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November 30, 2006

David Byrne's #1 Indie Rock Record Of '06

Never shy to share his musical tastes with the world (and a sucker for Brazilian artists), David recently profiled , the latest release from 64-year-old Caetano Veloso, on the Nonesuch blog.

It’s another radical shift of direction for him- every recent record has been different than the one before- this time I guess you could say it’s an immersion in the land of experimental indie rock. And it’s probably the best indie rock record to come out this year. He may disagree with that categorization, but though not completely accurate it gives some idea what the record sounds like. Distortion pedals, drum kit drums rather than typical Brazilian percussion, live in the studio performance rather than tracks built up on a computer. He had help from his sons- I think they produced the record and played on it and brought in their friends to play on it. Sort of a tribute that anyone’s sons would even want to be involved in their dad’s work- and that a dad would place his creative output in the hands of his kids. Imagine the possible Freudian mess, but it doesn’t sound like dad micromanaged the record, but rather it sounds like a real meeting of generations and sensibilities- his melodies and vocal approach married to their guitar pedals and funky drumming.
Because it's Byrne, and because he said "best indie rock record to come out this year," we know you wanna listen.

Caetano Veloso - "Outro" (MP3)

Not surprisingly, Caetano was a player in Byrne's beloved Tropicalia movement, as documented in Veloso's book Tropical Truth: A Story Of Music And Revolution In Brazil. In another life, Bryne would have been a Mutante. But whaddaya think? Did David find the next Arcade Fire?

Posted at 1:47 PM in
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16 Comments

>>54-year-old Caetano Veloso

he's actually 65 years-old

Posted by: now what at 11/30/06 2:14 PM  | Reply
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Wow do I need a new calculator! Thanks.

Posted by: amrit at 11/30/06 2:26 PM  | Reply
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Boy, call this the year of the Tropicalia comeback. Veloso is back to making challenging music, Os Mutantes reunited, and Tom Zé latest album 'Estudando o Pagode' IS one of the best albums of the year.

Back in the day, they were calling Veloso 'the Brazilian Bob Dylan'... circling back as the 'next Arcade Fire' 3+ decades later is amusing on a couple different levels.

Posted by: drake at 11/30/06 2:27 PM  | Reply
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Sounds like Flin-Flon a little.

Eh, nothin' to grab onto in that. Why don't people write interesting vocal melodies these days? Does it make their music not disposable enough?

Posted by: jed2 at 11/30/06 2:27 PM  | Reply
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tropicalia = definitely big in '06. on top of the things drake mentioned, an excellent tropicalia compilation was released in march by soul jazz records called "tropicalia: a brazilian revolution in sound" that comes with a neat little 40-page booklet that covers the history of the movement. a definite must-have.

Posted by: Mike T at 11/30/06 2:51 PM  | Reply
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Why does Tropicalia hate melody?

Posted by: drake at 11/30/06 2:51 PM  | Reply
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But whaddaya think? Did David find the next Arcade Fire?

i'm guessing (praying, hoping) this was a joke that just didnt translate right. Caetano Veloso is a national treasure in Brazil. when he last played NY he sold out the Beacon. if by some chance you're not kidding, you're officially fired from ever writing about music again.

Posted by: jek at 11/30/06 3:30 PM  | Reply
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But whaddaya think? Did David find the next Arcade Fire?

i'm guessing (praying, hoping) this was a joke that just didnt translate right. Caetano Veloso is a national treasure in Brazil. when he last played NY he sold out the Beacon. if by some chance you're not kidding, you're officially fired from ever writing about music again.

Posted by: jek at 11/30/06 3:32 PM  | Reply
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jek apparently needs his obviously ironic comments either far more obvious or far less ironic.

Posted by: d at 11/30/06 4:54 PM  | Reply
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http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/6707722/a/Foreign+Sound.htm
Well caetano and the arcade fire have both covered the talking heads, and even though I'm an arcade fire fan I think caetano does it better, albeit with a different song.

Posted by: ian at 11/30/06 7:53 PM  | Reply
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Tropicalia is the new black.

Posted by: tjxm at 11/30/06 8:58 PM  | Reply
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Yes, I agree with the commenter who was seriously alarmed by that comparison. It sounds like David doesn't really believe that this is indie rock but gave it that label so that more hipsters would listen to it. Caetano is a leading figure in the psychedelia and bossa nova movements in Brazil, and has been going strong since the late 60's. To even compare him to the Arcade Fire is a serious misstep, for though Funeral is a great album, we have no idea if they will be considered an amazing band 30 years from now, and I don't think they do either. Just take a pause before you make statements like that.

Posted by: Evan at 11/30/06 9:31 PM  | Reply
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If you're interested in hearing CV tackle a beautiful melody, check out Cucurrucucu Paloma, which he performed in Almodovar's Talk to Her. Though it's not one of his compositions and he's not singing in Portugese (so it's not representative of Tropicalia), it's an unthinkably beautiful rendition of a mariachi standard. [that earns hipster points, right?] Oh, and Mike T is right about Soul Jazz records' tropicalia: a brazilian revolution in sound. ALL of their compilations are worth buying (esp. the Dynamite reggae series).

Posted by: Joel at 11/30/06 10:48 PM  | Reply
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everything that caetano do is beautiful. in this cd, he just play rock, but if you search for others musics like 'Pecado Original', 'Clara', you'll see that the Tropicalia is best friend with melody, also search for his work with Jorge Mautner, and others bands of these movement like Novos Baianos, Os Mutantes, Gilberto Gil, and many others that i can't remember now.

Posted by: marcos at 12/01/06 10:27 AM  | Reply
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Tropicalia does love melody - you dolt. it's indie rock that's afraid of melody.


Posted by: Dusty at 12/01/06 12:53 PM  | Reply
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"jek apparently needs his obviously ironic comments either far more obvious or far less ironic."


yeah, i would just prefer a ban on irony, because it's getting pretty fucking exhausting.

Posted by: jek at 12/04/06 5:54 PM  | Reply
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