BAHIA FANTASTICA by RODRIGO CAMPOS

(RH Record of the week review at the bottom of this text)

Originally released in 2012, the second album by the São Paulo-born composer Rodrigo Campos marks a turning point in both lyrical and aesthetic inspiration. “Bahia Fantástica” is the result of the absorption of a then recent influence of soul music (especially Curtis Mayfield) and is in the middle of this path marked by an unlikely geography in the lyrical part (São Mateus, Bahia, Japan) and by an expansion of sound ( from samba to the indefinable, with a passage through black American music).

The album turns ten years old in 2022 and exudes vitality. The soul reference takes on a different aroma when it passes through the filter of the composer and his band – formed by Kiko Dinucci on guitar, Marcelo Cabral on bass, Maurício Fleury on keyboards, Maurício Takara on drums and Thiago França on sax: it has Brazilian sauce, hints of afrobeat and a very particular seasoning. The lyrics bear the artist's mark: they project scenes in the listener's imagination and design the characters and environments with their own style of subjective chronicle. Bahia is both imaginary and intimate in Rodrigo Campos’s music.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rush Hour Store Record of the week W05:

Here’s a great album you might not want to miss: ‘Bahia Fantástica’, the second album by São Paulo-born composer Rodrigo Campos.
Originally released on the Núcleo Contemporâneo imprint both on CD and vinyl in a strictly limited run some ten years ago it is now brought back to life by the good people at Goma Gringa and quite deservedly so, since this beauty is way too good to be solely enjoyed locally or even nationwide.

Rocketing off with the gripping neo-psychedelic jazz tropicalia of ‘Cinco Doces’ Campos gives off a clear statement he’s both invested in a wide range of classic Brazilian styles as he is in progressive contemporary music, with hints of afrobeat, jazz, funk and soul to spice up his highly addictive concoction.

Expertly backed by a stellar band that features Kiko Dinucci on guitar, Marcelo Cabral on bass, Maurício Fleury on keyboards, Maurício Takara on drums and Thiago França on sax Campos goes in unafraid on ‘Bahia Fantastica’, a record that hasn’t aged a day since it first came out in 2012. 

It’s hard to pick out a favorite here, but it’s impossible to escape the Ethio-jazz-turned-free-jazz-dub-reggae madness of ‘Aninha’, the deceptive simplicity of ‘Beco’ and the blissed-out Brazilian synth boogie spacer that is ‘General Geral’, three clear examples of Campos’ unbridled genius. (RO)