Tag: Brazilian

BeatCaffeine's Best Albums of 2022

BeatCaffeine’s Favorite Albums of 2022

It’s that time again (hard to believe), where we revisit some of the best releases of the year. In regards of new music, 2022 was one of the best in recent memory. It was admittedly extremely challenging pulling together a top 30 list, as many their were many additional favorites that unfortunately didn’t make the list. If there is time before the month is up, I might go back and extend the list to 40 or 50 releases. As always, I’m sure I missed a few that were just not fully on my radar.

SOYUZ — 'Force of The Wind'

Belarus collective SOYUZ release superb Brazilian-inspired album ‘Force of the Wind’ on Mr Bongo

    UK’s Mr Bongo has recently released a brilliant new album from the highly creative Belarus-based collective SOYUZ (aka СОЮЗ), titled Force of the Wind. Led by composer, arranger, and singer Alex Chumak, multi-instrumentalist Mikita Arlou and drummer Anton Nemahai, the group’s third recording is heavily inspired by the popular Brazilian sounds of the 70s (known as Música popular Brasileira or MPB).

    Hidden Waters: Strange and Sublime Sounds of Rio de Janeiro

    ‘Hidden Waters’ compilation celebrates the last decade of music from Rio de Janeiro

    The city of Rio de Janeiro has a long well-documented history of producing some of the greatest Brazilian artists from the past century including legends like Marcos Valle, Arthur Verocai, Azymuth, Sérgio Mendes, Antônio Carlos Jobim, Jorge Ben Jor, Tim Maia, Joyce Moreno and countless others. Over the past decade, the region has had a strong resurgence of new artists presenting a more left-field take on bossa nova, samba, jazz and funk. The Sounds and Colours label celebrates these groundbreaking artists on a recently released compilation, titled Hidden Waters: Strange and Sublime Sounds of Rio de Janeiro.

    Mr Bongo releases Volume Five of their incredible Record Club compilation series

    When it comes to some of the most rare and essential music from all over the globe, there might not be a better resource than UK-based label and record shop Mr Bongo. Since 2016, their Record Club series has produced some of the best eclectic compilations during that span. They have recently released the highly-anticipated 5th volume of the series, sharing their latest musical discoveries and old favorites.