Interview: Os Mutantes | reviews, news & interviews
Interview: Os Mutantes
Interview: Os Mutantes
The coolest and strangest band of them all talk about aliens, madness and revolution
Friday, 16 July 2010
The mutants in regalia
Arnaldo Baptista of Os Mutantes is telling me why South American music can be so compelling: "It's the historical mix, Incas, black Africans, Europeans, beings from Outer Space." I beg his pardon. "Oh, yes, I have seen many flying saucers". Arnaldo is being perfectly serious and launches into his theory of Time (he has formulas and diagrams) which state that once humans go faster than the speed of light, we will be able to travel back to the past. He thinks will freeze himself cryogenically and be unfrozen when this is possible, travelling in the future to go to the past. He has theories about the Age of Fire (we are, he says, about to leave it). Then he goes into a rambling but detailed and convincing comparison of the psychic effects of Gibson and Fender guitar sounds.
Arnaldo Baptista of Os Mutantes is telling me why South American music can be so compelling: "It's the historical mix, Incas, black Africans, Europeans, beings from Outer Space." I beg his pardon. "Oh, yes, I have seen many flying saucers". Arnaldo is being perfectly serious and launches into his theory of Time (he has formulas and diagrams) which state that once humans go faster than the speed of light, we will be able to travel back to the past. He thinks will freeze himself cryogenically and be unfrozen when this is possible, travelling in the future to go to the past. He has theories about the Age of Fire (we are, he says, about to leave it). Then he goes into a rambling but detailed and convincing comparison of the psychic effects of Gibson and Fender guitar sounds.
You can't have a normal conversation with him. But then I imagine you couldn't have just chatted with Einstein about girls and football, either.
Explore topics
Share this article
Subscribe to theartsdesk.com
Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.
To take a subscription now simply click here.
And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?
more New music
Album: Abigail Lapell - Anniversary
An engaging - if doleful - set from the Canadian folk-Americana singer
Album: Kings Of Leon - Can We Please Have Fun
The good ole boys of stadium indie go back to basics: will it work?
Album: Bab L'Bluz - Swaken
Fiery psychedelia to lift your soul coming straight out of the Maghreb
Album: Pokey LaFarge - Rhumba Country
A pig in a pokey, as the singer farms in Maine and reads the Bible, with technicolor results
Album: Josienne Clarke - Parenthesis, I
Redefining the self, from the most absorbing of British singer-songwriters
Music Reissues Weekly: West Coast Consortium - All The Love In The World
Top-drawer British harmony pop band whose promise was unfulfilled
CVC, Concorde 2, Brighton review - they have the songs and they have the presence
Welsh sextet bring their lively Seventies-flavoured pop frollicking to the south coast
Album: Dua Lipa - Radical Optimism
An admirable attempt to catch the magical groove that helped us through lockdown
Album: Sia - Reasonable Woman
An awesome singer-songwriter comes into her own
Mitski, Usher Hall, Edinburgh review - cool and quirky, yet deeply personal
A stunningly produced show from one of pop’s truly unique artists
Album: EYE - Dark Light
New band from MWWB singer Jessica Ball prove worthy of what came before
Nadine Shah, SWG3, Glasgow review - loudly dancing the night away
The songstress offered both a commanding voice and an almost overwhelming sound.
Add comment