The Post-Rockist

Os Mutantes
Webster Hall
New York, NY: July 21, 2006 

I went to the Os Mutantes show as something of an outsider. I had been given a ticket basically as a bribe so that my apartment could be used for sleep, eating, and, perhaps, sex (alas, not with me). I knew they were from Brazil, that Pitchfork loved them, and that the Everything is Possible Luaka Bop comp I acquired at the last minute was intruiging. That was it. It also seemed like they might be goddamn hippies, but I was reserving judgment.

They were, of course, goddamn hippies. With clothes (capes, cravats) and attitudes (peace, love, whatever) straight out of the School of Donovan. However, much like the Sunshine Superman, they were charming, completely irrepressible characters.

Most importantly, they knew how to put on a show. This was a band (two-thirds of the band, technically, as Zelia Duncan took over the vocals in Rita Lee’s absence) that seemed truly excited to be playing in front of us. They were smiling and happy and the place was instantly awash in good feeling.

Sergio Dias Baptista, the guitarist, was the heart of the show. It was he that did most of the talking with the audience and provided much of the show’s humor with ridiculous guitar-hero antics during some of the longer numbers. His brother Arnaldo, he of the failed suicide attempt and clearly still a bit of a wreck, provided the unintentional comedy highlights of the show. Whether it was delicately applying his bifocals (really!) right before the show began or awkwardly attempting to clap without right hand ever actually touching left, he was there to help remind us kids of the dangerous effects of drug abuse and excess.

I’m not going to be insincere and provide song highlights, as I really didn’t know the songs well enough at the time. I will say that “Baby,” “Ave, Lucifer,” and “Cantor de Mambo,” the songs that I definitely knew and enjoyed, were played with the requisite spunk and vigor. Also, Zelia Duncan moved around the stage with the an almost absurd confidence. She was excellent, except when she raised one hand in the air instead of the customary two to simulate that the audience should clap along (can’t anyone from Brazil clap right?). Gesticulatory faux pas aside, with her strong, smooth vocals and charisma, Zelia Duncan seemed to fill in for Rita Lee commendably.

In the end, the show was great and satisfied my one requirement for a rock show - that I feel as though the same effect could not have been achieved from just playing their music really loud at my apartment. Everyone was happy and the occasional hip was shook, Jeff Mangum was somewhere in the crowd, and the guy next to me was clearly on acid, making me vaguely and cheerfully sentimental.

I would gladly pay nothing for the experience all over again.

MP3: Os Mutantes - Baby (1968)
MP3: Os Mutantes - Cantor de Mambo
(both available on Everything is Possible)

Os Mutantes’ Luaka Bop home page

-Posted by Joshua, who would like to add that since the show he has been more thorough in his appreciation of the band, and is really quite blown away by the textures and playfulness of their sound. Brazilian Beatles, indeed!