Singleversity #53

Audiversity’s weekly column on music we stumble across during our sonic adventures. No random numbers, just straight audio goodness.

MA:



I am exhausted. Eleven hours at a record fair has left me too tired to write anything thoughtful. I am not complaining though, because record fairs lead to all sorts of random discoveries. For instance, you could discover the greatest 45 ever recorded about your namesake without even knowing it existed. The C.O.D.'s "Michael" may have been recorded some 18 years before I was conceived, but being the bright cats they were, the Chicago soul quartet pretty much nailed me perfectly. It's called foreshadowing people.

PM:



While Michael was busy spinning vinyl behind a fence in a prison gym from NBA Streets, I was on the court rifling through some records of my own. I left empty-handed (tight budget constraints) but my girlfriend nabbed a couple of Brazilian albums. As she remarked on the way home, "Brazilians know how to make party music." Judging by Persona's rare 1975 LP Som, they also know how to make discomfiting psych-rock. Though "Fogo" here is a lively number, tracks like the creepy "Lago" and the sparse, airy "Vento" make this one of the more unorthodox albums in the long, colorful history of Brazilian music. Sérgio Santos Mendes it certainly ain't.