50th ANNIVERSARY: CLUBE DA ESQUINA / MILTON NASCIMENTO & LÔ BORGES
Milton Nascimento has one of the world’s most ethereal and mesmerizing voices, as well as being a composer of many iconic songs. In 1972, he released Clube da Esquina (World Pacific, $15.98), an ambitious 2-LP set featuring fellow musicians (the “corner club” of the title) from the state of Minas Gerais: Lô and Márcio Borges, Beto and Milton Guedes, Toninho Horta, Ronaldo Bastos, and Fernando Brant, among others. The songs and orchestrations (arranged by Eumir Deodato and Wagner Tiso) combined their musical loves: “bossa nova, the Beatles, psychedelic rock, Western classical, indigenous South American music, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and more.”
The result was one of the most important albums in Brazilian (and global) music.
NEW
Danish String Quartet, PRISM IV (ECM, $18.98) – The Danish String Quartet’s ongoing project highlights a late Beethoven quartet with a Bach fugue, then a later composer. On previous volumes, those were Schnittke, Shostakovich, and Bartók. On Prism IV, they play Beethoven’s String Quartet Op 132, an arrangement of Bach’s Fugue in G minor from the Well-Tempered Clavier, then jump to Mendelssohn’s String Quartet No 2.
The Linda Lindas, GROWING UP (Epitaph, $13.98) – The young women of Linda Lindas—sisters Mila and Lucia de la Garza, their cousin Eloise Wong, and Bela Salazar (ages11, 14, 13 and 17, respectively) continue the history of L.A. punk, pop, and new wave in exciting ways. Their performance of “Racist Sexist Boy” in May, 2021 at the Los Angeles Public Library became a breakthrough hit.
Patty Griffin, TAPE: Home Recordings and Rarities (PGM, $14.98) – Patty Griffin discovered some musical memories while searching her archives during the pandemic.