Various And Votel's Brazilika

• Words: Dave Segal
• Label: Far Out
• XLR8R Rating: 8/10

Andy Votel is among the world’s most astute and versatile crate-diggers; he never fails to excavate a cornucopia of unjustly neglected treasures. Brazilika cherry-picks 26 songs from the Som Livre and RGE imprints, offering a revelatory highlight reel of equatorial freak rock. Votel rescues from obscurity (save for Os Mutantes and Azymuth) several groups the equal of their more fêted European counterparts. Following in Tropicalia’s wake, this sound is more neuron-blown, rhythmically explosive, and fuzz-toned than that movement’s figureheads. Artists like Os Brazöes, Trio Soneca, and Novos Baianos imbue proggy psych rock and lysergic pop with a phenomenal life force and quicksilver inventiveness that still sounds vital.