Liminha, legendary music producer, in Waxpoetics interview

Liminha is an incredible musician and producer who played with Os Mutantes and produced luminaries of Brazilian music like Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, Gal Costa and Milton Nascimento, among many other, in his 40+ years of work and love of music. The fundamental music magazine Waxpoetics interviewed him reminiscing about crazy old times.

What was Tropicália all about, and how did Os Mutantes relate to it?

The Tropicália movement was very ahead of its time, because in Brazil, the musical scene was a little bit conservative—people didn’t like electric guitars. Old Brazilian music and bossa nova was fantastic, but people used to make lists of things that are forbidden, including having electric guitars on song festivals. And Os Mutantes, we are so noisy! But the great thing about Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso is that they are anxious for change. They decided, “We love João Gilberto, bossa nova, Dorival Caymmi, Tom Jobim, but we also love rock and roll, the Beatles, George Martin. We love what’s happening all over the world.” So Tropicália is very important, because they broke all the rules. And the sound… if George Martin was the maestro in producing, then Rogério Duprat, the guy who writes songs for orchestras—and for Gilberto Gil, Caetano, and Os Mutantes—he was our George Martin, and Rogério Duprat was a fantastic guy. So the importance of Tropicália was that a new music had come. If it didn’t, we would probably just stick with the acoustic thing.

Teenage Mutante - Liminha interview

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Incredible photos of Rio's drug war

The Boston Globe's photographic feature The Big Picture is one of my favorite things on the net: in one single page (no annoying clicking through!), a beautifully chosen series of photos of a pressing subject. The tragic drug war in Rio is covered in this edition.

 

A small war took place last week in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, between Brazilian forces and hundreds of drug traffickers holed up in the shantytown complex dubbed Complexo do Alemão. After recent efforts by officials to pacify Rio's drug and gang-related violence ahead of the upcoming the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics Games, drug gangs struck out last week - attacking police stations and staging mass robberies. After days of preparation, Brazilian security forces launched a raid in the Complexo do Alemão, where between 500 and 600 drug traffickers were holed up. At least 42 people were killed in the violence last week, with security forces taking control of many neighborhoods. A relatively low number of arrests were made, and authorities warn of further conflict as continue to flush out more suspects in Rio's maze of favelas. (40 photos total)

The Big Picture: Rio's drug war

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Brazil's 279-feet Tree Sets a World Record

It's as tall as a 28-storey building, with 85 metres, this tree is set for the last 12 years floating on the Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas, Rio.

Video: Former Bonde do Rolê singer and Ladytron producer

Maria Gasolina, of Bonde do Rolê fame, is recording with Daniel Hunt, producer of Ladytron, and we've got a cool video documenting it!

From IM / UR:

VBS.TV takes us to the studio for a peek into Daniel and Marina's creative and collaborative processes, and we get to hear snippets of a new Marina track 'Nature Calls'. We even get to see them go eat rodizio (a Brazilian style all-you-can-eat), and even though we're a little miffed over Daniel saying no to chicken hearts (FUCKYEAHCHICKENHEARTS!), we do have to give him props for seeing the red meat light again, putting aside being a vegetarian after spending time in Brazil.

Marina Gasolina in the studio with Daniel Hunt

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