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interviews
Stereolab hunts quality BPM in Rio
Searching for the lost vinyl
All Brazilian Music
by Silvio Essinger
2000-10-18
British band lands in Rio. The weather is cloudy in the morning. What should they do? Go downtown and buy old BPM albums. Thatís what Stereolab members did a few hours before taking the stage at Cine Õris, a venue that is a porn theatre by day and alternative club on weekend nights.
Founded in the early 90s by guitar/keyboard player Tim Gane and French vocalist Laetitia Sadier, the band crafted a combination of 60s pop (including lounge music and soundtracks) with 70s German electronica (Can, Neu! And Kraftwerk) and a jazz touch here and there.
These are Tim Ganeís favorite Brazilian musicians, him being the Stereolab member whoís more into BPM. Owner of a collection of about 80 Brazilian LPs and CDs, he praises Valleís body of work. "The arrangements are amazing and very creative. Itís a whole new level: they sound easy, but are very complex", he says. Gane has recently purchased the soundtrack that Valle wrote for the movie O Fabuloso Fittipaldi (performed by Azymuth). At the second-hand store Classic Discos, he proudly purchased Valleís last CD, Nova Bossa Nova. "I hope I can get his autograph", said Gane.
Nonetheless, bossa is not among Ganeís favorites. Heís fixated on Tropicalia, Caetano Veloso (specially the live albums), Mutantes and RogÈrio Duprat. "He has written extremely unusual arrangements. Whenever I come across anything he did, I buy it", he says. On account of his fondness of the maestro, he got to Nara Le„o. Tim bought two of her albums at Classic Discos: Manh„ de Liberdade (1966) and Os Meus Amigos S„o um Barato (1977). Happy with his acquisitions, he claims itís getting harder to acquire Brazilian music albums: "Theyíre all in the hands of dealers".
But Tim was not the only Stereolab member to leave the store with bags full of records. Bassist Simon Johns got a copy of Gal Costaís Õndia and a Eumir Deodato bossa nova album. French keyboard player Morgane Lohte is a Joyce fan, but she got a copy of a 1971 Paulinho da Viola LP. Australian keyboard player Mary Hansen bought a single with songs taken from a live album recorded in 1968 by Eliseth Cardoso, Zimbo Trio and Jacob do Bandolim. "My dad lived in Brazil in the 60s and had that LP", she said. Drummer Andy Ramsey was the only one to buy an American album, by singer Bobby Womack.
Stereolabís first release in Brazil is the EP The First of The Microbe Hunters, on Motor Music.
See the original, untranslated article
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