Santtana, Lucas – “Sem Nostalgia” – [Mais Um Discos]

The Tropicalia movement of the sixties was a kick in the butt of more languid Brasilian styles of that time — Gilberto and his bossa nova followers — but here we find the bossa nova (not so “nova” these days) cohabitating with a bit of electronica. The result isn’t as earthshaking as the more adventurous proponents of Tropicalia, but it’s not a failure by any means. Those who enjoy Seu Jorge or Jose Gonzalez (the Swedish-Argentinian singer who follows a similar recipe) will find this appealing. The instrumentals tend to have the most complex mixes, while the vocal tracks don’t add too much processing, especially the Portuguese-sung material. Some of the English tracks do break that bossa spell. And Santtana sends big ups to the Mario Bros., celebrated on track 11. crimessss