Music with Soul Records isn't just tons of tiny 45's, Alex in Amsterdam runs the recording studio side of things (where they actually captured this piece of funk from Fumaça Preta), while Andre in Portugal deals with the promotion, booking side...they are monopolizing the funk further with this one featuring Joel from Tropicalia in Furs down on 5th St. teaming up with The Grits in the Music with Soul studio to cut this single. I wouldn't put it past these guys to pick up a lathe cutter sooner or later and just cut out the middle man. Vertical seven inch integration.
The A-Side, "A Bruxa" (which I just found out is a Sonic's cover of "The Witch") has a lot of grimy textured patina all over this, scuzzy and peaking out, fuzzy as hell before you even get to the instrumentation. It's a funk, organ driven garage blues, with heavy echo and distortion on the vocals... one hell of a speed tempo super percussion groove. A damaged guitar throws in it's solo elements at the end of a verse, and whoever is on vocals is positively howling, from another planet, transmitting across light years and picked up on an old AM radio. Congas and all kinds of improvised banging starts in and the organ lines alternate in this back and forth rhythm that slowly climbs their scale, in some kind of hyper salsa soul, JSBX style, totally loose, clambering over itself with the lead yelling "A BRUXA!" Fuzzy bassline, rocking this groove, a kind of electric blues with this howling energy. A James Brown sort of soul sound, but under a layer of time and hiss...this thing comes pre worn, scuffed up from sitting in all those record boxes for years until you finally threw it on the terrible tiny fisher price record player at the end of the stacks. It doesn't matter, it sounds great, and always will. Heavy garage reverb trailing off right behind his panic'd scream. Fun as hell.
B-Side " Loco" starts with a ringing phone tone and a recorded message, "You have called the Psychiatric Juqueri Hospital (very dreaded place in Brazil), Dial 1 for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Dial 2 for Psychotic Neurosis and Dementia, Dial 3 for Delirious Psychosis, Dial 4 for Paranoia and Schizophrenia, Dial 5 for Body Mutilation and Suicide Attempt". (Translated by music with soul, thanks guys). Paranoia describes this monsterous thick groove alright. The distorted vocals are back, truly coming from outer space this time with the bleeps and bloops of moogs and satellites, but this bassline and the huge room sounding drumming is just perfect, they can do whatever they want over this. In fact they aren't doing anything resembling vocals I think, a lot of cackling, indecipherable vocal (well it isn't English to begin with - ed) under a mess of effects, all warping around, pitching out, bursts of screams...and that bass drops out, and it is missed, damn... it was channeling this deep. The phone message comes back, "Hey hey, are you still on the line? I think I know someone who can help you. Dial number 9 and you will talk to him, the legend, Dr Fritz. Dial 9, damned!!" Thanks to Alex's translation this just got a lot weirder, it's already leaning sci-fi funk, a Portuguese Parliment? Ufo's, make those aliens get down, they appreciate the experimnetal noise that gets groovy. An endless tone from a ringing phone...locked groove, leaving you hanging on your end, a speakerphone ringing at some diner on another planet. Weird, like B-movie, tiki-lounge sort of weird. Esquivel weird... and funky.
This one is import only from Music With Soul Records, or Joel at Tropicalia in Furs probably has a copy or two. Ask for it:
What would happen if one put together a Brazilian legend in the same room along with members of the funkiest band in the UK and a Portuguese-Venezuelan producer? The outcome is here. It is real. Tangible. Joel Stone, the boss of Tropicalia in Furs, joined Stuart Carter & James Porch from The Grits at our Barracão Studio for a recording session hosted by our own and yours truly Alex Figueira. Without ever having played together under the same roof, these four possessed-beings embarked on a journey of psychosis, macumba and boundary-pushing. The result is the grooviest, wildest, fuzziest sound you’ll ever hear. Paying tribute to Tropicalia in Furs’ latest release Brazilian Guitar Fuzz Bananas (with a movie debut to come), Fumaça Preta is the ultimate effort in trying to recover that almost-lost-but-still-out-there Brazilian Psychedelic ambience from the 70s.
The A side is a depraved, mentally-sick and deranged version of the old Sonic’s classic “The Witch”. Tape echo, saturated drums, fuzz guitars and Brazilian lyrics scream at you to the grooviest beat around. B side is an original track that was written, rehearsed and recorded in the same afternoon. “Loco” is an ode to insanity where elements of Dub, Funk, Samba,and Analog Electronics are solidly blended under an aura of improvisation that only courageous and unhinged musicians would attempt. A limited edition of only 600 copies is available on Music With Soul Records. Buy one now or regret forever: the witch will haunt you down!
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