Latin | Brazil Vinyl 544 Items

"Speaker-bangin' before all else" (xlr8r) with "some of the smartest ears in the game" (Chicago Reader), "few can make a room explode like Maga Bo" (Flavorpill). A purveyor of "international sonic weaponry and rhythm knowledge" (Rough Trade), the Rio de Janeiro-based DJ/producer is a veteran pioneer of global bass music, with 20+ years of dedicated experience searching out unheralded music bumping from speaker-boxes in the world's grittiest corners, from Addis Ababa to Zanzibar.
Simultaneously, Amor (É Revolução), the new album from Maga Bo, is statement of hope through change, a call to arms, a lament, a proclamation of resistance, a shout of resilience, an exuberant yell and a deep therapeutic groove all at once. The result of a multi-decade search for rhythmic common denominators with an Afro-Brazilian-centric focus. It joins raw, natural, acoustic timbres and textures with the grit, weight and power of modern electronic production. It is where heavy dub bass pulsations sync with rhythms coaxed from drums heated over an open flame and ancestral voices rise and fall in call and response.
Recorded in Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Recife, Arcoverde and Porto Alegre, the album counts amongst many illustrious talents from the Brazlian music scene, long time collaborators, Russo Passapusso and Roberto Barreto of Baianasystem, the legendary singer, BNegão and São Paulo based, Rosângela Macedo. Grupo Bongar and Samba de Coco Raízes de Arcoverde provide backing percussion and vocals. It also brings newer collaborators, from Recife, the amazing voice of Isaar, the fabulous guitarist, Felipe Cordeiro, as well as long-time friends, ex-Digitaldubs, Jeru Banto and Jota 3, the Mestre of Tambors de Olokun, Alexandre Garnizé, on percussion, fellow nomadic electronic roots explorer, Teleseen and the rock solid percussionist from Salvador, Icaro Sá.

The Coastal Invasion’ highlights the golden age of big band cumbia and the maestro who is often seen as Colombia’s most influential composer, Lucho Bermudez. This compilation contains a selection of the music of Lucho Bermúdez y su Orquesta recorded during the years that they lived and worked in Medellín, probably the best work the orchestra ever recorded.

El Palmas Music are back with a third instalment of rare Venezuelan sounds from the 60s and 70s, a wild trip through salsa, boogaloo, garage rock, jazz and delinquent pop. Venezuelan music was moving at such a pace through the 60s and 70s that almost as soon as a new craze was born, another was preparing to eclipse it. In barely 10 years, musicians latched on to the sound of the Latin big bands of Cuba, New York and Colombia, turned to the 60s pop and rock ‘n’ roll of England and the US, before heading back to salsa as it took root across Latin American, before forays into jazz, psych rock and Afro-Venezuelan rhythms took hold in the 70s. This fertile musical period, coming at a time when Venezuela was economically abundant and culturally as relevant as any other developed country, has always been the focus of the Color de Trópico series, and continues to be the case on this third instalment, though it should also be noted that the tracks are getting rarer and rarer, indicative of the curatorship of DJ El Palmas and El Drágon Criollo and their constant search for new sounds that reflect Venezuela’s musical treasures at this time. Color de Trópico Vol. 3 starts with Un, Dos, Tres Y ... Fuera’s “Aquella Noche”, a song that’s fully indicative of Venezuela’s coastline with the much-loved Un, Dos, Tres Y ... Fuera giving a llanero rhythm (normally played on a harp and other stringed instruments in its rural incarnation) a fully Afro-Caribbean makeover with pulsating bass and an electric keyboard that teases and energises the groove. It possesses some of that same mid-70s vitality and need to experiment as Grupo Vaquedanus, the band of sax maestro Santiago Baquedano, and their cover of Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five”, here fashioned as “Toma Cinco”. This version strips away all the niceties of the original, turning it in to a psych-fuzz jazz romp with Baquedano’s raspy sax leading the way. Step back 10 years and the energy remains even if the musical terrain was different. Girl group Los Pájaros hit hard with a boogaloo whose instruction is simple enough: “shake it baby, kiss for you, take the rhythm, and do the boogaloo”. Los Pájaros were one of a number of groups who were taking inspiration from the 60s sounds of the US and Britain but repackaging it for Venezuelan youth. Pop stars Geminis 5 were at it too with a fuzzy ballad “Tus 16 Años”, and Junior Squad even injected a bit of San Francisco hippy charm into affairs with their loose adaptation of The Turtles “She’d Rather Be With Me”, retitled as “Siempre Para Ti” and sounding as rough, ready and full of youthful vim as anything made north of Mexico. On the farthest end of the pop spectrum is The Pets with their cult hit “El Entierro de un hombre rico que murió de hambre” (“The Burial of a Rich Man Who Died of Starvation”), a true countercultural anthem that even dips into “The Funeral March” for a minute, and which is much desired by record collectors. Finally, we must mention the salsa ensembles and their big band predecessors, always an important element of any Color de Trópico compilation. On Volume 3, we find one of the earliest salsa groups in Venezuela, Los Megatones De Lucho, who recorded a pachanga, “Yo Se Que Tu”, long before salsa was even a thing. Influenced by Venezuela’s very own Los Dementes and Joe Cuba’s sextet, Principe Y Su Sexteto were one of Venezuela’s most prominent salsa ensembles. On their 1969 track “San De Manique” we get a different vibe altogether, it’s a creeping son with just vocals, bass and congas for its opening minute, before really kicking into action with a twisted guitar line and wild percussion, while always retaining a raw, Afro-Latin feel. Last, but not least by any means, is one of Venezuela’s most beloved salseros, Johnny Sede, who pipes up with a classic salsa, “Guararé”, showing how the style had developed in just a few short years. You could accuse El Palmas and El Dragón Criollo, the curators of this collection, as getting some sort of a sick thrill at throwing such a weird and unwieldy bunch of tracks together, and that may be true, but there is logic too. These are songs full of life and creativity that signalled an era of boundless optimism. Listen to them now, and you’ll find yourself feeling those emotions once again.

HIGHLIGHTS:1967 descargas album by Peruvian percussionist Coco Lagos y Sus Orates, featuring Alfredo Linares, Charlie Palomares, Otto de Rojas, Mario Allison_This album was recorded following the success of the descarga sessions released by New York label Alegre Records.It includes a version of Cal Tjader's 'Mamblues' and 'Brava pachanga', an original by the Father of Boogaloo, Joe Cuba, among many other stand-out tracks. Quality official reissue on 180g vinyl after years unavailable. Includes insert with liner notes.Details:1966 was a prolific year for the MAG record label. The microphones were constantly on at the label's studios, recording timeless hits by Los Demonios de Corocochay, Betico Salas, Cholo Berrocal, Mario Allison, Alfredo Linares, Carlos Muñoz and Los Pacharacos, just to mention the most successful ones. The percussion playing by 29-year-old Peruvian Coco Lagos stands out on a number of these recordings.Coco continued his early career, and he played the conga drums for artists who passed through Lima, accompanying Pérez Prado, Oréfiche and Chano Scotty, among others. In the late 50s, he started working as a regular musician in the recently founded record company MAG, alongside musicians such as Ñiko Estrada, Mario Allison, Lucho Macedo...After taking part in numerous recordings, in 1966 the director of the MAG label, Manuel Guerrero, asked him to make a series of recordings for an LP that would be released under the name Coco Lagos y sus Orates. According to Coco's statements to the press, the orchestra included musicians from the label such as pianist Alfredo Linares; vibraphonists Carlos "Charlie" Palomares and Otto de Rojas; timbalero Mario Allison; alto sax player Mario Escobar; Chilean trumpeter Víctor "Duraznito" Durand; double bass player Santiago Colón; and vocalists Benny del Solar, Kiko Fuentes and César Gonzales, as well as other backing singers.On July 21, 1966, the recording kicked off with 'Tumba Coco', a descarga composed by Coco and Manu...