Customer Reviews

Mundo Civilizado

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I'm a huge Arto Lindsay fan, I have all of his albums, and this one (Mundo Civilizado) is still my favorite. It's a great place to start.

If you like this, also check out Hyper Civilzado which is re-mixes of songs from this album. His newer albums are also awesome, I recommend Invoke and Salt. But I love them all.

Unfortunately, it is rare treat to find such a phenomenal and thorough release these days. This cd becomes addictive. Pleasant English and Portuguese vocals, percussion and tastes of excellent Bossa Nova influenced electronica. I do believe most humans should own this tasty morsel.

Perfect albums don't come along too often, so grab this one while it's still being made. The words are metaphysical without being mystical, strange phrases sneak up on you, begging to be played again and deciphered; the music is a sublime samba for another, I hate to say it, millemium; and the beats, ohh the beats: jarring without being out of place, quiet and danceable (almost) at the same time. Listen to this album over and over again, for there is much to be discovered with repitition.

This is the follow up to Arto Lindsay's "O Corpo Sutil (The Subtle Body)". The basic elements from that recording are here but more refined and enhanced. It keeps the Brazilian percussion, quiet keyboards & bass, and sparse acoustic guitar. But this time the percussion gets a little heavier and there's a few more electronica and breakbeat accents added; just a logical progression from "Sutil" to later releases like "Noon Chill" and "Prize". In fact, I don't think Arto Lindsay plays any of his distinctive (to put it mildly) guitar on this recording; guess this is strickly a crooner's recording. The original tunes and cover songs are about mystery, longing, and seduction. "Q Samba" is a bright little samba number, both playful and seductive; the Al Green cover "Simply Beautiful" features some excellent acoustic guitar from Marc Ribot and Hammond B-3 from Bernie Worrell. "Mundo Civilizado" is sung in Portuguese but you'll know what it's about; some topics transcend languages. Prince's "Erotic City" gets remade from an uptempo pop number to a lazy, languid slinky groove. Hearing Lindsay sing the unprintable chorus in his nonchalant unassuming style is more shocking than hearing Prince singing it with Sheena Easton. Great chillout music ... ? Works for whichever you need.

Sólo después de repetidas audiciones pude valorar completamente el aporte de este diso. Al comienzo me parecía que era tan sólo bossa nova mezclada con pop, pero realmente es todo lo contrario: es un acercamiento bastante más novedoso a la música tradicional del Brazil, partiendo de un interés por cuestionarla y enriquecerla. Por este motivo, nos encontramos con que la instrumentación es muy variada: a la guitarra, el bajo y las percusiones tradicionales se suman vientos, teclados antiguos, secuencias, bases (similares al trip hop) y ruidos (estos últimos tratados con muy buen gusto), que contribuyen a "ensuciar" agradablemente las melodías y sus acordes. La producción es interesantísima: mezcla muy bien los sonidos ya mencionados, deja que cada instrumento muestre todas sus características propias (usándolos muy idiomáticamente), matiza mucho, hace pausas y crea una enorme gama de ritmos, velocidades y estados de ánimo: no sólo hay melancolía, sino que también se siente urgencia, angustia, o despreocupada alegría; y, a pesar de todo esto, la voz de Lindsay (en un interesante contraste) permanece impasible. En el fondo, su propósito no es sólo crear (generalmente acompañado) o interpretar (en una par de casos) buenas canciones, sino también vestirlas adecuadamente, para que encontremos al interior de ellas mayores matices, detalles que se demoran en hacerse notar y que obligan a escuchar con atención. A mi juicio, aquí lo que podría considerarse adorno es absolutamente esencial.

P.D.: recomiendo escuchar, dentro de la misma línea, los discos de Vinicius Cantuaria (que toca guitarra en este disco) y los dos discos que Lindsay le produjo a Caetano Veloso ("Estrangeiro" y "Circulado").

Anyone who tries to convince you to listen to anything else at all is simply wasting your time. At least that's how I felt when I first heard this album. This is the good stuff. Sidenote: DJ Spooky lays down some of his best noises ever in this session.