São Paulo Confessions is an album by the Serbian-born musician Suba—his musical account of life in that humid, foggy, and manic megalopolis. Core musicians on the album are then 21-year-old vocalist Cibelle, and veteran percussionist João Parahyba; additional musicians include mangue band Mestre Ambrósio, and guitarists Roberto Frejat (then frontman of Barão Vermelho), Edgard Scandurra of Ira!, and André Geraissatti, and vocalists Katia B., Taciana, Joana Jones and Arnaldo Antunes.
I'm taken completely by surprise. I don't understand one word of this album, but it's one of the best recommendations so far! It's not perfect, but some of it is absolutely fabulous! First track was rough, but it picked up quickly. Great chill music.
Det är album som detta som gör listans genomgång värdefull. Så bra... Tanke: Brasilien drar ut det bästa ur typ alla artister... kanske Ny Batteri borde fara dit och skriva+spela in en EP...
Hypnotic and seductive. Interesting atmospheres that are simultaneously textured and smooth.
Dark, smokey, sultry. Rainy, late night mood music. Reminds me of Burial, and some of the darker, more ambient projects that came out of vaporwave (see 2 8 1 4). Favorite tracks: "Sereia", "Antropofagos"
<BartGetsFamousMeme.jpeg> Milhouse (surrounded by Bart’s onlooking classmates): “Say the line, Bart!” Bart: [sighs] “Why isn’t Stereolab’s ‘Dots and Loops’ on this list!?!” Classmates: “YAAAAAYYYYYY!!!!”
Loved this - never heard it before -
Awesome, jazzy, dark-ish beats.
I very much enjoy the alt rock scene coming out of South America but it’s mainly been surrounding Argentine, Chilean, and Peruvian groups so a Brazilian group was such a refreshing change of pace paired the bossa nova and samba influences on this album make it an easy 5/5 for me!
Funky Latin fusion!
5, nuts
Very Island Outpost. Very Samba. This is such a snapshot of like the electronic, chillwave, house music scene of the late 90s. It is retrofuturistic, and oddly optimistic. 5 stars no comment.
This is marvelous, i can't believe this exists
Taken me a few days to digest this album, but Iv come to the conclusion this is an absolute masterpiece, no idea what any of the vocals mean but the whole ambience of the album is absolutely brilliant, some of the later songs reminded me of billie ellish, feel this must of be some sort of influence therefore still sounds so fresh in 2022.
Great jem
SHREDS
Samba-type music - took me back to Rio. Great music for either working to or chilling on the lanai.
Really fun and easy listening. Fantastic Brazilian flair. Nothing negative to say about it.
Good groove for working.
I really enjoyed this. It's kind of like atmospheric world jazz or something. Pretty smooth.
Never heard of this or him. Really enjoying it. A little dated, but still sounds great, and nowhere near as dated as other electronic music from this time can be. Reminds me of some of the chill down psychedelic trance circa Northern Exposure, with bossa nova lilts and beats. Gets much more of the latter than the former after the first couple of tracks (although noone can say it's lacking in bossa from the off!), I really dig this. As others have said, good working music vibe also. Getting a 5 because its the first NEW thing this has introduced to me in a while that I've really enjoyed.
Biiig White Lotus theme energy on Antropofagos, me likey. This bloke died while trying to save newly recorded material from a fire in his studio, what a tragically incredible way for a musician to go.
More enjoyable Brazilian fare from the 1001 list… this really is a modern twist on those Brazilian sounds. Really nice and a great soundtrack for the day!
Mostly delicate and mesmerizing and then occasionally fuzzy and noisy. I loved it.
I felt pretty cool listening to this one.
This evokes its title for sure. It feels very city, very Brazilian. It is a smooth sound pleasure.
This is a welcome discovery - never heard of Suba! Getting a lot of Thievery Corporation vibes from it. It's been quite a while since I listened to any Thievery Corporation, but this maybe sounds better? A bit less plastic, a bit more authentic. Will definitely be revisting. Fave track "A Noite Sem Fim" for that awesome twanging noise. "Samba Do Gringo Paulista" had some great percussion lines, too....
Chilled out Balearic vibes here… needs to be listened to on a Sunny beach!!
fantastic percussion, and overall i loved the production on this, but sometimes the electronic sounds were really annoying. had a cool atmosphere, really made me imagine being in a big city at night. 7/10
Really intriguing sound, I enjoyed all of these songs. Tragic that he died so young.
Cool!
Never heard of this guy - and really enjoyed this one. Bossa nova with a slightly experimental twist that stops it being muzak
really nice!
This is it! Update of the 60’s/70’s Bossa Nova, beautifully integrating elements of ambient electrinica, acid jazz and trip-hop. Very smooth and well produced. Music perfect for cocktails in a late night lounge bar, and just as well for an espresso on a Sunday morning on a sunny balcony or in a street café… Music to Dream to
Hoera voor de afwisseling! Lekker relaxte muziek.
trip hop style lounge muzak, but in a good way. Good background music. Liked it
Very nice relaxation music
very cool!!
Odd. Jazzy.
What a sweet album and wonderful global downtempo feeling throughout. Finding music like this is one of the reasons I love this project!
Oh, my, this is great! Soooooo silky smooth without being schmaltzy. Really cool beats. Love the vocals.
quite different to most albums on here, bit of samba and axe - with that late 90s worldwide take
This was more fun than I expected. Bonus points, it's nice to see the authors find an electronic album from this decade that wasn't British.
After listening to a fair amount of Brazilian music through this project, I feel as though this album is able to further incorporate it into popular music, this time with a more electronic downtempo base. The result works very well and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Unfortunately, the music does tend to slip into the background and the album itself is a touch too long.
One of the reasons I am loving this challenge, is the exposure to music from other cultures, across the world. It is very exciting to get something that I am unfamiliar with. Overall I am enjoying this album and will definitely give it another listen down the line.
Quitando alguna canción, me ha gustado más de lo que pensaba. 4.
Good, deep, pleasant downtempo album.
What a wild mix of bossa nova, electronic and jazz. His life story seems really interesting too, although tragic. I'm happy I learned about this.
Cool and groovy and sophisticated.
man i wanna go back to south america
After a week of enduring Britney and Madonna albums, it's refreshing to hear something non-commercial music that has way more substance and credence than a bunch of overrated pop-tarts. A very nice listen with beats that had me dancing in the kitchen and bobbing my head. Did I mention how refreshing this was? Enjoyed it a lot! Not for everyone's tastes, but same goes with Madonna.
Awesome little collection of vibes. It feels like the granddaddy of so many staple sounds and grooves on those "24hr lo-fi chill/study" channels. I don't know enough about the genre or its history to speak confidently there but it definitely slots perfectly into the same space within my head, and I enjoyed it in the same way I enjoy those. Excellent, if somewhat subdued, music that can live comfortably in the background of the venue it's being played in, but is complex and interesting enough to call itself to your attention for its brightest parts. Some odd musical choices here and there interesting enough to make you turn your head, nod along, and go "Oh wow." Special shout-out in that department to the discordant guitar cords in A Noite Sem Fin. Bold and intriguing, I loved it. I'm not always in the mood to just sit back and vibe, but when I am? A little of this on a rainy day, some hot tea... Brother that's living.
Starting out listening to this album, I really thought I was going to get bored of it as it went on, but it stayed really interesting. It mixes in a lot of different instrumental styles. This is one I could see myself buying 4/5
Love this. Always a fan of Bossa Nova, this spare electronic accompaniment is sublime.
This is possibly the greatest bar album of all time and should have been released on Mo Wax in the late nineties. Though I can't help but think of it as music to drink Corona to, it's pretty fantastic.
relentless beats
interesting latin electronica for background 3.5/5
"São Paulo Confessions" is a studio album by Serbian-born musician, composer and producer Suba (Mitar Subotić). The randomizer was kind giving me this album a week after Bebel Gilberto's "Tanto Tempo," an album which Suba produced in the same time frame. Whereas the Gilberto album had some songs with more samba/bossa nova beats, this Suba album is more downtempo/chill and electronic. Born in Belgrade, Suba was awarded an international fund for a folk/electronic fusion album where he did research of Afro-Brazilian rhythms in Brazil and enjoyed it so much he eventually emigrated to Brazil. Besides the aforementioned downtempo/chill and electronic musical categories, this album also incorporates Latin and jazz influences. A number of Brazilian musicians and singers contributed. Great production on this album. Unfortunately, Suba died just as this album was released from smoke inhalation during a fire as he was rescuing various recorded tapes. "Tantos Desejos (So Many Desires)" starts things off with airy/dreamy keboards. Percussion. Definitely chillwave. A women singing. Interesting noises. A club-like feel. The Brazilian band Mestre Ambrósio helps out in "Antropófagos (Cannibals)." A deeper groove with the percussion. Electronic keyboards giving laser, bubble, jungle sounds. Softer keys layered on top. More dance-like. A cover of the Antônio Carlos Jobim/Vinces de Moraes "Felicidade (Happiness)" adds a bossa nova/samba beat-song to the mix. Enjoyable. A reverb electronic noise begins "Sereia (Mermaid)." Distorted percussion. Vocalist Cibelle comes in. More airy keys. Great production. A heavier rhythm percussion drives "Abraço (Embrace)." The keboards and guitar gives this more of a rock sound. A women initially is singing and then Arnaldo Atunes comes in with spoken word. Interesting. This album was a good listen. Great production. Both this and the Bebel Gilberto albums are worthwhile listens. It's very evident the talent of Suba and very sad he never saw the success of these two works.
Fun easy going chilled out tunes
I had not heard of this album and it was much better, and deeper, than I expected.
Good album. Lovely mix of styles.
I had to listen to this twice to give it proper attention. It was quite far out of my comfort zone, but I would definitely listen again. Weird and wonderful. Hectic latíno electronics. It was rocking all the right boxes, but there were points where it all got a bit too crazy.
Quality, kept thinking of orangutans no idea why!
Always happy on the rare occurrences when something I've never heard of shows up on this list. Those albums end up, more often than not, being interesting and worth listening to and learning about and this is no exception. It's a great mix of Electronic, latin, and acid jazz influences and jsut vibes really well for the whole 62 minutes. Very much enjoyed listening to this today.
Tajt AF
So smooth so good. Not every track is great but mostly really good.
Det gik hårdt, ægte FLAMME
The first album I’ve completely never heard of. It’s very unique, mixing electronic with world music to create a distinctive blend that sounds nothing like anything I’ve heard before.
"On 2 November 1999, on the evening of the São Paulo Confessions album promotion, in an attempt to rescue the recordings from his studio which had been caught up in a fire, Subotić died at the age of 38." Pure juice of Brazil...
Very cool, chill. My kind of music
Great and considerably varied electronic grooves. Some outdated sounds and less interesting tracks crop up here and there, but overall the album holds up quite well
J'aime beaucoup le mélange des genres, même si certains passages particulièrement répétitifs m'ont semblé un peu appuyés
I love it. I will be rocking this another time. Probably like during the next party we have.
I wasn’t expecting this to be Acid Jazz. I liked it.
Interesting arrangements. Some of the songs really slap. Not my usual type of music but, what a cool find! Saved tracks: Segredo, Antropofagos, Sereia, Pecados Da Madrugada
Several great tracks, some dragged and got repetitive and weren't fun to listen, so might put it on, would not listen all the way through.
prolific producer who moved from eastern europe to brazil for its music. died a few days after this albums release. melodies, latin percussion + electronic music. theme is life in sao paulo. favorites: 2, 3, 8, 11, 12
Very good enjoyed it a lot!
Kind of has a Sugarcubes/Bjork thing going on at first, the more I listen the more I like it. Never heard of Suba before, but this is good shit. 4/5
Beautiful and mesmerizing instrumentation, especially the percussion. Quite unique, but I wish it was shorter. FS: Abraco, Antropofagos, Voce Gosta, Tantos
Pretty interesting down tempo album that I had never heard of. I could probably think of some other electronic stuff from the same era that's more deserving of the spot, but this was definitely solid and I'm glad I got exposed to it, at least.
An interesting, smooth and chill album. Not my absolute favorite styles of music, but fine enough once in a while if the quality is right. Rounding up from 3.5 because this specific blend of style with "exotic" accents is new to me.
I had to go out and seek this one. By far it is the best work by a Yugoslavian-born Brazilian artist I have in my collection. It is also the only one. This goes under the interesting but not great category. The elements are current Brazilian music are very interesting. I also like the melding of disparate influence The biggest issue I have is that the percussive elements result in a generic dance music feel rather than something special. The rest of the music deserves more.
Ran into my usual issue with this kind of music, in that the repetetiveness (that is clearly an intentional and I assume integral quality of the genre) frequently gets on my nerves. This was a cut above though, mostly stayed interesting, and steered clear of more egregious sonic insults. And though of course I couldn't understand them, all the vocal elements were well done and added to the music.
Really nicely done
Really liked the groove on this. It really surprised me.
decent background music.
Listen to Bebel Gilberto's "Tanto Tempo" as a companion album to "Sao Paulo Confessions" - Suba recorded/produced both at about the same time. And both are a cool mix of electronic music with Brazilian bossa nova.
Loved this! A real treat. Nice lo fi beats mixed with jazzy Latin/Brazilian classical elements. One of the best surprises that this project had thrown up for me recently
I was honestly shocked by the sound on display, but the decade should've given me some hints. Either way, enjoyable and interesting with a hair of bloat.
I can't be the only one that can tell he was using the same sound effect/synth sample pack as Insomniac and Stewart Copeland on the soundtrack for the original Spyro the Dragon trilogy.
Worth another listen or 2
Jaunty
Some really interesting ideas, but too long.
Nao esperava ouvir musica brasileira aqui mas mandaram bem!
Some interesting Latin jazz. Some of it hits better than others, but it’s pretty cool for driving around town.
This album gave me some mixed feelings because I dislike most of the electronic music that I listened to in this list of 1001 albums, but this one has some very good songs. Since I speak Portuguese, I'm biased, however, I'll ignore this bias and make this electronic album the first 3 stars electronic album on my list. As a side note, it's very nice to discover new things, this project is really awesome.
A to ci dopiero ciekawy pik, plyta artysty o pseudonimie Suba, ktory pochodzil z dawnej jugoslawii, nagrywana w brazylii, a wydana w belgii, jest to tez jedyna plyta z jego zyjacej dyskografii, ktora mozna znalezc, a co do muzyka ktora jest tutaj grana, to jest to ciekawa fuzja muzyki elektronicznej z rytmami latynowskiej hameryki, wiec przewszystkim acidowy jazzik, samby, polowa kawalkow to numery czysto instrumentalne, natomiast reszta zawiera spiewy roznych brazylijskich wokalistej, jakos lepiej slucha mi sie trakow bez wokalu w tym wypadku, wokale sa do zludzenia do siebie podobne, moze to jezyk, albo ich proba zgrania sie z downtempoym beatem, ale jednak cos mi w nic nie pasuje, kompozcje stara sie laczyc w sobie elementy muzyki elektronicznej z brzmieniem latino gitarowym czy tez perkusujnym, pojawiaja sie tez klawisze, ktore najbardziej urzekaja na traku na neblina, ktory brzmi jak cos co moglo wyjsc spod lapy nujabesa, az tak dobre downtempo, ale nie samymi wolnymi tempami zyje plyta, jak brazylia, to musi byc takze i samba, wiec znalazl sie i traczek samba do gringo paulista, ktory jak dla mnie brzmi najbardziej latynosko z calego albumu, wiec gringowi udalo sie przekazac swoje doswiadczenia z zycia latino, bo ciekawy wydaje sie zyciorys pana suby, emigracja z jugoslawii w 89, gdy panstwo chylilo sie ku nieuniknionemu rozpadowi, kariera za wielka woda w tytulowym sao paulo, a do tego zakonczenie tej kariery smiercia za swoja muzyke, staral sie ratowac z pozaru materialy ktore mial w studiu, pewnie z tego powodu tez sam pik jest na tej liscie, bo skoro starszych materialow nawet nie ma w szeroko dostepnym streamie, to prawdopodonie jest to przyklad tak dobrze znanego muzycznego life after death, ale dobrze ze pojawiaja sie rowniez tak swieze w swym koncepcie rzeczy, a nie sam brytyjski pop czy znane juz murzyny
6/10. Might be worth a 7. Liked about every other song, but several annoyed me a bit
Is this what Lo-Fi is? Ideal for listening whilst working. Innoffensive (unless the translated lyrics are troublesome) and chilled but not particularly memorable. My ignorance stops me from identifying what makes this album stand out from a million similar.
Weeeeeeird