Os Mutantes

3.5 Trippy ride

Three non-english albums in a row, all not super interesting.

Not my jam

This is pretty experimental and sounds ahead of its time in a way that some of the Beatles albums do from this time. Some of the effects on here don't sound that special in today's music but I can't really think of many songs from the sixties that sound like this. Again think this would be more popular in general if it was in English 3

3/12/2026 - Listened while walking dog and driving to a meeting. It wasn't as weird as I expected. It basically sounded like a late 60's hippie album but in a different language. I wouldn't listen again but it was fine for what it was.

Top Song - uhhhhh

Komisches Album ohne sinnvolle musikalische Aspekte.

Ajudem-me! Parece que tomei demasiado LSD e agora toda a gente está a cantar em português e a tocar trompetes minúsculos. Na realidade, parece que invadiram uma sala de aula de música de criança pequena e começaram a tocar todos os instrumentos que encontraram... pandeiros, apitos de vara, xilofones, nossa, até consigo ouvir uma flauta de pã. Talvez eu esteja sendo assombrado pelo fantasma de Zamfir. Estou a passer-me, mano.
Acho que não deveria me surpreender ao descobrir que os Beastie Boys adoraram o sample deste álbum.

Wat een feest is dit. Het komt heeel duidelijk uit de 60s maar het wel zo'n plaat waar het steeds spannend is welke kant het nu weer op gaat.

This shit rules. Pedals made from sewing machines etc. Rad as.

I’m at a 5.

I figured it was gonna be good, given the usual track record for Brazilian albums on the list, and I’m very pleased to report that it’s great. It’s a little fuzzy / buzzy / loud at points, but for 1968, what can you do about that? These are really good psych rock compositions, though blended with a bit of Brazilian flair – not so much that it becomes the identity of the album, but enough where the cultural influences still bleed in really nicely. This album can portray really strong Beatles-y energy for one measure & then immediately bring in some ghostly vocals, cool percussive styles & flutes in the next measure to keep everything fresh & on its toes. Combine that with some genuinely compelling storytelling (yes, even when untranslated, due to how nicely the vocals sell the emotions) & you end up with 36 minutes that flow really nicely together. I do wish this album had at least one transition, but I’ll settle for most of them having definitive endings. That fakeout on “Senhor F” actually got me though.

I guess if I have any nitpicks, it’s that “A Minha Menina” goes about a minute too long & that “Tempo no Tempo” could’ve ended the album over “Ave Gengis Khan”, but that’s just personal preference for me. I just think it’s a really fun listen, & even if you don’t understand a word they’re saying (or bother to translate a word they’re saying), the instrumental / vocal energy just sells the album really well, with some especially catchy solos & vocal structures in there. Hence, a pretty damn good 5.

Very similar to The Beatles. Feels original.

tbh i started this project expecting to find more gems like this one. all the stars

I don't know what to make of this one. Strange, silly at times. 2 stars seems harsh, but 3 seems like too much. I'm thinking 3 because it's different and not in English.

I get super excited whenever I see that something from here is Brazilian. The Brazilian music I have been exposed to from here is some of the most interesting new discoveries. This is no exception. This album is really great. Super interesting usage of sound and many different textures. It’s very reminiscent of the late 60’s - early 70’s Beach Boys. Favorite songs were A Minha Menina, Baby, Bat Macumba, Trem Fantasma, and Tempo No Tempo.

I have enjoyed quite a bit of psych in my time, but if the genre's stated goal is to invoke the experience of a high, I can't say a lot of psych is necessarily successful. California Dreamin', Blue Jay Way, some Animal Collective songs, Bitches' Brew; these works all manage to pull it off, and Os Mutantes is on the list now. I stumbled across a Youtube video once that claims to recreate a salvia trip, and the video is all disjointed music over weird children's animation visuals and footage of industrial machinery, and everyone in the comments is like, "yup, that's it, got it in one". And the sound on Os Mutantes is kind of like this particular video. Listening to this makes me feel like I'm taking research chemicals in a circus-themed tiki bar where I'm the only person who can't speak Brazilian Portuguese. I've heard weirder and louder and more difficult music, but this is truly some of the trippiest shit I've *ever* heard. The combination of psych and Brazilian music puts me outside of my comfort zone a little, and then, perhaps fittingly, they mutate this sound in any way you could think. We have weird chanting, ocarinas, musique concrete that drops into technicolor pop, the most fucked up fuzz guitar this side of noise rock, and on one occasion, what sounds to be rhythmic sniffing. And the way the mix is handled has different components come towards and away from the listener in a truly jarring way. And every song has a set of new tricks up its sleeves, and they are all successful examples of psychedelic music. But to name a couple of favorites, Bat Macumba sounds fucking insane, and Adeus Maria Fulô is the most indescribable combination of textures I've heard in a minute. *And*, behind the fuckery, the songs still manage to be great: A Minha Menina and Trem Fantasma are particularly striking as examples of psychedelic pop. I've tried to think of any reason not to give this a 5, and I kind of can't. This is such an incredible execution of truly experimental psychedelic concepts, and it is an utterly successful psych album. If you wish psych took it all just a *little* further, this may be the album for you.

One of the weirder albums that I really enjoyed. I mean, it's really not that weird, at least not more so than other 60s psychadelic is. But it's not something I would've ever found on my own.

Pleasantly bonkers 🤪

Reminded me of the Beatles a bit at times. No idea what was said, but mostly enjoyable aside from some harsh noises from time to time. 3/5

Today I learned that psychedelia in other languages is *~*~*~eVeN mO000oo0OrE p$yCh3DeLic~*~*~*

This started out as a strong three but as the album went on it quickly became a solid 4 for me. Bat Macumba is my favorite song.