To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the label, label-boss Joe Davis - according to Gilles Peterson: "... the man who opened up Brazil to the entire DJ culture around the world." - selected his favorites from the well-stocked archives of Far Out Recordings. On 'Brazilika: 20th Year Anniversary Album' you'll find 15 tracks by various Brazilian artists including Azymuth, Os Ipanemas, Sabrina Malheiros and Banda Black Rio, together forming a showcase of the releases Far Out Recordings has been surprising and spoiling us with time and time again over the last 20 years. Icing on the birthday cake is the second disc containing a mega mix of more than an hour by Spiritual South (Mark Robertson).
But of course the label isn't just looking over its shoulder, and with 'Amplificador' ("amp"), a compilation evolving from the eponymous music blog by Marcelo Monteiro, Eduardo Rodrigues, Mateus Campos and Ricardo Calazans, Far Out Recordings once more holds its finger on the pulse of the latest evolutions in the Brazilian music landscape; a musical landscape that, judging from the track list of 'Amplificador' with contributions by among others Abayomy Afrobeat Orchestra, Zebrabeat Afro-Amazônia Orquestra and Iconilli, seems to be very afrobeat influenced. Which of course is not to say that this compilation doesn't feature other genres as well: artists like Ive Seixas or Fabricio Fortes offer a new take on the música popular brasileira or MPB genre, and Passo Torto represents a different approach to the samba genre. With 'Amplificador' Far Out Recordings once again proves Brazil remains effervescent with new musical talent.