Amplificador: Novíssima Música Brasileira

It's hard to say whether NMB (Novíssima Música Brasileira), meaning ‘Brand New Brazilian Music’, will ever have quite the same ring to it or longevity as MPB (Música Popular Brasileira), but here it is. This is Far Out's attempt to get in on the avalanche of contemporary action unleashed by the likes of Mais Um Discos: they have enlisted Amplificador, a Brazilian music blog, to pick the 17 excellent and often outstanding tracks here. In keeping with Far Out's retro-classicist heritage, there's generally less emphasis on the indie rock and more on the Afrocentric sounds, though Luziluzia's ‘Summertime’ is as winsome a piece of shimmering contemporary floppy-fringe-and-beard music as you could hope for. Happily, it's matched by as caterwauling a couple of slices of grungy 70s funk and Moog-infested psych as you could wish for in The Baggios’ ‘Esturra Leão’ and Burro Morto's ‘Lúcifer Colômbia’.

In fact, there are bullseyes throughout. Zulumbi – a group featuring Nação Zumbi alumni Lúcio Maia and Dengue – cover the mangue beat angle with a suitably growling statement of intent. Iconili brandish a haunting, jazz-tempered take on Afrobeat. And Aeromoças e Tenistas Russas have patented their own brand of prog-dub. Verily, Brazil's creative cup runneth over – as they probably don’t say in São Paulo.