The Singles Jukebox

Next, a Brazilian indie film darling and art-rocker in his spare time…

[Video][Website]
[6.50]

Iain Mew: Having grown up on prog and c. 2000 indie/post/whatever-rock, this has a deep-rooted familiarity that reaches beyond language differences. It’s nothing special before the crescendo, but it basically only exists for that crescendo and that’s as stirring and all-encompassing as I could hope.
[7]

Alfred Soto: A happy confluence of sounds: Ian Ramil’s rudimentary strums and high vocal, the anachronistic snap of the snare drums, and sustained feedback recall the best of Tom Zé.
[7]

Jonathan Bogart: Unfailingly pleasant art-rock rumpus, aided by Filipe Catto’s high harmonies and enough instrumental squalling to give at least the illusion of catharsis. Lyrically, though, it’s nothing Devo didn’t do forty years ago. (Or, to stick with Brazilian polymaths, that Mário de Andrade didn’t do ninety years ago.)
[6]

Will Adams: The asymmetric meter, nimble drum loop and polyrhythmic melodies all point toward In Rainbows, but Ian Ramil and Filipe Catto’s vocals skew more sinister. Not only do they neatly foreshadows the chaos that sets in during the final minute, they keep me locked in for the ride until that riveting moment.
[7]

Claire Biddles: This sounds like two sounds in opposition and recalls Hail to the Thief-era Radiohead: The suggestion of experimentation being tamed somewhat by more typical indie-rock vocals and acoustic guitar. The strange staccato piano/horn break in the middle and the centring of the backing vocals in the second half lend a spooky, meandering quality, but I’m left wondering why it takes so long to arrive at anywhere interesting, and wishing for a condensed 4-minute edit.
[5]

Tim de Reuse: An alternate-universe answer to “Jigsaw Falling into Place” that begins with the same kind of drive, propelled by acoustic guitar arpeggios and a snappy, circular drum loop but ends up pretty far off-course from Radiohead’s clean, glossy mission statement. Instead, we get discordant electric guitars chugging away in one channel, a messy, layered mix, and an all-hands-on-deck noisy climax. Overall, a good direction, I think! It would have benefited from a dose of brevity, though — the finale is impressive, but not worth the two bridges of buildup that we have to sit through to get there.
[7]