Month: May 2023

words: Paulo Carmona (freely translated by Raquel Pinheiro); photos: Paulo Carmona

A dusty dirt path, with no end in sight in the middle of nowhere, beaten by the sun, only attenuated by the brim of the hat and the green hills that invite us to stop near a creek of fresh water, for sure the soundtrack for such imaginary would pass through the songs of M. Ward.

Last Saturday night, an instrumental guitar intro with electrifying strums between short solos and riffs steeped in folk blues was the motto presented on a plate by M. Ward to the audience present at Mouco.

With eyes always closed, now bending his body over the guitar, then appearing as an extension of his arm, the musician feels every note that serves us with arrangements of garish, warm and strong colours. No doubt if it were a bouquet of flowers, they would be wild.

He thanked each applause with tight crossed arms against his chest and a slight bow with a very well pronounced thank you.

If Chinese Translation brought that sweet and melodic joy with the guitar galloping under a simple voice, on the other hand, Supernatural Thing, in that swing mode of a summer night in a dream with the king of rock’n’roll, brought a huskier dragged with high falsettos and guitar solo, backed by a sequenced loop.

M. Ward uses the music’s spaces very well and the crescendos and diminuendos depending on the balance he wants to give it. A lot of talent and a lot of mastery, from someone who goes on stage alone and doesn’t let their set-line fall into monotony. Only someone very bold would risk a Bowie’s cover with just a guitar in his hands and a harmonica. Well, Ward did it and with great class, not only because of the making he gave to Let’s Dance, but because the approach he took to the theme is pleasing and does not discredit the original in any way.

During I’m a Fool to Want You, a couple in love danced in front of me in a “we’re alone among them” mode.

After two short encores he ends with Rollercoaster, very entertaining as is the music he leaves us with. Many well-deserved applause.

It’s raining outside, but not enough to put out the happy flame I carried in my pocket. There are nights like this.

© Mondo Bizarre Magazine/Paulo Carmona

texto e fotos: Paulo Carmona

Um caminho de terra batida poeirento, sem fim à vista no meio do nada, o sol a bater de frente, apenas atenuado pela borda do chapéu e colinas verdejantes que nos convidam a parar junto a um riacho de água fresca, e por certo que a banda sonora para este imaginário passaria pelas canções de M. Ward.

Um intro instrumental à guitarra com dedilhados eletrizantes entre solos curtos e riffs impregnados de blues folk foi o mote que M Ward apresentou de bandeja à audiência do Mouco que marcou presença no passado sábado à noite.

De olhos cerrados o tempo todo, ora debruçando o corpo sobre a viola, ora esta surgindo como um prolongamento do seu braço, o músico sente cada nota que nos serve com arranjos de cores garridas, quentes e fortes. Se fosse um bouquet de flores, seriam silvestres, sem dúvida.

Agradeceu cada aplauso com os braços em cruz apertados contra o peito e ligeira vénia com um obrigadíssimo muito bem pronunciado.

Se Chinese Translation trouxe aquela alegria docinha e melódica com a guitarra a galopar sob uma voz singela, já Supernatural Thing, naquele modo de swing de uma noite de verão num sonho com o rei do rock’n’roll, trouxe uma voz mais rouca e arrastada com falsetes altos e solo de guitarra apoiado num loop sequenciado.

M. Ward utiliza muito bem os espaços da música e os crescendos e diminuendos consoante o balanço que lhe quer dar. Muito talento e muita mestria, de quem vai para palco só e não deixa o seu set-line cair em monotonia. Só alguém muito ousado arriscaria uma cover de Bowie só com uma guitarra na mão e uma harmónica. Pois é, Ward fê-lo e com grande classe, não só pela roupagem que deu a Let’s Dance, mas porque a abordagem que fez ao tema agrada e não desprestigia em nada o original.

Em I’m a Fool to Want You , um casal apaixonado dança à minha frente em modo estamos sozinhos no meio destes todos.

Após dois encores curtos termina com Roallercoaster, muito divertido tal como a música com que nos deixa. Muitos aplausos e bem merecidos.

Cá fora chove, mas não o suficiente para apagar a chama alegre que trazia na algibeira. Há noites assim.

texto e fotos: Paulo Carmona

Um caminho de terra batida poeirento, sem fim à vista no meio do nada, o sol a bater de frente, apenas atenuado pela borda do chapéu e colinas verdejantes que nos convidam a parar junto a um riacho de água fresca, e por certo que a banda sonora para este imaginário passaria pelas canções de M. Ward.

Um intro instrumental à guitarra com dedilhados eletrizantes entre solos curtos e riffs impregnados de blues folk foi o mote que M Ward apresentou de bandeja à audiência do Mouco que marcou presença no passado sábado à noite.

De olhos cerrados o tempo todo, ora debruçando o corpo sobre a viola, ora esta surgindo como um prolongamento do seu braço, o músico sente cada nota que nos serve com arranjos de cores garridas, quentes e fortes. Se fosse um bouquet de flores, seriam silvestres, sem dúvida.

Agradeceu cada aplauso com os braços em cruz apertados contra o peito e ligeira vénia com um obrigadíssimo muito bem pronunciado.

Se Chinese Translation trouxe aquela alegria docinha e melódica com a guitarra a galopar sob uma voz singela, já Supernatural Thing, naquele modo de swing de uma noite de verão num sonho com o rei do rock’n’roll, trouxe uma voz mais rouca e arrastada com falsetes altos e solo de guitarra apoiado num loop sequenciado.

M. Ward utiliza muito bem os espaços da música e os crescendos e diminuendos consoante o balanço que lhe quer dar. Muito talento e muita mestria, de quem vai para palco só e não deixa o seu set-line cair em monotonia. Só alguém muito ousado arriscaria uma cover de Bowie só com uma guitarra na mão e uma harmónica. Pois é, Ward fê-lo e com grande classe, não só pela roupagem que deu a Let’s Dance, mas porque a abordagem que fez ao tema agrada e não desprestigia em nada o original.

Em I’m a Fool to Want You , um casal apaixonado dança à minha frente em modo estamos sozinhos no meio destes todos.

Após dois encores curtos termina com Roallercoaster, muito divertido tal como a música com que nos deixa. Muitos aplausos e bem merecidos.

Cá fora chove, mas não o suficiente para apagar a chama alegre que trazia na algibeira. Há noites assim.

words: Neno Costa (Freely Translated by Raquel Pinheiro); photos: Telma Mota

New York City based Californian sextet Chk Chk Chk (!!!) returned to Porto, bringing in their luggage, among other musical wanderings, their latest album Let It Be Blue (2022). Opening with This Is Pop 2, a manifesto for the pleasure of uncompromised and easily absorbed rhythms. The celebration of hedonism continued with A Little Bit, Panama, Bang … until culminating in one of the most interesting versions R.E.M.’s Man On The Moon, underlining the creative and irreverent drive of Chk!Chk!Chk!

Finely tuned dance music with funk guitars over a powerful and syncopated bass, samplers and synths, interwoven with the breadth and vocal power of Meah Pace and the grace and passion of Nic Offer several times oozing from the stage into the audience. Contagious rhythm, intense and fluid performance, groove of the best vintages and Chk Chk Chk embodied one of the best performances of this musical year.

texto: Neno Costa; fotos: Telma Mota

O sexteto californiano, radicado em NY, Chk Chk Chk (!!!) retornou ao Porto trazendo o seu último álbum Let It Be Blue (2022) na bagagem, entre outras deambulações musicais. Abertura com This Is Pop 2, um manifesto ao prazer dos ritmos descomprometidos e de fácil absorção. A celebração do hedonismo prosseguiu com A Little Bit, Panama , Bang…até desembocar numa das versões mais interessantes de Man On The Moon, dos R.E.M., sublinhando a pulsão criativa e irreverente dos Chk!Chk!Chk!

Música de dança bem apurada, com guitarras funk sobre baixo potente e sincopado, samplers e sintetizadores, entretecidas com a amplitude e potência vocal de Meah Pace e a graça e a paixão de Nic Offer a escorrer do palco para o meio do público por diversas vezes. Ritmo contagiante, actuação intensa e fluida, groove das melhores colheitas, os Chk Chk Chk deram corpo a uma das melhores actuações deste ano musical.

words: Marcos Leal (editing: Raquel Pinheiro); photos: Marcos Leal

On Thursday night Portuguese band Desert’s Smoke opened for the mythical The Obsessed. The room was still far from being filled, but those who attended got a good dose of powerful riffs and psychedelics in a formula that forced the audience to shake their heads, proving once again that they are one of the most interesting proposals within the Portuguese stoner and psychedelic rock world. Their concert, lasting about half an hour, was a good warm-up for the night’s headliners who strolled through the room, although some preferred to wait on the esplanade for the night’s main band.

When the time for the start of the concert arrived, The Obsessed entered the stage without delay, into an already better audience appointed room, but which, surprisingly, was not sold out, being the national debut of this historic American band with more than 40 years of career.

The Obsessed came back to be in 2016, with Scott ‘Wino’ Weinrich the only original and founding member of the band, currently accompanied by Brian Costantino on drums, Chris Angleberger on bass and Jason Taylor on rhythm guitar – band members later introduced during the concert – and Wino on vocals and guitar.

Those who went to see The Obsessed would not leave surprised, much less disappointed. The Obsessed delivered what was expected of them, old school doom metal, stoner rock and even upbeat rhythms of an almost punk rock nature that kept the audience in a growing frenzy until the end of the concert, presenting a good catalog of themes that explored the vast repertoire of the band from Maryland, United States, that even managed to present a couple of songs from a new album announced by the band to be released next year.

In the end, the band seems to have left satisfied with the visit to Porto stage, with Wino having said at one point that he was having a good time with Porto’s audience, who responded affirmatively and who, after the concert, rushed to the merch stand to support and salute the band.

words: Marcos Leal (editing by Raquel Pinheiro); photos: Marcos Leal

Tuesday, by the end of the day, mild temperature in the air and on arrival at CCOP it was made clear that the night was going to be warm, with people already crowding up in the street, at the entrance drinking a beer and smoking a cigarette before going up the stairs leading to the auditorium.

While waiting for Sessa and company to enter the Stage, a good part of the audience already present was waiting sitting on the floor, while others went to get a drink to refresh their bodies in an environment that was already guessing hot and that the large air conditioner on one side of the room could not be enough to soften, despite opening a clearing, such was the wind that came out of it.

On stage, hanging from the ceiling, three pieces of rectangular fabric with images reminding the visual imagery of the 2022 album Estrela Acesa that Sessa is presenting on this tour.

Announced the beginning of the concert by the usual voice recording, the public stands up and applauds the entrance of Sessa and company who take their places in the respective instruments. Sessa sits in the center on a small chair where he remained cross-legged with his guitar during the concert.

The first chords were for Estrela Acesa, the title song of Sessa’s new record. A serene start, as a large part of the concert would be. The sessa music breathes the sea and calm of the late summer afternoon, like a light breeze that, despite the heat in the room, refreshed the soul.

Sessa, Sergio Sayeg’s artistic name, of few words, but always with serenity and sweetness in the voice showing a certain naivety and timidity, highlighting how good it is to play in Portugal with an audience that shares the same language. As he spoke, smiles could be seen from the band and the audience and sighs could be heard between exclamations like “Oh…it’s so sweet…”, “Oh…it’s so cute…”.

After the third song Pele de Esfera, Sessa said the first words to thank and introduce the band that accompanies him on drums, acoustic bass and voice.The concert continued between songs from the two edited works, focusing on the last one, where the Brazilian musical heritage is notorious, from influencial artists like Caetano or Gal from the golden times of tropicália and pop soaked in samba that makes the bodies sway lightly, and with punctual moments of psychedelia .

At one point in the concert, Sessa alone on stage plays two cover songs ‘Quién te Viera’ by Eduardo Mateo and ‘Flor de Maracujá’ by João Donato, then returning to his repertoire with Dor Fodida.

The concert did not end without an encore with three songs Tanto, Língua Geral and Grandeza with which the band said goodbye with thanks, applause, smiles and the feeling of having lived a tender moment.

words: Neno Costa (freely translated by Raquel Pinheiro); photos: Telma Mota

The Haunted Youth debuted in Porto, promoting mostly songs from their first album Dawn of the Freak (2022). At the first chords of Broken the landscape was populated with butterflies in the armpits and chewing gum on the hips celebrating a late adolescence that flew over the course of an hour, to the delight of the audience that rushed to M.O.U.C.O.

Haunted Youth’s music has the haunting success formulas with the guitars evolving into easily digestible melodic riffs, in a dream-pop affiliation that Joachim Liebens’ voice and Anne Smets’ keyboards accentuate, auguring an update of the menus of the nearest dance-floors. An example of the above was the song Gone, referring to a possible holiday soundtrack for a convertible. The Belgian quintet presented a cohesive, well-articulated and relaxed posture on stage, revealing mastery on the art of sound pastry, although stumbling upon a poor lyrical construction, which could be taken from the margins of a school notebook, sometimes in clear contrast with the melodic marzipan (e.g. Fell Like Shit).

All in all, a cute and delicious indie waiting for further maturation.

texto: Neno Costa; fotos: Telma Mota

Os Haunted Youth fizeram a sua estreia no Porto, promovendo essencialmente músicas do seu primeiro álbum Dawn of the Freak (2022). Aos primeiros acordes de Broken, a paisagem povoou-se com borboletinhas nos sovacos e pastilha elástica nas ancas celebrando uma adolescência tardia, escorrendo ao longo de uma hora, para gáudio da assistência que acorreu ao M.O.U.C.O.

A música dos Haunted Youth tem a assombração das fórmulas de sucesso com as guitarras evoluindo em riffs melódicos de fácil digestão, numa filiação dream-pop que a voz de Joachim Liebens e as teclas de Anne Smets acentuam, augurando uma atualização das ementas das pistas de dança mais próximas. Exemplo do exposto foi a canção Gone, remetendo para uma possível banda sonora de férias para descapotável. O quinteto belga apresentou em palco uma postura coesa, bem articulada e descontraída, revelando domínio da arte da pastelaria sonora, embora tropeçando numa construção lírica pobre, que podia ser retirada das margens de um caderno escolar, por vezes em evidente contraste com o maçapão melódico (e.g. Fell Like Shit).

Feitas as contas, fica um indie fofinho e delicodoce à espera de melhor maturação.