Outro Tempo II (Electronic And Contemporary Music From Brazil, 1984-1996)

There’s 8 years of overlap between Music from Memory’s Outro Tempo and Outro Tempo II (Electronic And Contemporary Music From Brazil, 1984-1996), yet they feel like transmissions from entirely different countries. The first edition mapped out what was happening in Brazil in the wake of two decades of brutal military regime repression. The second edition might still be under that long shadow, but gets more electronic, more urban, more claustrophobic, and much weirder. There’s more drum machines, fewer native hand percussion, more piercing synth noises, fewer elegant harmonies. The influence of post-punk, art rock, and early hip-hop can also be felt. A delicious juxtaposition is struck between sweet female vocals and heavy drums, as on standouts like May East’s “Maraka,” Priscilla Ermel’s “Americua,” and Fausto Fawcett’s “Império Dos Sentidos.” And then there’s a ritualistic folk stunner like Nelson Angelo’s “Harmonía de Água,” rendered with little more than an acoustic guitar and chimes.