While it was Hermeto's frst album released under his own name, he had spent the decade or so prior making a name for himself in Brazil and internationally as a composer, arranger and instrumentalist with groups including Sambrassa Trio, Quarteto Novo and Brazilian Octopus, before going on to work with (amongst countless others) Edu Lobo, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Donald Byrd, Airto Moreira and Miles Davis, who allegedly called Hermeto "one of the most important musicians on the planet".

With Hermeto's otherworldly orchestral arrangements, ghostly vocal performances from Flora Purim and Googie Coppola, and the inimitable drumming and percussion stylings of Airto Moreira, Hermeto easily rivals some of the oft- celebrated MPB albums of the early 1970s, sitting somewhere between the string-heavy magic of Arthur Verocai's 1972 debut and the unplacable early experimentalism of Pedro Santos' 1968 album Krishnanda.

With his phenomenal natural musical genius and a ceaseless sense of creative freedom, Hermeto is widely known for using unconventional objects to make music. In the album's sleeve notes, Airto highlights the track "Velório (Mourning)" explaining how Heremto filled 36 apple juice bottles with different amounts of water and tuned them to precise pitches in order to create the beguiling harmonies heard.

The reissue of Hermeto Pascoal's Hermeto, follow's Far Out's recent unveiling of a previously unheard Hermeto Pascoal live concert Planetario da Gavea from 1981, and 2017's release of Hermeto Pascoal's lost 1976 studio album: Viajando Com O Som.

TRACK LISTING

1. Coalhada (Yogurt)
2. Hermeto
3. Guizos (Bells)
4. Flor Do Amor
5. Alicate (Pliers)
6. Velório (Mourning)
7. As Marianas (The Marianas)
8. Fabiola

As one third of legendary trio Azymuth, Alex Malheiros has pioneered a
unique fusion of space-funk, samba and jazz since the early seventies. His
playing can be heard on the records of Jorge Ben, Milton Nascimento,
Roberto Carlos, Marcos Valle, and Mark Murphy (to name a few), and he's
performed and toured with everyone from Stevie Wonder to Chick Corea.

Written and recorded in Niterói, Brazil, overlooking Guanabara and the beaches, mountains and forests of Rio de Janeiro, Tempos Futuros has deep roots in Brazilian soil. The rhythms of Malheiros' homeland have always permeated his music. But just like the Oscar Niemeyer designed Niterói Contemporary Art Museum which stands spaceship-like over the water, Tempos Futuros – while inspired by terrestrial forms, reaches out, deep into the great unknown.

Produced by acclaimed London-based producer Daniel Maunick, who has
worked with Marcos Valle, Azymuth, Terry Callier, and Ivan Conti, the funk
comes full circle. Daniel's father Jean-Paul "Bluey" Maunick and Alex Malheiros shared a reciprocal stream of influence throughout the 80s, between London and Rio; Azymuth and Incognito; brit-funk and samba-funk. But just as with Azymuth's music, you can also hear the influence of stateside jazz-funk masters like Roy Ayers, Weather Report, Lonnie Liston Smith, Mtume and Pleasure.

Tempos Futuros features Alex's daughter, a Brazilian star in her own right,
vocalist Sabrina Malheiros, Brazilian percussion master Sidinho Moreira,
London based saxophonist Sean Khan, Marcos Valle's go-to drummer Massa,
and Brazilian keyboard player Dudu Viana. Featuring the late Azymuth
keyboard maestro Jose Roberto Bertami on Fender Rhodes, the title track "Tempos Futuros" was originally recorded as a demo in 1995. On this finished version, Alex Malheiros used Bertami's original keyboard take, explaining the
posthumous release.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Razor's Edge
2. Prece (feat. Sabrina Malheiros)
3. Telegramas Para Arp
4. Retrato (feat. Sean Khan)
5. Requiem For A Storm
6. Alto Verão (feat. Sabrina Malheiros)
7. O Temporal
8. Marcinha
9. Kuarup

Written and recorded in 1978 by pianist, composer, sound engineer, studio owner and former amateur skateboarding champion Ricardo Bomba, ‘Eu Sei’ and ‘Flutuando’ were almost doomed to total obscurity when the master tapes were binned following a ruthless studio clear out. Luckily Bomba kept a cassette tape copy from which Far Out has remastered the release for 7” vinyl/ digital.

Throughout a varied career, which included a four year stint as bandleader of Jorge Ben’s live show (78-82), Ricardo Bomba had a string of idiosyncratic, underground pop hits throughout the 80s, including ‘Voc Vai Se Lembrar’ which recently featured on Soundway’s Onda De Amor (Synthesized Brazilian Hits That Never Were 1984-94) compilation, as well as his then award-winning, now obscure solo album Ultralight (1988).

With the stunning vocals of Mariana Couto (the first wife of Chicago percussionist Laudir de Oliveira), legendary drummer Peninha who has recorded with the likes of Jorge Ben, Quarteto Em Cy, Lincoln Olivetti, Tony Bizarro and Gal Costa, and Brazilian guitarist Blimba Buarque, “Eu Sei” and “Flutuando” truly are lost gems of the late ‘70s Rio de Janeiro MPB scene.

*Disclaimer! This release was mastered from cassette tape, so the sound quality may differ from other releases on Far Out Recordings. We advise listening to sound clips before buying where possible... The music was simply too good to not release!

Credits: Ricardo Bomba - Piano, Soprano saxophone, Vocals Roberto Lee - Bass, Vocals Peninha - Drums Mariana Couto - Vocals on “Eu Sei” Blimba - Guitar Compositions by Ricardo Bomba Produced by Ricardo Bomba

Recorded at Transam rica Studios in 1978 Engineered by Vanderlei Loureiro and Toninho Barbosa

TRACK LISTING

Eu Sei
Flutuando

Like all Amaro’s albums, Sankofa has taken around two years to make, with the trio spending eight hours a day, four days a week in the studio. “We treasure the creative process. We know it takes time to reach a different place, and then it takes time to understand that place, to translate it. When we want to leave our comfort zone, the most important factors are time, dedication, discipline and wisdom. Months pass and ideas start falling into place. Time is the most important thing. We cannot make it to where we want to be without it. So, I also want to transmit this message to future generations: Let’s slow down, let’s give ourselves more time, let’s do deeper things. Let’s stop swimming in the surface, let’s dive.” From the slums of Recife in Brazil’s North-East to international jazz icon, Amaro Freitas has worked tirelessly to become the artist he is today. Gaining international attention for “an approach to the keyboard so unique that it’s startling” (Downbeat), his debut and second albums Sangue Negro (2016) and Rasif (2018) arrived on a wave of instant acclaim. His new album Sankofa - a spiritual quest into the forgotten stories, ancient philosophies and inspirations.

TRACK LISTING

Sankofa
Ayeye
Baquaqua
Vila Bela
Cazumb
Batucada
Malakoff
Nascimento

After years of trying to track him down (with many twists and turns along the way), Far Out Recordings finally brings us, with the blessing of the man himself, the long-awaited release of José Mauro’s forgotten masterpiece "A Viagem Das Horas", featuring three previously unreleased and unheard tracks from the original studio sessions. Recorded in 1970 at Odeon studios in Rio de Janeiro: the same time and place as all the music he ever recorded, José Mauro’s A Viagem Das Horas wasn’t released until six years later, when label owner and producer Roberto Quartin licensed the tracks to fellow Brazilian label Tapecar, who curiously released the album with several tracks already released on Obnoxius. Finally, over half a century on, A Viagem Das Horas will be released with three never before heard tracks, “Rua Dois”, “Moenda’’ and “Variação Sobre Um Antigo Tema”, as Mauro and Quartin had originally intended.

TRACK LISTING

A Viagem Das Horas
Escada De Ferro
A Oitava Morada
Varia O Sobre Um Antigo Tema
Morango Encantado
Luz Lil S
Rua Dois
Moenda
O Cavaleiro De Antonina
Romanza
O Ninho

Part two of this incredible Francisco Mora Catlett piece sees wife Teresa Mora on vocals and trumpet legend Marcus Belgrave. “Mora I & II” are holy grails of Latin jazz, masterminded by an unsung hero of the genre. Born in Washington DC, 1947, Francisco Mora Jr is the eldest child of two highly prominent Mexican artists, Francisco Mora Sr and Elizabeth Catlett, to whom this project was dedicated. Being born into a mixed heritage bohemian family provided Mora Jr with what he called a ‘creative, progressive, and healthy arts environment’, building the foundations for a fascinating career journey ahead.

Mora grew up in Mexico City where he began working as a session musician for Capitol Records in 1968, before moving to study at Berklee Music College in Boston, MA in 1970. Once he’d completed his studies in 1973, he very briefly returned to Mexico City with the best intentions of cultivating an avant-garde movement in the city, but when the Sun Ra Arkestra came to perform, Mora ended up leaving with the band to tour the world for the next seven years, a decent innings within a group famous for its constantly evolving line up.

Settling in Detroit after his years with the Arkestra, Francisco set to work on his selftitled debut, gathering an ensemble of musicians that included keyboardist Kenny Cox, founder of the legendary Strata Records, esteemed bassist Rodney Whitaker of the Roy Hargrove Quintet and percussionists Jerome Le Duff, Alberto Nacif, and Emile Borde. The album openly embraces and unites the broad spectrum of improvisation, rhythm, and jazz that has thrived throughout the American continents for centuries. In Mora’s own words the album intended to ‘manifest the African heritage presence in the American continent.’

TRACK LISTING

Afra Jum
Amazona
Amazona Prelude
Dawn
Samba Conga Do Amor
Por Que Paro 
Afra Jum 
Old Man Joe 
El Morro

Though it was recorded and mixed in the same sessions, ‘Katmandu’ was mysteriously omitted by Mam o from the Poison Fruit album, either accidentally or on purpose, he’s not quite sure. What is for sure is that it’s one of the most potent poison grooves of them all. The original mix, produced by Daniel Maunick, accompanies remixes from three of mainland Europe’s finest DJ/producer combos, prolific German nu-jazz collective Jazzanova, MCDE Recordings & Faces Records’ Pablo Valentino, and Croatian house veteran Eddy Ramich with assistance from Zagreb duo Jan Kinl & Regis Kattie. This EP is the second in a series of limited edition dance 12”s celebrating 25 years of Far Out Recordings and is housed in a special sleeve which uses the label’s original semiquaver logo from 1994.

TRACK LISTING

Katmandu (Original Mix)
Katmandu (Pablo Valentino Remix)
Katmandu (Jazzanova Remix)
Katmandu (Eddy Ramich Feat. Jan Kinl & Regis Kattie Remix)

On his debut album Travesseiro Feliz (Happy Pillow) Rio de Janeiro based dreamer and new Far Out Recordings signing Ricardo Richaid melds his tropical heritage with his love for psychedelic music, jazz and rock.

He also takes inspiration from the many Brazilian greats - Caetano Veloso, Arthur Verocai, Ivan Lins, Joyce, Hermeto Pascoal, Marcos Valle and Azymuth (to name a few) - who he has worked with as an engineer, assistant and producer, in Rio’s former RCA studio, Cia dos Tecnicos. As well as being heavily influenced by Brazil’s fabled Tropicalia movement, Richaid is the grandson of Brazilian actor, singer and Disney star Aurora Miranda (Carmen Miranda’s younger sister), so tropicalism is in his blood. Describing his sound as ‘Industrial Tropicalism’, Richaid’s music is undoubtedly a product of his environment. Just like Rio, it’s warm, hazy and beautiful. But reflecting the current mood of his homeland, there’s an ominous smog looming amongst its charm. Lamenting the political, economic and ecological crisis he sees engulfing Brazil, Richaid’s obscure, poetic lyrics touch on drugs, drones and darkness, emphasizing the importance of art to bring light in troubled times.

Singlehandedly composing, producing and mixing everything himself, Richaid recalls the endless nights he spent working on the album, often sleeping on the studio floor. Travisseiro Feliz features a host of notable names from across Rio’s music spectrum, including percussion sensation Marcos Suzano (Gilberto Gil), experimental pop artist Ana Frango Eletrico, and vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Jose Ibarra, who has been lauded for his recent performances as part of Milton Nascimento’s touring group. On interlude track ‘Formigas’ we also hear a few verses of Ricardo singing together with his 7-year-old daughter, Nina Richaid. Carrying forward the Tropic lia torch, the album’s cinematic opener “Maracas Enterprise/ Frio Da Manh “ is a two-part journey through Richaid’s sonic approach, weaving together interlocking horns, chorus drenched guitar, and fuzzed up synth stabs. A perfect example of Richaid’s industrial tropicalism, “Largado Nu” mixes soft, acoustic guitar and flutes with harder-edged synths and electric guitars, while ‘O Velho Cai’ is beautiful jazz-infused folk, with fretless bass and saxophone singing around the vocal harmonies of Richaid and Liza Machado.

Alongside engineering some of his musical heroes in Brazil, Richaid has played in bands like Mara R bia and nit , from Rio’s underground experimental psych and jazz scenes.

TRACK LISTING

Maracas Enterprise
Frio Da Manh
S Na Darkzera
VIP Xuxa 
Largado Nu
Outra
Ave Apoena
O Velho Cai
Drone / Formigas

Since their debut album release in 1975, Azymuth have risen to rank alongside the world’s greatest jazz, funk and fusion artists. As young men in Rio de Janeiro, they stood out for both their exceptional talent as musicians, and their wild rock ‘n’ roll antics in the predominantly middle-class worlds of bossa nova and jazz. Their signature ‘Samba Doido’ (crazy samba) sound ruptured the tried and tested musical structures of the day, resulting in what can only be described as an electric, psychedelic, samba jazz-funk hybrid. Before they became Azymuth, Jose Roberto Bertrami (keyboards), Ivan ‘Mamao’ Conti (drums), Alex Malheiros (bass) and Ariovaldo Contesini (percussion) played backing band to just about every major artist in Brazil.

Azymuth’s name can be found on record sleeves by the likes of Jorge Ben, Elis Regina, Marcos Valle, Ana Mazzotti and countless others. But at the dawn of the seventies, fascinated by developments in improvisational music - from jazz in the US, to progressive rock in the UK and of course samba, bossa and tropic lia on home turf - the energetic young group were inspired and ready to move forward.

These previously unheard recordings took place between 1973-75 at Bertrami’s home studio in the Laranjeiras district of Rio de Janeiro. At the time of recording, there was nothing in Brazil, less the world that sounded anything like them, so perhaps it’s unsurprising that when Bertrami presented his demos to the record companies he had been working for, he was turned away, and told in effect that the music was ‘wrong’. When English producers Joe Davis and Roc Hunter arrived in Brazil in 1994 to record the first Azymuth album in over a decade, Bertrami dug out the demos which had sat virtually untouched for over twenty years. Joe recalls how he was “blown away by the freedom and intensity of the music, as well as the genius of the ideas musically.”

TRACK LISTING

Volume 1:
Prefacio
Castelo (Version 1)
Mel Da Cuica
Xingo
Laranjeiras
Equipe 68
Unknown Jam
Unknown Song For Mario Telles

Volume 2:
Duro De Roer
Manh
Tempos Do Paranha
Bateria Do M Mao
Quem Tem Medo
Xingo
Juntos Mais Uma Vez
Castelo (Version 2)

Far Out Monster Disco Orchestra returns with "Black Sun", its second full-length album of 100% original, unadulterated disco sophistication, featuring all three original members of pioneering Brazilian jazz-funk trio Azymuth, a full orchestra with arrangements split between Arthur Verocai and Azymuth’s late maestro Jose Roberto Bertrami; plus members of the legendary Rio funk group Banda Black Rio.

Since its critically acclaimed self-titled debut album in 2014, the FOMDO imprint has released a string of remixes by some all-time greats of dance music, including John Morales, Theo Parrish, Mark Pritchard, Marcellus Pittman, Andres, Dego, Volcov, Kirk Degiorgio and Al Kent. To huge effect in clubs and festivals around the globe, some of the more recent remixes teased the new album material, which for the first time, is presented in its original, soul-heavy incarnation, alongside instrumental versions highlighting the album’s stunning arrangements and compositional brilliance.

Far from a throw-back - with disco music firmly entrenched in the modern club vernacular - Black Sun is ecstatic dance music at its finest.

TRACK LISTING

Step Into My Life
Black Sun
Flying High
Give It To Me
The Two Of Us
Walking Bass (In The Street)
Where Do We Go From Here
Step Into My Life (Instrumental)
Black Sun (Instrumental) 
Flying High (Instrumental)
Give It To Me (Instrumental)
Where Do We Go From Here (Instrumental)

Nomade Orquestra return from the stratosphere via Brazil with their second offering: "Entremundos (Between Worlds)". Gazing outward through a kaleidoscope from the heart of Sao Paulo’s jazz scene, the collective consciousness of the ten-man orquestra has dreamt up an adventurous amalgam of earth’s most far reaching musical cultures. Recorded at Red Bull Studios, Sao Paulo, Entremundos is like a cosmic musical playground where Ethio-jazz, Indian classical and Oriental sounds dance around Afro-Brazilian roots rhythms and Northern hemisphere jazz, funk, soul, library music and hip-hop influences. The sheer vastness of the album is astounding, Nomade Orquestra have quite literally conquered the world in sound. Nomade Orquestra are some the most accomplished musicians in their city. They’re also avid record collectors, citing the coming-together of their expansive musical knowledges as key to their unique sound. Album opener ‘Jardim de Zaira’ - a tribute to the neighbourhood on the outskirts of the famous ABC region, where the band meet and rehearse - hosts a playful unison of vibraphone, guitar, horns and keyboards reminiscent of Stereolab’s funkiest late ‘90s output. ‘Felag Mengu’ lies somewhere between the groovy, brooding ethio-jazz of Mulatu Astatke and Tinariwen’s hazy desert Rock, and ‘Olho do Tempo’ is another enchanting incarnation of the band’s impossible to define brand of global roots music. The album’s wildest moment comes from the roaring off-road, big-band joy-ride ‘Rinoceronte Blues’ with hill-billy harmonica, soulful organ stabs and soaring horn arrangements further highlighting the depths of Nomade Orquestra’s endless span of influences.

TRACK LISTING

Jardins De Zaira
Estrada Para Camomila
Felag Mengu
Olho Do Tempo
Terra Fértil
Rinoceronte Blues
Vale De Boca Seca
Madame Butterfly
Deliriuns

Following on from previous "Brazilka" selectors by dance music pioneers Kenny Dope and 4hero, Far Out Recordings decided to peer further down the periscope and brought in Manchester based producer and psychedelic rock librarian Andy Votel for a high octane and nonstop Brazilian block party mix. Votel's twisted tale unearths a vast array of weird and wonderful musical stories. Expertly squeezed, segued and sequenced together, Votel's rapid fire journey ventures into both the fondly remembered Tropicalia period and a period less well known, characterised by obscure acid rock, freak folk and other mutations of Musica Popular Brasileira (MPB).