1. Os Mutantes - Haih Or Amortecedor
2. Rodrigo Y Gabriela - 11:11
3. V/A - Panama! Vol.2
4. Nelly Furtado - Mi Plan
5. V/A - A Orillas Del Magdalena -- Coastal Cumbias From Colombia's Discos Fuentes (LP)
6. Mario Ortiz All Star Band - Mario Ortiz All Star Band Tributo 45 Aniversario
7. V/A - Black Rio Vol.2
8. V/A - Psicofasicos De Bolivia
9. V/A - Sound Of Wonder!
10. Ruben Blades - Cantares del Subdesarrollo

Fueled by a great instore performance, Os Mutantes' latest release, Haih Or Amortecedor tops Amoeba Hollywood’s World Music chart for September. Hot on its heels, though, was the latest by another group of former Amoeba instore performers, Rodrigo Y Gabriela. 11:11, Rod y Gaby’s new release, comes with a DVD of live performances and even some instructional footage for the up and coming Flamenco guitarist in you. Nelly Furtado's first all Spanish album, Mi Plan, is starting to pick up some steam as well, coming in at number four.

At number five is a vinyl only release from the Domino Sound label out of New Orleans entitled A Orillas Del Magdalena -- Coastal Cumbias From Colombia's Discos Fuentes. Domino Sounds goes a bit deeper in this compilation than Soundways' excellent Colombia! compilation (both labels licensed tracks from the Discos Fuentes catalog), adding personal favorites by the likes of Andres Landero and Nafer Duran. I highly recommend this LP for anyone who wants to know where the true roots of Cumbia come from.

With every Brazilian Independence Day (Sept. 7th) usually comes a plethora of great Brazilian music to Los Angeles. Still, it was a shock to see Os Mutantes on the Amoeba instore calendar when it was posted back in August. I’m sure it was more of a coincidence than something planned, but In the back of my mind I thought, “How cool is that!?” To say that I’m a fan of Os Mutantes is an understatement; in fact, it's probably one of the few groups that most Amoeba employees with all our collective vast tastes in music can agree upon. Since their reunion, or rather, their resurgence back in 2006, I have managed to miss all their shows in Los Angeles due to plain old bad timing. At last, I would finally see the band that was the gateway for me and so many others to discovering Brazilian music.

In the early nineties, I read an article on Os Mutantes. They were referred to as “The Brazilian Beatles,” but that is not what drew me to them. It was that they, along with the other Tropicalistas Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, Caetano Veloso and Tom Zé were radicals and into taking all influences, whether they was Brazilian, European, Avant-garde or folk music, and putting them all together. Mutantes were the easiest to digest because they had much in common with other Psychedelic groups of that era, but after listening to them on a continuous basis, I started to notice their musicianship and songwriting was much more advanced than most groups of that time. They were the best of the Avant-garde rock bands because they could swing better than any of them. I remembering going to a record store and buying all their import CDs that I could find. From there I got into Caetano, Gilberto Gil, Tom Ze and soon started to venture out into other non-Tropicalia artist such as Milton Nascimento and Jorge Ben. From then on, the doors of Brazilian music became wide open. My discovery of Brazilian music from Jobim to Funk Carioca is due in part to Os Mutantes.

1. V/A-Sound Of Wonder!
2. Chico Sonido-S/T
3. V/A- Black Rio Vol. 2
4. Bebe-Y.
5. Lila Downs-La Cantina
6. Natalia Lafourcade-Hu Hu Hu
7. Los Amigos Invisible-Commercial
8. Merche-Cal Y Arena
9. V/A-Panama Vol.2
10. Serge Gainsbourg- Initials SG-Best Of Serge Gainsbourg

The Sound of Wonder compilation just edged out Chico Sonido’s self-titled release to take the top spot of the week. At number five was Lila Downs’ La Cantina, a release that dates back to 2006. Why, you ask? Perhaps because Lila landed in the hospital last week with a case of appendicitis and had to cancel all her shows in California, including a free show at The Santa Monica Pier last Thursday. I’m guessing that people came to Amoeba to get their Lila fix. To Lila, we wish a speedy recovery and we look forward to her next show at The Hollywood Forever Cemetery on October 24th for the Dia De Los Muertos Festival.

At number six is Natalia Lafourcade's latest, Hu Hu Hu. Released in Mexico in May (and yes, of course, not domestically) this is Natalia’s best release to date. Her songwriting has matured yet still retaines that youthful edge, especially lyrically. Much like Juan Son’s Mermaid Sashimi, Natalia’s release also reveals that she is a recent graduate of The Brian Wilson School of Songwriting, sans Juan Son’s flair for the dramatic. Despite obvious influences, Natalia still marches to the beat of her own drum. I can see a whole new generation of Latin American singer/songwriters using Hu Hu Hu as a template for their future work, much like they did with her past releases.

In celebration of the Amoeba Hollywood Jazz Blowout sale, I’ve been spending time on my computer checking out older Jazz videos. In the process, I have rediscovered the many great performances from the Montreux Jazz Festival, which is held in Switzerland during the month of July. The festival, which started in 1967, was originally held at the old Montreux Casino until, of course, it burned down in 1971. The fire was apparently caused by “some stupid with a flare gun” while Frank Zappa was playing. You might heard about it in a little ditty by Deep Purple called “Smoke On The Water.” The casino was rebuilt but due to the enormity of the festival, it is now held at the larger Convention Centre in Montreux with two main stages and several small stages.

Perhaps every legendary jazz artist you can think of has played Montreux. Over the years the festival has become less about jazz and has opened its doors to all kinds of music. Still, for any musician, this is the place to be seen. Over two hundred thousand people attend the festival every year and even more see the performances via television, web casts and through the many DVDs that have been released over the years.

Just watching the highlights of the forty-two year history of the festival on Youtube was overwhelming. There have been thousands of solos of all kinds and excellent musicianship throughout; however, it's the vocalists that provide some of my favorites performances. I picked three videos that feature Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone and Elis Regina.

1. Chico Sonido-S/T
2. V/A-Sound Of Wonder!
3. Oumou Sangare-Seya











4. Manu Chau-Clandestino
5. V/A-Colombia! The Golden Era Of Discos Fuentes
6. Aventura-Last
7. Mulatu Astatke/The Heliocentrics-Inspiration Information

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