The latest effort from the reliable Boston label Cultures of Soul gives those craving a dose of funky Brazil a reason to cheer, and fans shouldering a love for 7-inch vinyl might want to climb atop a roof and shout; The Brasileiro Treasure Box of Funk and Soul contains seven 45s in a glossy case with a poster and a booklet to boot. Featuring such heavyweights as Toni Tornado, Emilio Santiago, Tom Zé, Celia, and Dom Salvador, an ample level of quality is basically assured. Also available in a compact disc edition, the set’s out on October 23.

Earlier in 2015, Cultures of Soul released The Brazilian Boogie Connection: From Rio to San Paulo 1976-83, a collection compiled and produced by noted DJ and Brazilian music enthusiast Greg Caz in tandem with label-head Deano Sounds. It established the country as a disco hotbed, the 2LP fitting nicely betwixt Cultures of Soul’s prior surveys of ‘70s dance floor action, specifically two volumes each from the Caribbean and India.

The Brasileiro Treasure Box of Funk and Soul finds the imprint reaching back to Brazil’s pre-disco era of 1970-1975; the music is indeed worthy of its title as it attains the imprint’s usual standard of thoughtful assemblage. The liner notes by Caz are again succinctly informative and the booklet rounds up numerous snapshots of the original album covers.

That’s right, albums. Funk and soul was apparently undervalued by the Brazilian industry in this period, and with a few exceptions the box’s selections were initially LP cuts or b-sides. That’s the case with Antônio Carlos & Jocafi’s “Quem Vem Lá”; it bursts out of the gate wielding potent wah-pedal nastiness a bit like Pete Cosey crossbred with Carlos Santana and then merged with an aggressive horn section, locomotive rhythms and a serrated-edge voice.

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“However it happened, if you’re reading this, you’re probably a vinyl enthusiast and at some point IT happened to you. You realized that listening to vinyl records was different from any other way you had ever experienced music. You’ve at some point felt compelled to JUST SIT and listen to an album. You’ve noticed that the hair on your arms stood up just a little bit higher. You may have cried a little.”

“As my favorite 8-year-old watches Mary Tyler Moore throw a dinner party on the Dick Van Dyke Show for the hundredth time, it hits me. THIS is why the vinyl enthusiast rebirth is so important. For MTM and friends, having a dinner was an event, not just a zombified action you did in front of the television. There is a parallel here with music.

We’ve disengaged. We turned off, we tuned out. We don’t want the full experience. We want the CliffsNotes (see what I did there?). We ARE mp3s. We are mostly living our lives in the digital format. Correcting little flaws until we have this perfect representation of ourselves, that really isn’t a good representation at all. We’ve taken all the soul, everything that makes us HUMAN and REAL and INTERESTING and covered it with filters.

I, for one, am not perfect and it’s exhausting to keep up the charade. Maybe being a parent gives me another perspective because I don’t want my daughter to grow up having the pressure of being between the lines ALL the time. What would this world be without those wonderful “mistakes” artists have made like that of Merry Clayton’s voice cracking on “Gimme Shelter”?

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“I moved to Richmond, VA, just before I was legally able to drink alcohol. I entered the city during an era of vinyl resurrection. A common friend date included going into the basement of Plan 9 records and sifting for hours through loaded shelves and wooden crates of LPs.”

“This was a treasure hunt, all of us looking for different versions of gold. One of my friends only cared about finding various Zappa records, while I dug through chipboard boxes to find obscure noise, old electronic nonsense, straight funk, and spoken word oddities.

Soon afterwards, I began to make “mixtapes” for friends’ birthdays. I would layer children’s stories or instructional records over deep funk grooves, old time bluegrass, and random vintage radio hits. I didn’t have a “normal” two-turntable setup to accomplish this, so I recorded straight to a cassette 4-track. I spent hours, sometimes days, on each creation. I made around 20-30 “gifts” in total, and I’m not sure where they all are today.

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Bins far and wide are loaded with fringe sounds, but legitimately “outsider” stuff comprises a considerably tiny percentage of the musical scenario. That’s where the concise discography of San Franciscan Doug Hream Blunt resides; at once stylistically recognizable and singular in execution, the work of Blunt and his bandmates proves consistently intriguing as it amasses unique, and some will argue perplexing, grooves. My Name is Doug Hream Blunt: Featuring the Hit “Gentle Persuasion” is out now on LP/CD/digital courtesy of Luaka Bop.

Akin to various other examples of outsider creativity, the story of singer-guitarist Doug Hream Blunt is nearly as interesting as his album’s contents. A novice musician at age 35, he signed up for the sort of learning opportunity seemingly possible only through a handful of US municipalities, San Francisco near the top; specifically, ‘twas an adult education course titled “How to Start a Band.” Once enrolled that’s exactly what Blunt did.

The class was held in the garage/home studio of teacher Victor Flaviani, who also served as music instructor at a local high school. Flaviani played the vibes while his wife Laura and his sister Angele plucked bass and guitar; several classmates filled out the lineup. The results landed them on the Bay Area public access television program City Visions, their striking performance thankfully surviving and currently available on YouTube.

It’s easily findable via the website of Luaka Bop, a long-serving enterprise sporting a roster including Cornershop, Shuggie Otis, Jim White, Tom Zé, Shoukichi Kina, William Onyeabor, and co-founder David Byrne, an amassing of talent predictive of the substance ultimately shaping My Name is Doug Hream Blunt.

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From the cool blues of the Mississippi Delta to the swampy southern rock of the ’70s, the American south certainly has a textured musical record. Enter Natural Child, born and bred in Tennessee, the band’s blazing new trails off the southern rock avenue while never forgetting where their roots lie.

The Nashville rockers take the old, gritty music of the south and serve it up in a modern outfit. Their 2014 album Dancin’ with Wolves meets at the intersection of blues and punchy garage rock. The album is full of laid-back grooves tinged in mellow twang, frequently belting out solos with the bottleneck slide, a renowned accessory in the southern musical canon. Tracks like “Out in the Country” welcome city life with weary arms, longing for simpler living.

“Out in the Country” is an ode to the pastoral—celebrating the area’s lack of pretension and urban frenzy. Beginning with a perfectly paced bass line the song quickly weaves together a range of styles—from rock to country—into a distinct patchwork. The song sets up a space that lets in an alluring sense of wildness, part of the band’s style. Take a minute—or three—to check out a change of scenery with Natural Child.

I simply adore The Dandy Warhols. Love them the way some people love club drugs, which I would love too if my doctor hadn’t told me using them could leave me with a permanent stutter, stutter, stutter, stutter. The Dandy Warhols have the magical knack of finding that magic pocket, where you can groove all night long beneath the flashing strobe lights in your mind, and where every day is a holiday, and you’re encouraged to smoke it, smoke it, smoke it.

They gave us the great “Lou Weed,” the magnificent “Boys Better,” the totally transcendent “Holding Me Up,” the lift your arms to heaven “Godless,” the wonderful “Down Like Disco,” and that glorious wake-up call to ecstasy that is “Good Morning.” And let’s not forget “Cool as Kim Deal,” which proves they’re cooler than Kim Deal, for real.

And I could end this review there, except that like the junkie in “Not If You Were the Last Junkie on Earth” I want it all, everything they’ve ever released to a public that has proven it doesn’t deserve them, and that includes the 2009 four-song EP “Deep Cuts,” which includes two remixes, an original, and a cover of a David Bowie song. I have it right here, right now, at this very moment, and I swear to God, I love The Dandy Warhols so much I could lick it. You heard me. There, I just licked it. Tastes like great music! I think I’ll lick it again!

“Deep Cuts” opens with a hyperkinetic remix of “Every Day Should Be a Holiday,” speeded up and designed especially to get you moving on the dance floor or, if you’re like me, that dance club in your head. Same great groove as the original, only with lots of electronic zipping and zapping going on. You gotta love those vocals, and that guitar riff, and as for the sentiment, who’s gonna disagree?

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Press Play is our Monday recap of the new—and FREE—tracks received last week to inform the next trip to your local indie record store.

Boat To Row – Time And Time Again
Carlos Timon – La cueva de San Andrés
Moa Holmsten – You’re Missing
VIOLENT MAE – In The Sun
Stevie B Wolf – Nothing But A Name
Shady Elders – Pale Blue Dot
J Hacha De Zola – Better Run
Bobby Shoebotham – Somebody Else’s Girl
The Bandicoots – Overnight Innovator
Pelicans And Their Allies – Just Like July

TVD SINGLE OF THE WEEK:
Ex Libras – Drive

Justin Dean Thomas – Anytime I’m Feelin
Dead Boy Robotics – Arrival (Single Mix)
WENNINK – Used To It
London Grammar – Hey Now (XYPO Remix)
Ben Millburn – Don’t You Wait
Broken Boy – Kilogram
Nick Pes – Under The Light
Janet Jackson – Someone To Call My Lover (M3RC Remix)
ATB – 9PM (MAYD Remix)
Rawtek – Rude Bwoy