Soundway: Onda De Amor - Synthesized Brazilian Hits That Never Were (1984-94) Vinyl 2LP

Warning: Adding this comp to your collection isn’t gonna cross any rare hyped Brazilian shit off your wantlist. Rather than lazily compiling the most in-demand records, the exhaustive crew at Soundway have enlisted Brazilian-born Millos Kaiser to select some of his favorite overlooked joints from the dustiest record store chasms across Brazil: “They aren’t rare because everyone wants a copy, but because no one wants them,” says Kaiser. “Not even the dealers.” The first thing you’ll notice about these tracks is the production - it’s all electronic! Before Music From Memory’s Outro Tempo comp, this side of Brazilian music was largely ignored by the Braziliia record nerdus herdus. “Use of synthesizers and electronic drums in polished and groovy productions was seen as a way to standardize and Americanize Brazilian music. This is a thought that seems to still hang in the air. Many people stand by their opinion that the 80s were the lost era of Brazilian music.” Onda De Amor proves straight away that this overlooked era boasts as much soul and pop potential as its American counterpart or any other period of Brazilian popular music. Take for instance the killer Sade cover that Soundway have, smartly, pushed all the way up to the A2 slot: Vânia Bastos’ 1994 rendition of “The Sweetest Taboo” starts off with a note-for-note reproduction of the original drum machine pattern, and I don’t see you or anyone else lining up to shit on Sade’s drums! Kaiser mines these largely deplored dollar bin joints of the 80s and 90s and assembles a rather stellar collection of plugged-in Latin soul gems, ranging from low-key R&B (Região Abissal’s “Feminina Mulher,” Ricardo Bomba’s “Você Vai Se Lembrar”) to tropical boogie (Fogo Balano’s “O Fogo Do Sol,” Dodô Da Bahia & As Virgens De Porto Seguro’s “Africamerica”) and rolling disco (Nanda Rossi’s “Livre Pra Voar”). Electric Boogies’ “Electric Boogies” sounds straight out of the menu screen of a Brazilian cop SNES game from my dreams; AKA the bestselling PPU or Arcane joint that never was. Double vinyl pressing housed in gatefold sleeve featuring extensive liner notes and original album art, recommended.

• double vinyl pressing
• gatefold sleeve
• music label: Soundway 2018

reviewed by sakura incident 07/2018