Far Out Vinilo y CD

Review: Azymuth's Outubro is just one of the many vibrant and captivating albums in their oeuvre that embodies the essence of Brazilian jazz-funk fusion. Released in 1980, it features the cult collective's signature blend of infectious rhythms, intricate melodies, and soulful improvisation. The album's title track stands out as a shining example of the band's musical prowess with its irresistible groove and lush instrumentation and throughout the record, Azymuth showcase their mastery of blending traditional Brazilian rhythms with elements of jazz, funk and electronic music to create a timeless and immersive that remains a classic in the realm of Brazilian music.

Review: Although he's probably most associated with the IRMA imprint, nu-jazz mainstay Nicola Conte has also enjoyed a long and prosperous relationship with Joe Davis' Brazilian-focused Far Out Recordings imprint. Umoja, the bandleader/producer/guitarist's latest solo album, naturally features some nods to samba-jazz and bossa-nova (the latter being a style he explored a lot in the 90s and noughties), but also nods aplenty to 70s independent spiritual and free-jazz', cosmic jazz, Afrobeat, jazz-funk and obscure private press soul releases. Laden with fine lead vocals, incredible musicianship and lusciously warming grooves, it's a retro-futurist set that just screams 'proper summer listening'. Don't sleep!

Review: Far Out has decided to pay tribute to one of Brazilian music's most overlooked - and, let's face it, obscure - talents, Ana Mazzotti. She recorded just two albums in the 1970s before passing away from cancer in her early 30s a few years later. Both of those album have become sought-after, particularly 1974 debut "Ninguem Vai Me Segurar". This first ever reissue proves why. Warm, breezy and effortlessly soulful, it sees Mazzotti and her backing band sashay between languid samba-jazz, intergalactic bossa, soft-focus Brazilian soul and the kind of attractive jazz-funk/fusion that would later become the hallmark of Azymuth (not much of a surprise since two of that band's founder members were part of Mazzotti's backing band).

Review: Opa's Back Home was first reocrded in 1975 but not released until 1996; it was the fourth and final album by the esteemed Uruguayan fusion band, whose preferred admixture was usually some melted pot of funk and samba, making for an impressive heuristic building on their intuitive recalling of their mutual upbringing in South America. Mysteriously (for reasons unknown to the band), Opa's debut was shelved and remained so until the mid-1990s. But the story goes that it was recorded after renowned label producer and owner Larry Rosen heard the band playing in a Brooklyn nightclub; with this in mind, Back Home makes for an ironic title, since the sonic turn expressed by the band is not one of homesickness, but rather that of an immersion in New York's metamorphous music scene ('Brooklynville' has an instant proto-hip-hop vibe, if not for its original urban field recording, then certainly for its bulbous broken funk twang). Now reissued on vinyl and CD via Far Out, you won't want to miss this round trip.

Review: 52 years after it was first released in 1970, Hermeto Pascoal's self-titled debut long player remains a remarkable one. It was born in the A&R studios in New York and features a heavyweight cast of collabs including Ron Carter, Hubert Laws, Joe Farrel and Googie Coppola. There are even some stars of the Brazilian jazz scene of the time making appearances such as Airto Moreira and Flora Purim, who also took care of production. From elevator jazz tunes like 'Hermeto' to laid back and sunny bliss-outs like 'Flor Do Amor' the sis another jewel in the crown of Far Out.

Review: Hermeto Pascoal is more than a musical maverick, he is a cultural icon. The composer, multi-instrumentalist and arranger with a wizard-like appearance was described once by the great Miles Davis as 'the most impressive musician in the world'. The Brazilian fusion great was known for his fiery live sets and is just as thrilling on record as this one proves. All the tracks are originals with a loud flurry of piano and 60s big band horn chants, cool electric keys and mind-blowing fusion sounds all making for exciting music that is thrilling to listen to and utterly unconventional.

Review: Following Far Out's reissue of Agustin Pereyra Lucena Quartet's La Rana, the label continues its memorialisation of the late, great Argentinian guitarist's music, with the first ever direct from tape, audiophile reissue of Pereyra Lucena's self-titled debut album from 1970. Hailing from Buenos Aires, Augustin was nonetheless obsessed with the music of Brazil; this combined with his Argentinian roots to produce a sound entirely his own. After being scouted in a nightclub, by musician and guitar craftsman Jorge Demonte, Agustin was invited for an audition at Argenitinian label Tonodisc, and before he knew it, was in the studio recording his first album. The album's atypical bossas and spiritual swinging sambas, composed by many of Agustin's heroes, were elevated to new heights by Agustin's dazzling arrangements and phenomenal guitar playing. The almost cosmic reaches Agustin achieved with his sound are balanced against the stylish sophistication and breezy nature of the music.

Review: With this CD edition to complement the main LP reissue, we're once again met with the beauteous multi-instrumental talents of Agustin Pereyra Lucena, Argentina's finest. His self-titled debut record from 1970 is quite literally a 'bossa nova' (direct translation, 'novel swelling', 'new upswell'), doing justice to the genre name with a dialectical, pioneering regional take on already-established styles like samba and the aforementioned, informed by his outsider status as an Argentinian looking in on Brazil. Atypical for its time, Agustin's guitar playing never quite settles into any looping riff, instead revelling in free-associative improvs and overdubs of the crispest quality, both low and high in pitch range.

Review: From the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s, Brazil's population suffered at the hands of the brutal dictatorship of the Fifth Republic, arising from a coup at the hands of the country's armed forces with support from the US administration of the time. Human rights abuses, institutionalised torture and extrajudicial killings were par for the course of a regime, supported by religious and anti-Communist sections of society. At the same time, the domestic avant garde music scene was merging with the mainstream birth the Tropicalia arts movement, but this wasn't the only sound that was pushing back against the corridors of power. Forged from rock, folk, psychedelia and traditional Brazilian rhythms, while Som Imaginario aren't always considered part of that scene, they shared values and, in many ways, an approach to pushing sonic boundaries. This 1976 live album speaks volumes about the creative freedoms expressed as a form of protest against militarised conformity.