MAIS BAD

There are 3 problems with the RIO/Avant Prog group that calls themselves the Satanique Samba Trio. They are not satanic, they do not play samba (at least not exclusively), and they are not a trio. They are, however, odd and experimental. In their 6th album "Mais Bad", which is a bit hard to call full-length at only 19 minutes and is also a 10" vinyl, they have created an odd collection of lo-fi recordings that were all recorded by a cell phone. This album is a sequel to the 2015 10" vinyl release "Mo Bad". There are 10 total vignettes here, or as the band likes to call them, "low-fidelity bagatelles". The band is known for taking the traditional rhythm patterns of Brazil, combining them with punk and free jazz styles, and then deconstructing it all. This was then all recorded by a cheap cell phone manufactured in the early 2000's.

The band line up for this album is Munha (bass), Gustavo "Don Chavez" Elias (acoustic guitar), Jota Dale (ukulele), Locas "Sombrio" Muniz (bass clarinet), and Lupa Marques (drums). The album is made up of 10 short tracks, none of them reaching a length of 3 minutes, and collectively with a run-time of just under 19 minutes. All of the tracks are named "Badtriptronics" with seemingly random numbers following the title.

Sounds intriguing, right? Well, it caught my interest since I love listening to things that are new and different.

Well, intriguing it is, for sure. The finished product after being recorded on a cheap phone doesn't sound too bad considering the odd result from these songs. Yet there is a lot more variety to the sound of each track than what you would think. The music is bizarre and original, yet quite appealing with all of the layers of sound, music and oddness, they are all really neat. How they can take something low-fi and make it all sound so interestingly different is quite amazing. The recording process ends up being an instrument in and of itself.

What you end up with is 10 tracks that sound like what Bela Bartok might sound like if he had composed music for modern rock instruments. The traditional Latin styles are there, but they are so manipulated and tweaked that it all ends up sounding like something completely new and original, which it is. "Badtriptronics #05" takes on a mid-Eastern sound with the bass clarinet taking the lead, but retaining the timbre of the tropical drums. "Badtriptronics #30" goes for the really strange when they take a loop of someone coughing and bury it amongst their instruments and make it sound like percussion as it enhances the beat of the track, and it comes across quite humorous. #26 takes the free jazz style and mashes it together with digital sounds and keys and pair it all with a rave beat that has gone haywire. #04 is what your barnyard would sound like if your animals got a hold of some instruments. # 28 sounds like your local mall's musak system got short circuited. All off this sounds quite whacky, but in reality, it is better than these descriptions allude to, believe it or not, it's just the easiest way to describe what is going on here. Hopefully it will intrigue you enough to check it all out, and you are only out 19 minutes anyway, so if you don't get it, then it's not like you are going to hunt me down for misleading you.

I find it all quite interesting and enjoyable. There really is a lot to hear on this album that only repeated listening will help unveil. The best part is that it really doesn't come across starchy or sterile like you might think. The songs all have their own personality. But only you can decide for yourself if you like it or not. It is 100% avant prog, so if you are ready for that, then you have already prepared yourself for this.

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