

Music
Marcos Valle – S/T
This wonderful 1970 LP was Marcos Valle's seventh release and was a transitional one for him. He had returned to Brazil from the US several years before, and was developing a new approach to songwriting and recording, here Valle recruited the hot new psych-rock band Som Imaginário to back him up, while also availing himself of the in-house orchestra that EMI-Odeon Records had at their studio in those days. As a result, the album ping-pongs between a funky-psych-rock element and the sort of lush orchestration reminiscent of '40s Hollywood. The latter, intriguingly, is what caught Kanye West's ear and led him to sample 'Ele e Ela' for Jay-Z's 'Thank You.' This Light in the Attic reissue is everything the album has always deserved, with copious liner notes contextualizing the work, and lyrics transcribed and translated. Need more? 'Freio Aerodinâmico' is nothing less than the genesis of Stereolab, 'Os Grilos' is a unique rock-fuzz-dub arrangement of one of Valle's best-known songs, and the album-closing nine-minute instrumental 'Suite Imaginária' is guaranteed to thrill acolytes of David Axelrod.
This wonderful 1970 LP was Marcos Valle's seventh release and was a transitional one for him. He had returned to Brazil from the US several years before, and was developing a new approach to songwriting and recording, here Valle recruited the hot new psych-rock band Som Imaginário to back him up, while also availing himself of the in-house orchestra that EMI-Odeon Records had at their studio in those days. As a result, the album ping-pongs between a funky-psych-rock element and the sort of lush orchestration reminiscent of '40s Hollywood. The latter, intriguingly, is what caught Kanye West's ear and led him to sample 'Ele e Ela' for Jay-Z's 'Thank You.' This Light in the Attic reissue is everything the album has always deserved, with copious liner notes contextualizing the work, and lyrics transcribed and translated. Need more? 'Freio Aerodinâmico' is nothing less than the genesis of Stereolab, 'Os Grilos' is a unique rock-fuzz-dub arrangement of one of Valle's best-known songs, and the album-closing nine-minute instrumental 'Suite Imaginária' is guaranteed to thrill acolytes of David Axelrod.