Tom Zé S/D

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So I've got two of these Série Dois Momentos CDs. Both have a pair of albums on each disc--Vol. 14 has got "Se O Caso É Chorar" and "Todos Os Olhos," with "Estudando O Samba" and "Correio Da Estação Do Brás" on Vol. 15. Anything else I should listen to? I'm not really familiar with any of his newer stuff.

slutsky (slutsky), Friday, 4 April 2003 21:59 (twenty-two years ago)

everything i've heard from him i've enjoyed.

the first thing i got was the luaka bop "brazil classics 4 - the best of tom zé". there are great moments with blenders and other sound effects. but it mixes it up w/other great songs.

"Grande Liquidacao" seems to be made before he got into tropicalia and started toying around with experimentation. beautiful songs.

his '98 record (Defeito de Fabricaco) is still great, even though he must be in his 50s or 60s. i saw him perform this at a small radio station in LA with Tortoise as his backing band. he's so small (under 5 feet) and so cute. even though he barely speaks english, he's WAY nicer than those bastards in Tortoise.

i'm usually not really into remix cds, but even his is great. it's called "Postmodern Platos". there are remixes Amon Tobin, the High Llamas, John McEntire, Sasha Frere-Jones, UI and Sean Lennon. there's an amazing track that breaks into the hugest jungle breaks. my only complaint about the cd is that too many of the remixers choose the same song. kinda redundant.

i've been meaning to pick up those double cds for a while. doesn't one of them have the picture of a marble balancing on an asshole? what years are they from, and are they more on the melodic or experimental side?

JasonD (JasonD), Saturday, 5 April 2003 01:26 (twenty-two years ago)

even though he barely speaks english, he's WAY nicer than those bastards in Tortoise.

heh, you really hated living in Chicago, didn't you?

hstencil, Saturday, 5 April 2003 02:07 (twenty-two years ago)

joel, i think i've told you this story before. this happened before i moved to chicago. i was just out of college and my mom worked (still does) at http://www.kcrw.org/ She let me come into the studio where they were recording a live set for the show she worked on called Morning Becomes Eclectic (this show is perfect for the cool adult music thread that started today). at the time i ADORED Tortoise. i brought the gamera 12" to get signed and was a little star struck. john herndon was pretty nice. drew a little picture on the record. but mcentire was an entirely different beast. i told him i was thinking of moving to chicago and he gave me a kinda dirty look and said "why?". that's it. when i pulled out the record to get signed, he looked at it in disgust and said, "geez, this old thing?"

i was totally heartbroken and embarrassed. i had many reasons to move to chicago. my dad grew up there so i had tons of aunts, uncles and cousins that i barely knew. i had lived in the same 5mile radius my entire life and just needed to get the hell out of dodge for a little bit. and lastly, i thought because of my new found love of post rock and other experimental musics from chicago, i thought it too would be a forward thinking, cool city.

too bad it ended up being a conservative, yuppie, white-bread, midwestern city.


and i also brought in the Tropicalia compilation from the box set for Zé to sign (it had a picture of him from the late 60s) and he thought it was funny seeing himself from then.

JasonD (JasonD), Saturday, 5 April 2003 02:18 (twenty-two years ago)

I know the story, Jason, I was just needling you. Sorry.

hstencil, Saturday, 5 April 2003 02:20 (twenty-two years ago)

i don't care, i'm drunk

JasonD (JasonD), Saturday, 5 April 2003 02:25 (twenty-two years ago)

*sigh* I wish I was.

hstencil, Saturday, 5 April 2003 02:50 (twenty-two years ago)

too bad it ended up being a conservative, yuppie, white-bread, midwestern city.

Save for the midwestern part, your "Chicago" bears little resemblance to the one I've spent nearly my whole life in.

Amateurist (amateurist), Saturday, 5 April 2003 03:57 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah but you hate Chic-A-Go-Go so whatchu know?

hstencil, Saturday, 5 April 2003 04:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Is that the tv show? I read about it and it sounds GREAT! What's not to like?

Oh, Tom Ze-excellent, too.

Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz), Saturday, 5 April 2003 08:16 (twenty-two years ago)

saw Ze/Tortoise perform in Mpls (wrote it up for The Wire, actually), and it was splendiferous, in large part because the Tort guys looked scared shitless of fucking anything up, a li'l schadenfreude moment for this nonfan. (they didn't, incidentally.)

M Matos (M Matos), Saturday, 5 April 2003 11:42 (twenty-two years ago)

(emphasis on "li'l" there, nonfan /= hate, just mild disinterest)

M Matos (M Matos), Saturday, 5 April 2003 11:45 (twenty-two years ago)

seconded: 98's Fabrication Defect
recommended: 90's The Best Of (Luaka Bop's)
both extremely variegated and brimmin' with Ze's zuperb zaniness

on the other hand, 1992's The Return Of Tom Ze (also on Luaka B) i find mostly quite underwhelming 8-)

t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Saturday, 5 April 2003 14:14 (twenty-two years ago)

The Best Of was actually where I started. Forgot to mention that up top. Any more opinions on this remix record? I'm very skeptical.

slutsky (slutsky), Saturday, 5 April 2003 14:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Check out Zé's work for the Brazilian dance troupe Grupo Corpo. When I was in São Paulo, a friend gave me Santagustin, by Zé and Gilberto Assis. the package itself is cool enough: the CD case is covered in fake pink fur. But this is really the most out thing I've yet heard him do. It opens with a short piece constructed out of cell phone rings and quickly veers into a very Zé piece full of angular, math-rocky guitars, that plucked harp thing he loves, Andean pipes, but groovy horns... There are elements of his classic Tropicalista work here, and those wonderful faraway choruses. In fact, it's quite of a piece with my very favorite songs off the first Luaka Bop comp, but somehow more developed and thus even stranger. This is a crap description, but take my word for it. Pink fur is where it's at.

philip sherburne (philip sherburne), Saturday, 5 April 2003 17:27 (twenty-two years ago)

Save for the midwestern part, your "Chicago" bears little resemblance to the one I've spent nearly my whole life in.

i forgot to mention: i moved into a really cheap, 3 bedroom flat for 600$. but it was in wrigleyville. this is why i was biased against the city. also i grew up in LA and chicago just felt so foreign and weird. there were a lot of different racial groups, but they were all in pockets. it didn't really feel like there was much intermingling.

JasonD (JasonD), Saturday, 5 April 2003 18:36 (twenty-two years ago)

Thanks, Philip, I'll be sure to check that out (if I can find it anywhere).

slutsky (slutsky), Saturday, 5 April 2003 18:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Thirded: Com Defecto De Fabricacáo

[annoyingness of posting "a acutes" withdrawn]]

Get it right now link:
http://www.sonicyouth.com/prmp3/companheiro_bush_-_demo.mp3
--but, as 'demo' indicates, this is handclaps and ac. gtr., giving it a Because I Got High feel.

[trollingness of above comparison unmeant]


Alan Connor, Jr (Alan Connor, Jr), Sunday, 6 April 2003 12:52 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm hideously biased because I worked with him, but I think he's one of the few bonafide geniuses working now. (Must find new word to use in place of genius, and not use it when person is not actual genius. But Ze is.) The latest one, Jogos de Armar, is one of his best and a great place to start. Or the Luaka Bop Best Of. Also one of the warmest, bestest persons ever. OK--hyperbole not helping, but honest to god, he's the real fucking thing.

Sasha Frere-Jones (Sasha Frere-Jones), Monday, 7 April 2003 02:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Must find new word to use in place of genius

Creative avatar?

Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 7 April 2003 02:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Creative avatar?

No, more like, hammerhead shark, or eternal being of light, or sommat.

Sasha Frere-Jones (Sasha Frere-Jones), Monday, 7 April 2003 03:02 (twenty-two years ago)

You worked with him? Tell!

slutsky (slutsky), Monday, 7 April 2003 03:05 (twenty-two years ago)

Spirit of Siva? Pulsing brain at the center of the universe?

Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 7 April 2003 03:06 (twenty-two years ago)

No, not just in reference to Ze, but, like, in general, I'm using the word too much. Looking for proper slanguage: He was a total pinecomb. No. She's a complete fucking light bulb, a total pomegranate. OK, this is failing. Synonyms tomorrow. I give up.

Sasha Frere-Jones (Sasha Frere-Jones), Monday, 7 April 2003 03:13 (twenty-two years ago)

I was talking in general too! Uh...maybe just 'talented good egg.' There.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 7 April 2003 03:13 (twenty-two years ago)

two years pass...
i totally didn't *get* "defeito de fabricaco" for the longest time. nor did i really *get* lindstrom & prins thomas. this morning, both are sort of clicking. maybe it's just good music for springtime.

vahid (vahid), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 18:04 (nineteen years ago)

new Tom Ze is (not surprisingly) good

Dominique (dleone), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 18:16 (nineteen years ago)

yeah fab defect is pretty great. you heard jogos de armar yet? it's even better. i haven't had time to give the new one enough attention yet.

j blount (papa la bas), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 18:17 (nineteen years ago)

Vibracao Da Carne rules!!!!

moxie alvarez, Tuesday, 7 February 2006 18:24 (nineteen years ago)

please tell me that translates to "Shake Your Meats", cause that is sort of what DDF is making me do.

vahid (vahid), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 18:26 (nineteen years ago)

I like the new one pretty well, but I still think the first "Estudando..." is my favorite thing I've heard.

mike powell (mike powell), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 18:47 (nineteen years ago)

I like the first "Estudando" best, I think. but I really like the new one too. what's the deal with its US release--is it supposed to be out on V2 this April?

edd s hurt (ddduncan), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 18:57 (nineteen years ago)

I like the new one more than pretty well, but I can't argue with that.

April 11. The Nave Maria record from 1984 is also coming out soon on cd. It looks like it is going to be a tom ze spring for this dork!

moxie alvarez, Tuesday, 7 February 2006 19:04 (nineteen years ago)

saw Ze/Tortoise perform in Mpls

One highlight of my professional life was interviewing Ze on the phone for this show, and then watching him bring a copy of the paper onstage (the one with the article) and begin opening it and closing it rhythmically, rapping "City Pages" a bit, then chanting, "City Pages, City City Pages! City Pages, City City Pages!"

Pete Scholtes (Pete Scholtes), Wednesday, 8 February 2006 23:33 (nineteen years ago)

sixteen years pass...

New album out! Concept album about the evolution of the Portuguese language in Brazil - thus Língua Brasileira.

Daniel_Rf, Thursday, 30 June 2022 10:38 (two years ago)

do wish somebody would progress with reissues of his early material. Last thing I heard was you could get his first 2 and the later bunch had slipped back OOP.

Stevolende, Thursday, 30 June 2022 11:05 (two years ago)

Enjoyable album so far. Thanks for this, Daniel Rf - I hadn't thought about him for ages.

giraffe, Thursday, 30 June 2022 13:21 (two years ago)

do wish somebody would progress with reissues of his early material. Last thing I heard was you could get his first 2 and the later bunch had slipped back OOP.

Yeah, as far as I can tell, those Polysom reissues are oop but Mr Bongo reissued Estudando O Samba on cd/lp a few years back and it's still available (bought it from a physical store in the US last summer) and it's excellent, maybe my favorite of his?

city worker, Thursday, 30 June 2022 13:45 (two years ago)

I think they did his first s/t lp, like his 2nd lp but the first one to go simply by his name. Cos I was going to buy it but didn't get around to it. Think he gets weirder in the early 70s. Want to get the one with the marble positioned in an anus on the cover.

Stevolende, Friday, 1 July 2022 10:18 (two years ago)

Todos os Olhos! it's so great.

stirmonster, Friday, 1 July 2022 10:53 (two years ago)


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