On The Margins

Hello, welcome back. A huge amount of music to show you this time round. I’ve found some madcap hardcore, post-rock, cyber-punky throbbing electronics, dense mutant psychedelia, personal minimalist MPB and a toy pig.

Nigéria Futebol Clube – Entre Quatro Paredes (Porão Perus)

This trio from the unpronounceable (to me) Itaquaquecetuba in São Paulo are one the most original bands I have heard in a while. Formed by Raphael Conceição (drums and vocals), Rodrigo (guitar and vocals), and Cauã de Souza (bass), they recently told the site Scream & Yell that they want to kill rock, and that the style needs to die. “Rock, as a concept, is outdated. It has been appropriated, especially by white people. The rock that matters is black rock, but it has been stolen and dethroned.” They play a kind of experimental madcap hardcore in the style of early Butthole Surfers, which is actually what the world needs more of. The tracks are long and brimming full of ideas: “Ambiencia Vol 1” includes ambient interludes, collage, and punk rock mixed together in a sludgy stoner mess; it’s quite something. And to top it all their live album, released one month after this, is called HAMAS!

Fausto Fawcett & Chelpa Ferro – Pesadelo Ambicioso (Outras Música)

Just from this first release, I’m excited by what will come from this new label created by Chico Dub from Novas Frequencias festival. Fausto Fawcett is a Rio writer and journalist, known for innovating rap-rock combined with cyber-punk with his 1986 debut album, Fausto Fawcett e os robôs efêmeros. He’s backed by Chelpa Ferro, a noise and sound art trio. Pesadelo Ambicioso was originally a book by Fawcett published in 2022 by Numa Editora, then in 2024 it was performed as a live show, now it has morphed into this album. This is not just the eternal recycling of older material, the sounds truly engage with the text. It absolutely thrums with looping noise, droning textures, and jarring interference while Fawcett recites his text in his signature style: hyperactive, hyper-urban, apocalyptic, irreverent, acidic, and always entertaining. I also recognise some guitar squall provided by Thiago Nassif, who produces.

DJ Ramon Sucesso – Sexta dos Crias 2.0 (Lugar Alto)

The other day I was at a party where every other person seemed to be a DJ. I got talking to a funk DJ and asked him about bruxaria and mandelão, the styles that outside Brazil are critically acclaimed and being released by hip labels like Nyege Nyege. He was not a fan; too abrasive and moody, he preferred playing music for parties where the girls danced and sang along and the boys followed them onto the dancefloor. Sucesso, in his opinion, however, was another story: a massive talent with his DJ controller, mad viral videos, accessible beats and an identifiable personality. There’s an almost Latin feel to his bolha beat on the first side, “Rompendo o Espaço-Tempo”, and then the tambores break into an African groove and Sucesso piles on his endless MC tics and distorted loops as he seems literally to be breaking through space and time. The 2nd side, “Distorcendo o Universo”, i.e. distorting the universe, demonstrates that the cosmic Afro-futurist manifesto has reached baile funk. That’s a roundabout way to say that this rocks and that something culturally interesting can come from an “Instagram viral sensation” (Aaaargh, please kill me now!!).

Vita – Ponto de Equilíbrio (Self-released)

Vita is known as Joca locally, and is an essential component of the indie scene in Ribeirão Preto, a city in the interior of São Paulo state, not generally known for its DIY scene, but there are always stirrings. He was originally the bassist in indie stalwarts Motormama, who are still around in various forms and names. I also witnessed his garage rock duo, Justu, performing at local parties and recently there’s been his new solo incarnation as Vita, where he would take his acoustic guitar around town sometimes accompanied by a cello. On this album he develops his solo acoustic Drag-City-type sound and fills it out with touches of minimal sequencing, piano and a little brass. but always with his faithful acoustic guitar. It’s very much a home studio recording, minimal, a bit dour but delightfully inventive. There are elements of Bill Callahan’s poetically monotone minimalism, but also the bare-bones repetitious MPB of someone like Walter Franco. It’s a deeply personal record that should be supported.

Infinito Menos – Vaza, Fora, Expulso, Eliminado (scatterArchive)

In December 2024, Marina Cyrino and Matthias Koole, on holiday from Berlin, joined Mário Del Nunzio and Henrique Iwao, renowned for his Cage-an antics and whom I’ve featured in these pages before, in São Paulo at Local Sem Nome. They decided to do an improvised music show, playing in four different trio formations with each specific composition named after the missing member, all in fine post-serialist tradition. Thus, herein are four pieces of “spontaneous music” using whistles, guitars, electronics, various objects and toy pigs. So, it sounds as scattershot and haphazard as you can imagine, but it’s humorous and inventive as well, throwing surprising sounds into your face. Think of Café Oto on a mid-week night.

Oruã – Slacker (K)

Released on the legendarily lo-fi K label in Olympia, Washington, home of Beat Happening, this Rio de Janeiro Band recorded Slacker in Seattle with participation from Jim Roth, formerly of Built To Spill, with whom two members of Oruã played between 2018 and 2019. So that gives you an idea of the sonic environment we are in, where Sonic Youth noisy-indie guitar-isms give way to a fuzzed-out ’60s psychedelia with a dash of motorik krautrock. “Slave of the Golden Teeth” recalls the desert rock of Queens of the Stone Age, but more sloppily played, while the nine-minute “Inaiê” has a cool pagan-witchy vibe.

Obelga – Último Ensaio Sobre Seus Olhos (Selo Risco)

This is the first rap album put out by the ever-adventurous Risco label. But it’s much more than a hip-hop album. There’s lashings of soul, funk and ’80s Brazilian boogie in the densely layered productions of Ryam Beatz and Pirlo that constantly remind you of prime Marcos Valle. Obelga is a rapper, music producer, and composer from Uberlândia (Minas Gerais), a place not normally associated with urban music, as well as being the founder of the label, Sertão da Farinha Podre. He combines his soulful rap with references to Brazilian popular music while exploring intimate narratives that deal with pain, struggle and memory. There are collaborations aplenty: Ana Frango Elétrico is on the opener “Descansar é pecado”; “33 noites” features Joca in a piano led boom-bap that finishes with prime sertão violão. “Particular” is a good-time-rolled-into-a-chiming-funk guitar, harmonious backing vocals, and a flowing rap. This album is an intriguing listen as you have to concentrate intently to see how all the parts fit together to make the harmonic whole.

Alcides Neto – Amú [Music in Exile] (Brain Marrow)

Neto is an ex-pat Brazilian in Melbourne and from the sound of Amú clearly misses his homeland. Inspired by greats such as Airto Moreira and Egberto Gismonti, he mixes the strong songwriting of the former with the jazz fusion of the latter. Neto plays his percussive guitar style backed by a contemporary jazz ensemble to give his take on samba, bossa nova, jazz and a touch of forró. It’s an excellent example of confident songs supported by skillful players playing quality music. The album is dedicated to his grandmother Vó Maria, who I’m guessing is the voice heard at the start in the gentle grooving percussion of “Ari, Sergio, Melo, Marco, merda”, which sounds like Lenine from Recife but then opens up into a piano solo. “Carmariô” is a hybrid of jazz and forró with a pronounced double bass line to guide it. There’s nothing here that’s abrasive or “challenging”, but it’s a delightful listen all the same. 

Hurtmold – Ao vivo no SESC Santana (Selo SESC) 

I’ve written about this group’s individual member’s projects before: Mauricio Takara, Guilherme Granado, and others, but Hurtmold are probably the Brazilian group I have seen live most in my time in Brazil. This is unsurprising as they’ve always been a hard working group and are not afraid of getting out there and playing to new audiences. Originally formed in the city of São Paulo by a group of school friends, they started out as a hardcore band influenced by the math rock of the Dischord label. Then as their tastes developed they showed a fondness for post-rock and experimental jazz. Their label, Submarine Records, a Belo Horizonte-based label run by Fred Finelli, has faithfully supported them, allowing the band to develop a collective language, where they can exchange instruments on their group compositions. This live document is a fine representation of their instrumental interplay at work, highlighting the complex arrangements that shape their avant-rock soundscapes, as well as the freer moments where everything sounds like it’s about to fall apart, but, of course, comes back tightly together. Here’s a sample…

Marcelo Callado – Brado (Nublu)

Callado has played on albums and toured with Caetano Veloso, Elza Soares, Jorge Mautner, Ava Rocha, Lucas Santtana, amongst many others, he’s also produced Mormaço Queima by Ana Frango Elétrico, plays in various bands, and written soundtracks for two feature films, so quite the CV. Brado is the last of a trilogy of albums that started with Saída and Hiato, which document a turbulent period of restless love. It’s a mixed bag of light and dark with some interesting moments. The title track, a collaboration with Monique Lima, is a strange opener, a glam stomper with a distorted solo. The gentle minimalism of “Encanto” charms, whereas the cliched blues rock of “Mariola” grates. “Aquario” starts as a jolly acoustic MPB number then ends up atonal and experimental, while there are also elements of noise rock to be found in “Caio”.

Marcelo Gerab – Sequences (Protopia live) (Boston Medical Group)

Another stellar release from the BMG crew. For me, one of the consistently best electronic labels in Brazil at the moment. This album documents an immersive performance at São Paulo’s Central space during the Protopia project. Recorded while surrounded by a chilled-out audience lying on mats and cushions, the sequentially numbered tracks were composed specifically for the event, where Gerab twists and turns knobs on modular synthesizers to create organic Kosmische soundscapes that incorporate the sounds of skittering electronic circuits and bubbling bright synths. There’s also plenty of deeply satisfying sub-bass throbs to ground everything.

Bruno Tenório – NAUPENC (Self-released)

Tenório is a Brazilian artist from Pernambuco, currently based in the United Kingdom. NAUPENC is a predominantly electronic work, with the entire musical project revolving around rhythm. This is a kind of dense mutant psychedelia with overlapping ostinatos and polyrhythms creating a distinct retro-futuristic vibe. The composer references bands like King Crimson and Tool, but there’s a lot of Aphex Twin, in addition to a Daft Punk pop feel. An experimental film accompanies the album, which takes place in an alternate past in the 1980s, in which Brazil is a nuclear power and the NAUPENC program emerges as a kind of alternative therapy. The completely bonkers plot involves fighting a virtual war against a virus and finishes with meeting a Digital God. Ahem.

Bodoque – “Faz Tempo que Não Caminho na Areia”

To finish there’s this percussive techno post-rock hybrid single from Maringá, of all places. It builds up in such a dramatic manner that you can’t help but be carried away. Excellent stuff!

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