MoMo

Brazil has some of the best psych bands going right now. It makes sense, of course - they have a long tradition of blending 60s psychadelic weirdness with rock, folk, pop, and samba into a fantastic genre dubbed "tropicalia." I wouldn't be surprised if you haven't heard of MoMo, but it's a damn shame, because he's got some really amazing tunes. MoMo is Marcelo Frota, with a revolving cast of backing musicians. He plays some really diverse tunes, at times it's almost like a blending Burt Bacharach-esque ballads with wild reverbed-out psychadelia, other times it's straight-ahead Beatles psych-pop. On Tuesday, Oct 13th, he'll be playing at Cafe 9 in New Haven. This is his first time coming to the states! You don't want to miss this one - there's no cover either, so you have no excuse.


I am lucky enough to have gotten my hands on Buscador, his second album. It's got a lot of horns and beautiful guitar parts, classy Brazilian backbeats and sweeping keys. But the thing that hits me most about this album is the vocals. I don't speak Portugese, but it's a beautiful language that always seems to lend itself to singing. I think there's something magical about thesee songs - they've got a lot of great backing vocal parts and understated harmonies that just work so well together. The title track is my favorite, it has a really nice descending chorus with airy flutes, what sounds like cavaquinho, and a shuffling backbeat that you'll almost never hear in American music. His song "Tristeza" begins with some beautiful natural ambient sounds and has some fantastic electric guitar solos toawrd the end with heaps of phaser pedal. The album ends with the smooth "Fin" which is almost like a Yann Tiersen-esque French lullaby. Head over to his website for more details.

Tuesday
Oct. 13
9 pm
No Cover