Reviews – Mondo Bizarre Magazine

April 21, 2026April 21, 2026 Mondo Bizarre Magazine Concert Reviews, Concerts

Novos Românticos | Bastonada, RCA-Radioclube Agramonte, Porto 18/04/2026.

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

Novos Românticos

A punch to the gut of the patriots. That’s what it is.

Any self-respecting lusitano, with a clear sense of their country’s history, recent or otherwise, will feel the almost unbearable weight of the stark, unvarnished reality served up by Novos Românticos. The silver platter is the sound, let that be clear.

This isn’t just music, it isn’t just musical aesthetics. It’s intervention, it’s agony, it’s the near-psychotic despair of someone who feels the weight of Portugalidade. Someone disillusioned with an Abril that seems ever more distant, with fewer and fewer reasons for pride.

David Félix is the man on duty, presenting himself to the audience as a kind of modern-day guru, fully prepared to press on the wound until it bleeds.

He carries an intrinsic ability to command attention: monochord vocal delivery, the sinuous movement of his body to the measured pulse of an electronic post-punk, hypnotic, corrosive, built on pre-recorded loops of guitar, drums, bass, keyboards, and samplers. He drifts across the stage, almost unsteady, faintly lascivious, but the message lands. That seems to be what drives them, and they achieve it with precision.

They performed material from across their repertoire, with a strong focus on their full-length work, Criptopátria. Worth highlighting are Pátria, Mesa Posta, and a very original version of the iconic Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart.

Bastonada

Bastonada closed the night, delivering verbal and musical blows with their interventionist Electro Punk, edged with rap. It’s pure energy from beginning to end, without a moment’s respite.

They’re young, intense, sharp, and they fire off their songs as if the world were ending tomorrow.

The instruments are always front and centre, and their masked vocalist is a force of nature.

The insolent anger of their youth, combined with the level of competence in their instrumentation, points to a project with real substance and a great deal still to give. It will be interesting to watch.

Concert clips and photo galleries on our Instagram

April 20, 2026April 21, 2026 Mondo Bizarre Magazine Concert Reviews, Concerts of the Year

PAUS, Teatro Aveirense, 16.04.2026.

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

On 16 April, it was a ‘Happy Day’ at the Teatro Aveirense, with the funeral march of PAUS.

Having announced their end, the band made their fourth appearance of the year in Aveiro with impact and a certain sense of occasion.

They presented their final album in full, in an uninterrupted 30-minute crescendo. As they have accustomed us, this work entitled Enterro is marked by intense, hypnotic and innovative pieces that combine old-school experimental rock sounds, with complex and repetitive rhythms, with touches of indie vocal lines and the psychedelic textures of post-rock.

However, at this stage, arguably more refined and mature, they decided to stop and die in a florid and controlled manner, celebrating their own funeral with a tour that will symbolically end on 19 November 2026, the date on which they began their journey 18 years ago.

In a relaxed register, they made a few pauses at the beginning and end of the concert, between better-known older songs, in some way justifying that it is far more interesting to die and bury PAUS with dignity than to pass away in a disordered manner.

Happily for me, as I prefer the band’s earlier phase, more visceral, raw and unrestrained, PAUS opened this concert with Mudo e Surdo and closed with Pelo Pulso, both from their first EP É uma Água

They said goodbye in style, with the intense rhythm of the Siamese drum set played by Quim Albergaria and Hélio Morais, and the striking sounds of Makoto’s bass and Fábio Jevelim’s keyboard. I stood there, clenched my teeth and tapped my foot, wishing only to be somewhere more suited to dancing and exorcising my demons. It is not often one is invited by the dead to their own funeral, but for those present it was certainly a smiling experience.

And they were PAUS. Fare thee well.

Photo gallery on our Instagram Instagram

December 12, 2025December 12, 2025 Mondo Bizarre Magazine Concert Reviews, Concerts

Noiserv, Casa da Música, 06.12.2025.

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

Noiserv is a brilliant project, conceived by a brilliant artist gifted with an unusual, multifaceted creative capacity.

David Santos, the driving force and sole member of the project, is a talented multi-instrumentalist who manages to capture an audience’s full attention, despite barely being able to move, far too occupied playing instruments, recording, sequencing, and performing all at once, offering his audience live music that almost always grows in dynamic range until it reaches its melodic peak.

Sala Suggia of Casa da Música, though not sold out, was very respectably filled to welcome Noiserv, and David delivered exactly what was expected, or even more.

The concert revolved around his new album, 7305, the artist’s fifth full-length record. Another remarkable work whose spacious, contemplative sound carries us into landscapes with the atmosphere of a northern lights sky.

All one had to do was close one’s eyes and let the sound take us anywhere. Long Journey and Resumidamente opened the way for older pieces such as The Sad Story Of a Little Town and Don’t Say Hi, If You Don’t Have Time For A Nice Goodbye. The set list moved fluidly between tracks from the new album and selections from earlier periods.

Special note must go to A Self-Conversation Is To Loud For An Empty Room, singular and unsettling in its beauty, performed entirely on acoustic guitar.

Noiserv also presented tracks featuring collaborations with A Garota Não (Cátia Oliveira) and Milhanas, the latter appearing onstage to perform A Casa das Rodas Quadradas, where their two voices intertwined in perfect synergy. The staging and lighting were superb, fully worthy of that iconic Porto hall.

It was a warm, celebratory evening, not least because David is an excellent storyteller with a wonderful sense of humour. We all left happy.

February 7, 2025February 10, 2025 Mondo Bizarre Magazine Amazing Sounds & Other Delights, Radio Show, Raquel Pinheiro, YéYé Radio

Amazing Songs & Other Delights # 76 – The New, Found, Remembered edition by Raquel Pinheiro @ Yé Yé Radio, Monday 10

My Amazing Songs & Other Delights # 76 – The New, Found, Remembered edition airs Monday 10, 3-4pm (gmt) on Yé Yé Radio: yeyeradio.com (or on the app).

The title is self-explanatory. This programme is a mix of new songs, songs I chanced upon from different songs, some new, some not, and songs I remembered.

It’s also another case of one thing leads to another. As a whole the 19 songs from various decades, with emphasis on very recent ones, on Amazing Songs & Other Delights # 76 – The New, Found, Remembered edition form a fresh, engaging, beautiful programme.

A friend posted about Robert Wyatt’s 80th birthday, Epic Soundtracks song Jellybabies with Wyatt singing flashed in mind.

Berkley’s Gram Theft Parsons is one of those songs that tell a story, a narrative style often absent in recent songs. Gram Theft Parsons is the story of the final months of Gram Parsons life, told with no sugar coating.

Crazy Horse are better know as Neil Young backing band. I Don’t Want to Talk About It is from their self titled debut album, released in 1971. I Don’t Want to Talk About It was written by Danny Whitten and would become a hit for Rod Stewart and Everything but the Girl. Ry Cooder plays pedal steel guitar and slide guitar on Crazy Horse’s original that is produced by Jack Nitzsche.

Marlon Williams’ Aua Atu Rā is the first single from Te Whare Tīwekaweka Williams first album in Māori language. OMIRI’s Pé com Pé mixes of Portuguese traditional music and dance music, resulting in an attractive, strange song.

Love No More comes from The Durutti Column 1989 album Vini Reilly, re-released last year on Record Store Day. Durutti Column Vini Reilly re-released is one of my records of 2024.

Rent Boy, a song by Jude Alderson is from the 1986 documentary Andy The Furniture Maker, about Andrew Marshall, part of the documentary series Six of Hearts, directed by Paul Oremland. I learned of the documentary by reading an article on The Guardian. I liked the documentary and loved the song.

Tracklist:
01 – Bryan Ferry and Amelia Barratt – Orchestra
02 – Alpine Subs – Rely On Me
03 – Attawalpa – Always The Girls
04 – Berkley – Gram Theft Parsons
05 – Born Folk – Seize the Day
06 – Crazy Horse – I Don’t Want to Talk About It
07 – Electric Man – New Wave
08 – Epic Soundtracks feat Robert Wyatt – Jellybabies
09 – Hamish Hawk – Juliet as Epithet
10 – Jude Alderson – Rent Boy
11 – Julian Shah-Tayler – Sufferation
12 – Julien Baker & Torres – Sylvia
13 – Little Barrie & Malcom Catto – Zero Sun
14 – Marlon Williams – Aua Atu Rā
15 – OMIRI – Pé com Pé
16 – The Durutti Column – Love No More
17 – The Gentle Spring – Looking Back At The World
18 – Tunng – Didn’t Know Why
19 – Vanarin – Memories

All previous shows on mixcloud: https://www.mixcloud.com/infoyeye/playlists/amazing-songs-other-delights | www.mixcloud.com/MondoBizarreMagazine

November 19, 2024November 21, 2024 Mondo Bizarre Magazine Concert Reviews, Concerts

Temples, Hard Club, Porto, 14.11.2024.

Lost in translation. Definitely.

words: Paulo Carmona (edited by Raquel Pinheiro); photos Telma Mota

Temples are a band of dreams. The magic feeling is constant throughout the band’s performance. Atmospherically very rich and diverse in the structure of their songs, they take us to rest in meadows that stretch far as the eye can see. An immensity of nostalgia and divine emotions that, in fact, can only be reached in temples of sound in which music is the supreme divinity.

You almost feel a cool breeze on your skin that gives you goose bumps, a constant throughout the concert. In Move With the Seasons I almost levitated, in The Guesser I dreamt and in Fragment’s Light I almost cried. What more could I ask for?

As the songs flowed, bodies moved to the rhythm of the band’s sound, applause was effusive and appropriate for the marvellous setting. The band felt that the audience was with them and James Bagshaw, the band’s singer, ended up saying that this was thee crowd of the tour. I bet it was.

I dare say that Temples are one of the best bands of the last 20 years, for its originality and musical creativity, and that Sun Structures is a masterpiece of musical art.Outside, the city is perfectly suited to what was experienced and witnessed indoors. Perhaps because its the city of temples. I still feel it all very much alive and present in me. Thank you, James, Tom, Adam and Rens. Don’t make us wait another 10 years for your return to Portugal and, in particular, to Porto.

September 20, 2024September 30, 2024 Mondo Bizarre Magazine Concerts, Entries, Essays

Grupo Operário do Ruído, Open Rehearsal, Associação de Moradores da Bouça, Porto, 13.09.2024.

A View From Within

words: Raquel Pinheiro; photos: Renato Cruz Santos/Cultura em Expansão

A week ago me and my colleagues from Grupo Operário do Ruído, a parte experimental-exploratory-avant ensemble connect to Sonoscopia were in the depths of our Open Rehearsal, after months of hours long reharsals.

Being part of the group has been a very interesting experience. I elected the electric guitar as my main instrument, in itself a challenge. I’m far more familiar with an electric bass than with an electric guitar. Most of my other instruments are as peculiar and unique as Grupo Operário do Ruído: a couple of plastic beads necklaces, a children’s melodica, mismatched drum sticks, empty spices bottles, and more, and our claribones, what I call our odd purpose build mix of trombone and clarinet.

Many instruments we use were build on previous years of the existence of Grupo Operário do Ruído, some like my guitar, the traditional drums, the tambourine are convencional. My use of the electric guitar is anything but convencional. We’re often asked what we do, what we play. We’re still working on the musical piece directed by António Serginho and Carlos Guerreiro, to which we all contribute.

I would say we’re much close to an orchestra than a rock band. The musical, sound, and other approaches are wide. As you can see on the photos we do not use staves. There are structured rhythm parts, solo and free style parts, corporal movement, a bit of singing. Each of us, one more than others depending of what we play, swap our instruments, according to the section we’re playing.

None of the above explains much other than a little of the mechanics of this year in Grupo Operário do Ruído. It’s not easy to explain as it is a sound experience composed of a million details.

I’ve been asked if I felt nervous playing in front of an audience. I didn’t. I didn’t even notice the audience that surrounded us. We’re concentrated on what we’re playing as well as in the hand instructions of António Serginho tailor made for us, and therefore different than standard conductor instructions.

No, I’m not letting our music out. 😉 Not right now. 🙂 We sound brilliant!

We have our Final Presentation at Conservatório de Música do Porto, December 8, 7pm. Come see us!

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