, as they say in these parts. See you in the autumn.

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