The Rough Guide to Psychedelic Brazil

Taking a liberal approach to what defines psychedelic music, this latest offering from Rough Guides takes slightly ‘out there’ tracks from the last 50 years of Brazilian music, starting with 60s garage rock, moving through 70s psych-folk, oddities from the 80s and 90s and eventually on to modern artists like Lucas Santtana and Graveola.

Despite such broad criteria the album works beautifully as a collection, offering a superb introduction into alternative Brazilian music. It’s great to hear little-known gems such as José Moura’s mesmeric ‘Obnoxious’ or ‘Renata, by the surprisingly named group Liverpool, especially when next to the earthy, acid-induced folk of Pernambuco artists Lula Cortes, Flaviola and Marconi Notaro.

The selections from the 80s and onwards cover a wider range of influences. ‘Amarelasse’ is a playful carnival ditty from Mini Box Lunar; Tom Zé’s ‘Uai-Uai’ is one of the psych-pop maestro’s more concrete compositions; while ‘O Jarro’ mixes 80s production with light jazz, Middle Eastern instrumentation and rap for one of Baby do Brasil’s most intriguing compositions. Best of all though is Siba’s ‘Cantando Ciranda Na Beira Do Mar’, paying homage to Pernambucan folk singer José Galdino but taking the sound into heavier rock terrain. If all that wasn’t enough, the compilation comes with a second, bonus disc, a reissue of Júpiter Maçã’s heavily Beatles-influenced 1997 album A Sétima Efervescência. The Rough Guide to Psychedelic Brazil finds the perfect balance between inventiveness and musicality, and shows that when it comes to subversive pop, few countries can match Brazil.