Category Archives: Latin

SALSA

Monday: May 16, 2011 Posted: Darien Victor Birks Category: Latin, Mix 9 Comments

Flwrpt / Salsa

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Tracks / Roberto Roena – Que Se Sepa / Eddie Palmieri – Melao para el Sapo / Cortijo y Su Combo & Ismael Rivera – Agua Que Va a Caer / Tito Puente – Four Beat Mambo / Joe Bataan – Mambo de Bataan / Ray Barretto – Trompeta y Trombon / Hector Lavoe & Willie Colon – El Malo / Hector Lavoe & Willie Colon – Quimbombo / Orlando Marin & His Orchestra – Que Chevere / Ray Barretto – Abidjan / Chaparro y Su Orquesta – Pon El Oido Mujer / Tito Puente & Willie Colon – Ran Kan Kan / Eddie Palmieri – El Molestoso / Joe Cuba – A Las Seis / The Latinaires – Ya Llegaron / Louie Ramirez – Yambu / Monguito “El Unico” y Su Conjunto – Ave Maria Morena / Charlie Palmieri – King Charles / Cheo Feliciano – Pienso en Ti

Vento Sul

Sunday: August 29, 2010 Posted: Darien Victor Birks Category: Latin 3 Comments

Vento Sul

Review / Another amazing LP from Marcos Valle! Vento Sul has a nice vibe all around, the arrangements are killer, and the change-ups plentiful. One of the most interesting things about Brazilian music in general is the percussion, and on this album it blew me away, so many levels and layers of sound. He was backed by Brazilian rock band O Terço, and this sound is known to have been very left-field for Valle, however, I think it’s his second best album to date. Enjoy…

Design / The design of the album cover is interesting, however, I don’t fully understand its meaning. “Vento Sul” translates to “Southern WInd”, and in the cover image it’s apparent that a wind has come though his front door, and is blowing in his hair, but then the main image depicts an abstract interpretation of him standing in a puddle of water with a guitar. Brazilian album covers are never straight forward, but I can appreciate that and eventually I’ll uncover the meaning…

Info / Artist: Marcos Valle / Album: Vento Sul / Year: 1972 / Label: Odeon Fonográfica

Marcos Valle / Democ£stico

Marcos Valle / Pista 02

Marcos Valle / Rosto Barbado

Entre e Ouça.

Tuesday: December 15, 2009 Posted: Darien Victor Birks Category: Latin 7 Comments

Artist: Ed Motta
Title: Entre e Ouça
Year: 1992
Label: WEA
Format: Vinyl LP (Original)
Flwrpt Rating of this Record: 5.0/5.0

Front Cover

Review
Brazilian singer Ed Motta was waaaaaaaaaay ahead of his time! This is his third record, Entre e Ouça…and probably my favorite from him. Pay close attention to the date that this was released, 1992, it sounds like music that was released last week! His style is a mix of MPB (Música Popular Brasileira), jazz, soul, and funk, but Motta has an amazing voice with really good range, and hardcore soul leaking from his vocal chords. He is the nephew of the legendary Tim Maia, so its no wonder his voice has such a strong presence. But as far as the record is concerned, amazing arrangements, a great jazz lounge vibe, interesting synthetic sounds, some scatting, and really nice chord progressions. This is an artist that I recommend everyone checking out, but for now, listen to the clips below. I STILL don’t accept the fact that this was created in 1992, the music was so ahead of a lot of music created that year. Enjoy…

Check out the sound!

Entre e Ouça

À Vontade

Bem Longe

Se até às 11

Noir em Tons Pastéis

Design
This cover wins, simply on intrigue. That’s how I decided to check this album out in the first place, the cover drew me in. The damp mood, the funky but straight-forward illustration, the brightly lit rooms in the house, the car passing by. Entre e Ouça translates to Enter and Hear, and this cover makes me want to do JUST that.

The simple, sort of cartoony type treatment is interesting as well, oddly enough I feel like it gives a sense of motion to the scene going on in the background. It’s so flat, and that yellow bar grounds the whole top third of the album cover…for some reason it just works. One of my favorite covers…

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Additional info on Ed Motta

Locomotivas.

Saturday: November 14, 2009 Posted: Darien Victor Birks Category: Design, Latin, Video 7 Comments

LOCOMOTIVAS LOGO

LOCOMOTIVAS Theme:

Locomotivas was a Brazilian soap opera that aired in 1977. There were a couple of amazing things about this show, and interestingly enough, they have nothing to do with the actual show.

What makes this amazing? For starters, the logotype for the show title is super dope! A silhouette of a female w/ LOCOMOTIVAS typeset to create her undergarment, and the “V” is designed as a cover for her uhhhh…”secret place”. DESIGN DETAIL! I love it. Another thing that I really like is that they created a sound to accompany the show. The theme music was created by a great Brazilian jazz group called the Banda Black Rio (check them out). Take a look at the opening theme…

Águia Não Come Mosca.

Monday: March 16, 2009 Posted: Darien Victor Birks Category: Jazz, Latin 2 Comments

Artist: Azymuth
Title: Águia Não Come Mosca
Year: 1977
Label: Atlantic
Format: Vinyl LP (Original)
Flwrpt Rating of this Record: 4.5/5.0

Front

Review
As a follow-up to my previous post, I’ll share this amazing album by the Brazilian jazz masters, Azymuth! I love all of their music, however, Águia Não Come Mosca is one of my favorite records out of their discography. Very melodic at times, this record tends to be very dream-like. That said, one can only imagine that the rhodes piano plays a major role in the instrumentation. The percussion is very prominent here as well, but that carries over into almost all of their music. Innovative and unique only begin to describe this group, the way the music is arranged draws you in from start to finish, they definitely believe in the “change-up”, so don’t get too comfortable with any particular groove, they’ll flip it in a second!

Hopefully this album sparks your interest in the group, they have so much great music that isn’t heard about/talked about here in the states. In fact, you can check their discography here.

Check out the sound!

Falcon Love Call ( Armazém Nº 2)

Águia Não Come Mosca

Avenida das Mangueiras

A Presa

Design
The cover is striking! Very powerful in its appearance, I love it. From the type, to the rays bursting around the eagle, this is a very strong piece. Honestly, I am not exactly sure what it’s trying to visually convey, but it definitely stands out. Looks as if the eagle is carrying to glass balls of sand (???), I even tried translating the title of the album to see if that would help, but it made no sense…translations came back as:

1. Eagle Does not eat Fly
2. Eagle Eateth not Fly
3. Do not Come Fly Eagle

None of those really helped me out lol! Anyway, ENJOY THE MUSIC!

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Additional info on Azymuth

Brazilian Soul.

Wednesday: January 14, 2009 Posted: Darien Victor Birks Category: Latin, Soul 11 Comments

Artist: Marcos Valle
Title: Previsão Do Tempo
Year: 1973
Label: Odeon Fonográfica
Format: Vinyl LP (Original)
Flwrpt Rating of this Record: 4.5/5.0

Front

Review
This is one of the best Brazilian records that I’ve come across. Surprisingly, this one is heavy in synthesized instrumentation, which is wild considering this record was released in 1973. The synthesizer wasn’t used as much during the early 70′s, and even when it was, the outcome of the sound was not as dope as what’s displayed on this record. Previsão Do Tempo is mellow music for sure…feel-good music, very versatile as far as style is concerned, with a few standard sounding tracks here and there. But this album has innovation written all over it. It’s said to have influenced the acid jazz scene in Europe.

An interesting fact, Brazilian jazz masters, Azymuth, originally formed as a band to back Marcos Valle at live shows. Anyway, Jose Roberto Bertrami, the lead keyboardist for the group, played the synthesizers (mini-moog and arp), as well as the fender rhodes for this album.

Check out the sound!

Não Tem Nada Não Pt.1

Não Tem Nada Não Pt.2

Tiu-ba-la-quieba

Design
How can anyone argue with how great this cover is? Interesting and curious to say the least. I believe that the title of the LP suggests that Previsão (not sure what this means in Portuguese – Thanks PAN!) Gave Tempo…but gave tempo to whom or what? Maybe one of you readers can help me out with this one?

I’m into the type here, it’s nice how the two fonts are completely different, but still seem to work. One of them feels like it could be ITC Busorama (which was designed by Tom Carnase, a design partner of the master, Herb Lubalin). The real winner here is the photography…that underwater shot is great! Not sure what point it’s trying to get across, but it’s striking, and I believe it would make anyone want to pick it up, and add it to their collection. Just so happens that the music is awesome as well.

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Additional info on Marcos Valle

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