Photo by Gabriel Perez/KUTX
Tropicália–Brazil’s addition to the psychedelic movement of the ’60s and ’70s–was particularly potent. It arose out of a big, diverse country that was modernizing rapidly, and consequently, tropicália opted for an anything-goes approach: art, poetry, and music all mashed together with traditional Brazilian and African sounds and rock and roll. The results were sunny but challenging, fun but political, and uniquely Brazilian.
Boogarins grapples with this legacy while putting its own spin on Brazilian psychedelic music. A few teenage friends formed the group in Goiânia in 2013, and from the start, they opted to sing in Portuguese, something of a political statement when a lot of their contemporaries sing in English. Their music is riff-heavy but dreamy; it can be light-as-air one moment before exploding into extended, pulsating jams.
Boogarins is currently recording in Austin for its upcoming third album while simultaneously enjoying a month-long residency at Hotel Vegas, which wraps up on Saturday, July 23. The band also stopped by our Studio 1A for a live set, punctuated by the dynamic “Infinu.” True to its name, the song stretches out, but Boogarins stays playful and forward-thinking throughout.
–Art Levy
