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“Atmosphere” would be a heartbreaking song even if you weren’t reading it back through Curtis’s death, which you inevitably do. But there’s something strong, noble, even peaceful about it — it’s a bit like he’s come out on the other side, over here with us, looking back on everything with detachment and love. Sonically, this…

Sidney Miller, who arranges all the tracks here in a gorgeous flute-and-harpsichord-heavy 60s baroque pop style, is like the Wes Anderson of post-bossa: his world is at times quirky, cute, and heartbreaking, but everything is always deliberate, sincere, and beautiful. I adore Nara Leao for her strength-defeats-shyness vocal manner, and this is among my favourite…

The highs are high on this sophomore effort from my personal hero of post-bossa MPB, the awkwardly brilliant Sidney Miller. Despite my lack of Portuguese, I think I’m right in assuming this is some kind of concept album about Brazilian history — a Sufjan Stevens’s Michigan avant la lettre. In between the stagey numbers you’ll…

Never has a title been more apt: this is my vote for the ultimate stoner album. The next year, Gainsbourg and Vannier would make the immortal Melody Nelson. This isn’t anywhere near that league as a work of art, but it’s exploding with good ideas worth pursuing later. Nearly impossible to pick just three excerpts,…

In an effort to come up with content for my beloved website that doesn’t take me full weekends to produce (!), I have decided to start an Instagram account and post short reviews of albums that (a) I love and (b) sound exceptionally good. It’s a hard sweet spot to hit — but I’ve got…