Old Post, New Link Dept. - Rodrigo Amarante

Fans of the Netflix series Narcos may remember the theme song; it sounded like the oldest and saddest song in the world, sung by the world's oldest and saddest man. It was written and sung by Rodrigo Amarante, whose sole solo album, Cavalo, 2013, didn't include it. The album also had no cover, just a plain sleeve with functional lyric inserts. Sometimes, less is less. It seemed like Amarante was going out of his way to keep his work a secret. It worked. I hope he was happy selling five copies, in spite of being Rolling Stone Magazine's sixth best album of that year.

There's one hurdle you have to overcome before you listen to this. It's sung in a mix of Portugese, French, English, and Japanese, and you may be allergic to songs you don't understand. Like, you know, about fifty percent of pop and rock songs sung in English. Louie Louie? What's that about?

Musically, it has an idiosyncratic genius that reminds me - some - of Brian Wilson's Smiley Smile/Friends/Wild Honey period. There's that spare clarity, that same hallucinogenic use of instrumental texture, that same feeling of being conceived in a crystal bubble floating above our world. And the songs, like Wilson's, are very much his own, and couldn't be anyone else's. One listen might make you a fan for life. A frustrated fan wanting more.

I added the Narcos song, Tuyo, and done did him a sleeve design what which I like to think reflects the chromatic brilliance of his music. This is gorgeous stuff.