First LP in 35 years from tropicalia legends Os Mutantes Sign to Anti-

With Tom Waits, Nick Cave, Merle Haggard, and others on its roster, Anti- Records has damn near cornered the market on long-in-the-tooth eccentrics who continue to crank out awesomeness even though they've got nothing to prove. Well, those guys can now add another member to that club: Reconstituted Brazilian tropicalia legends Os Mutantes have signed with the label. On September 8, they'll release Haih, their first new album in 35 years.

In the 1960s and 70s, Os Mutantes welded traditional Brazilian music to flower-power psychedelia, and their experiments made them cult favorites for the next few decades. In 2006, the group reunited and toured, headlining that year's Pitchfork Music Festival. They released a live album for Luaka Bop in 2007, but no new studio joint until now. For Haih, head Mutante Sergio Dias collaborated with fellow tropicalia vets Tom Zé and Jorge Ben.

Does this mean that Dias just got together with Tom Zé and Jorge Ben and is calling it Os Mutantes?

I've got mixed feelings about that, but I guess this has a chance of being interesting or maybe even good.

I doubt Ze or Ben are becoming full time members. They probably only stopped by and made some small contribution to the record. Os Mutantes may be a cult classic band, but Ze and Ben have had much bigger careers.

When I saw Os Mutantes tour a few years ago, they were down to Sergio Dias as the only original member. The singer who replaced Rita Lee was good enough though and I thought they put on a pretty good show. Despite being a big Brazilian music fan, I've never really liked Os Mutantes that much so I've never really read up on how involved Rita Lee and Arnaldo Baptista were in the songwriting. I **think** Dias was the primary songwriter though.

I'm sure I'll check out this album and their show when they're in LA in August.

wow I love them.

There is some Mutantes stuff that I love and some that's just okay. I am disappointed that Rita and Arnaldo aren't a part of this, but I am still curious to check it out.

I've got that comp that Byrne put out and a live record, so I'll check this out.

Anti- seems like an interesting choice for labels...

You'd do better to just get their first four or five albums before this.

Yeah, they were just rereleased semi-recently, right? I'm sure Dusty Groove has them. I just searched on emusic, because they have a bunch of Light In The Attic albums, but they don't have the Mutantes rereleases. Bummer.

yep....

http://www.dustygroove.com/browse.php?i ... x=0&go.y=0

Not exactly. The CD's are a little expensive, and the first album is out of stock. Apparently these were reissued in fairly small quantities because they've already become a little hard to find.

I'd check Amazon or even Amazon UK if conversion rates aren't too bad.

the first 2 albums are available on the reissued 180 gram vinyl, i have both, and they sound great i might add.

i didn't realize you guys were referring to the cd's, my bad.

i have reservations about this. os mutantes always seemed like a band that had its time - when the tropicalia movement provided inspiration. but now what? other than a paycheck, what's the motivation here? i'd like to be optimistic, but i just don't see even that songwriting crew cranking out jams up to par.

i saw them on that tour in '06 and wasn't very impressed. but, we'll see.

Oh, I don't know, he might have meant vinyl.

It'd be nice to have these on vinyl, but it's something I don't really think about anymore since I never really have time to listen to records.

Yeah, I was referring to the cds, but I do know a bunch are avail on vinyl slabs.