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I can’t believe it’s going on eight years since I first got hip to the wave of future hybrid jazzy soul that was rolling out of Scandinavia. The Gothenburg scene was popping in Sweden. Copenhagen was kragenoff. Even Finland was getting it in. The first Nuspirit Helsinki album is so mandatory. It’s held up really well over time.
The B-side wins again, which is why I posted the 12-inch label instead of an album cover displaying this luscious singer. Remember when the flip side of every single contained an exciting new adventure? This tune dropped in 1990 but was never officially released on an album until 1998. By then it was a well-established classic. I feel like I can never be a big enough stan for black Brit soul. Did y’all know Mica dropped a new record this year? Honey had the scoop on that this summer.
Sometimes I feel like the Liquid Crystal Project jazz albums by this Ohio producer best known for his hip-hop work with Lone Catalysts are some sort of well-guarded secret. If that’s the case, they’re a secret I’d rather share.
And as an extra bonus treat, here’s the last hour from when we rocked in June.
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Mos Def is about to bust us all upside our collective nuggets with this new record. Quiet Dog is already banoodles. Now there’s this joint:
As soon as the first stanktastic bar kicked in, I bugged, and not just because Dante was rhyming like Ali hitting the speed bag in his prime. This bamma pulled a Ghostface and straight rhymed over a whole existing song! One of my favorite songs by a group I first got hip to on my trip to Brazil last year. Vinyl heads on the internets were already on the case, digging up the original Banda Black Rio joint for comparison.
I would have known about this if I actually went to Mos Def shows because he’s been rocking this joint live for like the past five months. At this point, I wouldn’t be mad if he did a whole album rhyming over funky, contrapuntal jazz fusion classics. Some Return to Forever maybe? Weather Report? Head Hunters! Let’s go!
But before I get carried away, let’s take a moment to trace the origins of a tune that Mos also discovered (and kirked out over) on a trip to Brazil.
“Casa Forte” was originally written and recorded by Edú Lobo for his North American debut Sergio Mendes Presents Edú Lobo. Lobo was already pushing the development of Musica Popular Brasileira after building on the work of Jobim and Gilberto but despite his important contributions to bossa nova, his acoustic rendering of “Casa Forte” takes a back seat to the many cover versions of what is now a standard.
A few of my favorites:
Sergio Mendes gives it a pretty straight interpretation, but with the trademark vocal style of Brasil ‘66. (listen / buy)
Legendary vocalist Flora Purim’s take is less pretty and a bit psychedelic. She gives the tune a wild edge. (listen / buy)
Ellis Regina lends a slightly mournful feel to her version and her rhythm section sounds like they’d also been playing some bop over the course of the recording session. (listen / buy)
Madlib teamed up with original Azymuth drummer Ivan “Mamão” Conti for the Jackson Conti project. Their rendition of “Casa Forte” puts the samba percussion up front and features what sounds like a melodica running through a wah pedal carrying the main melody of the tune. Probably Madlib’s idea. While he was high. Loving the keyboard work on this. (listen / buy)
And finally, DMV beat scientist Nick Tha 1da snuck in a version of “Casa Forte” on his Bossa Bang! mixtape last year. Since it’s a seamless combination of vinyl finds and re-worked productions, I’ve had the damnedest time ID’ing the origin*. Maybe I’ll ask him next time I see him. I ain’t too proud to train-spot. Click the cover above to download the whole project.
Update:
*Nick came through! Crate-diggers never reveal their secrets, but I guess he was feeling generous that day. Dig up a copy of this record and you’ll find another unique Casa Forte to add to your collection.
The Sao Paulo hip-hop community was already reeling from one loss before this, and as someone who didn’t know him personally but who admired his style, skill and aesthetic, my heart goes out to our Brazilian fam.
I’ve been back for a while so I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I’m not going to get around to detailing all the historical, cultural and social experiences I had in Bahia. This weekend I carved out some time to hit a pile of not yet listened to vinyl so I can at least post the digging wrap-up of my trip (with covers, since that’s a big part of the fun.)
Unfortunately, the holy grail remains outside of my grasp, even though I did visit their hometown. I saw a couple of vinyl copies that cats were not trying to part with and it’s been out of print forever. I’ll probably have to find a questionable Japanese bootleg or something.
I didn’t have much room to bring stuff back to the U.S. so I kept my aspirations low. I scouted out four spots and managed to hit three of them. One of them had massive stock but everything was too beat to be worth buying. Record condition was a recurring problem that I had been warned about.
Right around the corner is another spot I highly recommend to anyone traveling in Salvador. Cana Brava is all CD so it caters to you normal folks that don’t share the wax addiction. Pardal runs the store with his wife and he’s very helpful and knowledgeable. We ended up talking music for so long that I almost forgot to shop. But on impulse I came away with…
Banda Black Rio – Gafieira Universal (CD) [Basically the Brazilian Earth, Wind & Fire. I saw the afros and the disc pretty much jumped off the shelf into my hand. My hunch was rewarded by not a single fast-forwardable track on the whole record. Word to reissues. They've got four other albums that you can find with some due diligence.]
The main transaction went down in this random closet of a store in Barra. The mission posed several challenges. I had to whittle down a huge stack to a handful of critical purchases while dealing with a language barrier, no turntable to screen the records and large holes in my knowledge about the artists.
Then I had to haggle. I was somewhat concerned that I might have been hustled but my gut told me that the proprietor was a serious music head who recognized a kindred spirit. As I dug and asked questions in infant level Portuguese, he went deep into the stacks pulling more stuff and explaining it to me. I definitely paid more than the pieces would be worth in the U.S. but I haggled him down by a significant amount, had fun and most importantly, learned a lot in the process. That’s worth a few reais. Here’s the haul:
Egberto Gismonti – Corações Futuristas (LP) [Fusion bordering on free jazz. Definitely bugged out. I asked for something like Chick Corea and Azymuth and this was the recommendation. Apparently out of print and not often seen stateside.]
Cesar Camargo Mariano, Victor Assis Brasil, Helio Delmiro – Performance (LP) [Electric jazz cats I'd never seen or heard of. Quite luscious with killer guitar action. This is going to yield some juicy beat fodder. I think I made a come-up.]
Zezé Motta – Dengo (LP) [Lightly funky post-'70s tropicalia with pop accents from this major brazilian actress who also had a singing career.]
Elis Regina – Elis (LP) [If you're ever at a loss for a place to start exploring Brazilian music, you can't go wrong with Pimentinha. Her tone and phrasing are unforgettable]
MPB-4 – Antologia (LP) [This is a 1974 compilation of MPB (otherwise known as Música Popular Brasileira) and it's quite a goldmine. It sounds like an in-house vocal group at the record label doing medleys of the works of significant composers but I have to study up more to get the back story.]
DanceTracks: the other G'wich Village landmark that influenced my life as much as @FatBeatsNY. I missed wthr it also get a hero's farewell. 56 mins ago
