Brazilian Wonderband Os Mutantes this Wednesday

This Wednesday, a myth comes to life on the Beachland stage.  The storied but elusive Os Mutantes, the Brazilian equivalent of the Beatles, comes to Cleveland on a very rare tour in support of their latest album–one several decades in the making–Haih or Amortecedor, now out on Anti Records.

Much has been made of this group’s incomparable influence in their home country of Brazil, and of their beloved stature with such musical notables as David Byrne, Beck, and even Kurt Cobain.  Much has also been made of their 60s output, an indescrible mash-up of sounds ranging from Summer-of-Drugs garage-rock mixed with ethnic rhythms, confundingly melodic arrangements, and a buyant sense of humor.

Which means all the music nerds, writers, and other weirdos (we mean that in a good way) like Os Mutantes based on their estimable legacy.  But what are people saying now? And what does the band have to say in 2009?

Here’s a review of Os Mutantes’ recent gig in Los Angeles, a scintillating art rock dance party:

On a sweltering Friday night at the Echoplex, Sergio Dias led his band mates, Os Mutantes, on multiple musical excursions through rock & roll, samba, and bossa nova, with a bit of Kurt Weill thrown in for good measure. ….Playing to an audience that tilted towards the band’s younger fans (or so it appeared when they would stop dancing long enough to get a look), Dias and his fellow players wove disparate musical threads into seemingly real musical entities that were propelled against each other creating the wildest musical collisions that made absolutely perfect musical sense.

Read more about this remarkable performance HERE.  Boston.com gives their perspective on Mutantes and their new record.  Seattle-based Three Imaginary Girls gives us a preview of their Bumbershoot performance.

Some great live shots of Os Mutantes and a gushing live review from their Portland, OR appearance are at melophobe.com.  And we’ll take it back to Los Angeles, where we find out about Os Mutantes’ remarkable show at that city’s famed Amoeba superstore.

To top it all off, the Beachland Blog Staff is very pleased to offer you a few Os Mutantes tracks from their new release.  These songs offer beaty gusto a la Gogol Bordello or Cyro Baptiste’s Beat the Donkey (more Brazilians!); musical melting pot wizardry reminscent of Beck or Andrew Bird, and a sweetly crazed rock sound that brings to mind Jefferson Airplane or Love.  Neither of those bands truly sounds anything like Os Mutantes; the reverse also applies.  Check ’em out for yourselves:

Opening this very special show are JDub recording artists DeLeon and their special brand of Sephardic rock.  A custom DJ set by members of afrobeat orchestra, Mifune, opens this show.

Tickets? Inquiries? Directions? Click  HERE to buy tickets, visit  www.beachlandballroom.com or call one of our standby operators at 216.383.1124.

EAS

Brazilian Legends Os Mutantes @ Beachland September 30

Os Mutantes @ Beachland

Can you say ‘show of the year’?  If you’re into bouncing Brazilian beats, kitchen-sink weirdness, and just sunshiney pop fun, you don’t need to be hip and with the pages of NME (the UK’s New Music Express, for those not in the know).  Brazilian legends Os Mutantes will flip and trip you at the Beachland on September 30th.  After a 35 year hiatus (not as long as the Tribe’s drought, no?), Os Mutantes are releasing a new album, entitled Haih this September 7th on the reknowned ANTI label (home to Tom Waits, Neko Case, and other luminaries).

While music nerds are stumbling over themselves, samba-ing clumsily in ecstasy, you might ask yourself, “Who are Os Mutantes?”  The aforementioned New Music Express cites thusly:

The fact that Os Mutantes was ahead of its time is well illustrated by the fascination of late 90s North American alternative-rockers with the band’s mix-and-match aesthetic. Even in another language, the message is clear: everything’s fair game. For all the tripped-out sounds of the late 60s, there is little to compare to Os Mutantes’ combination of pop packaging and avant garde weirdness.

Formed in 1965 by brothers Sérgio Dias (b. Sérgio Dias Baptista, 1 December 1951, São Paulo, Brazil) and Arnaldo Baptista (b. Arnaldo Dias Baptista, 6 July 1948, São Paulo, Brazil) and singer Rita Lee (b. Rita Lee Jones, 31 December 1947, São Paulo, Brazil) and with the technical expertise of another brother Cláudio behind them, the band first made a real impact backing singer Gilberto Gil at the 1967 TV Records song festival. They shocked the audience with their wild style and electric guitars. The following year at São Paulo’s International Song Festival, they accompanied Caetano Veloso as he performed “É Proibido Proibir” (It’s Forbidden To Forbid), and the band’s psychedelic sound and progressive fashion sense (plastic clothes) again caused an outrage. That same year they recorded their self-titled debut album and also appeared with Gil, Veloso, Tom Zé, and others on the landmark Tropicália Ou Panis Et Circensis, the battle cry of the tropicália movement. On subsequent albums Mutantes (1969) and A Divina Comédia Ou Ando Meio Desligado (1970), they continued to plunder rock and Brazilian roots to stunning effect.

Let’s put those words aside for a moment and let them sizzle in a feijoada skillet, so that your ears and eyes can pick up on this brief bit of Mutantes history.   The remarkable thing, as you’ll see, is that these kids were somehow able to be their country’s pop superstars while mixing in post-Sgt. Pepper psychedelia and annoying Brazil’s dictatorial regime.

As you can see, Os Mutantes’ whirl of sound was born during the tempest of the late Sixties.  And not unlike their US counterparts, they voiced protest while still embracing aspects of their ethnomusical heritage.  Here are Os Mutantes backing up Brazilian giant Gilberto Gil on some straight-forward swingin’ stuff:

And here they are again, in 1970, serving up some Pink Floydian fun:

A Globo.tv video (Globo being one of Brazil’s big networks) details Os Mutantes’ trip to the States a few years back.  Though the interview’s all in Portuguese, the tune they play is also rendered in English.  More audio for eager ears is featured at The Hype Machine, too.  A brief listen to these cuts will put a smile on your face–we assure you!

More on this remarkable show in this space very soon.  Before the rest of the Midwest rolls up to CLE for this party, order your tickets HERE.

EAS