HURTMOLD

Hurtmold biography
Created in 1998 by its leader Maurizio Takara, who also plays the drums for Instituto, one of the best hip-hop acts in Brazil, the six-piece band resolves around Fernando and Mario Cappi (guitars), Guilherme Granado (teclado, vibes, escaleta, programming), Marcos Gerez (bass), Maurizio Takara (drums, vibes, trumpet) and Rogério Martins (percussions and clarinet).

Branded by critics and listeners alike as Brazil's very own answer to Tortoise - shows stunningly how amazingly free and ahead of both their time and peers musicians from Sao Paulo are. The home of many a ground-breaking out-rock acts such as OS Mutantes, Tom Ze or several new wave bands in the eighties, Sao Paulo is at the core of an experimental and electronic-dominated musical scene which successfully blends a variety of unexpected influences. Far from the pictures of exotic beauty and sunny beaches conveyed by Rio De Janeiro, a city still deeply rooted in its tradition of Bossa Nova and Samba, Hurtmold's music is the perfect soundtrack to Sao Paulo. Organic and tormented, rhythm-based and instrumental, it mirrors the atmosphere and the very spirit of their sprawling and sometimes wind-battered and rainy hometown.

Hurtmold's unique sound, intertwining a traditional rock instrumentation with vibes, clarinets and teclado, among other instruments, stems from a collective approach to their music. The most Chicagoan of Sao Paulo's bands has already issued a split record with Chicago-based act The Eternals, and has been collaborating with Rob Mazurek, of Chicago Underground and Isotope 217 fame. Their inspiring live performances, which often leave quite a lot of room to improvisation, have enabled the band to let their taste for experimentation shine through.

Mostly instrumental, their music is nonetheless meaningful and has a lot to say, be it with intricate soundscapes entangled around a mesmerizing bass line, delicate guitar patterns and electronic glitches (as can be heard on Miniotoria), or when the band digs deep into its roots on the percussion-based Kampala, with its wonderful guitar parts, its deep throbbing bass and its elaborate rhythms. On the other hand, a song like Chuva Negra, with its lyrics sounding as so many political statements and its grinding and nervous guitars, harks back to the band's punk and post-rock influences (among which The Minutemen, Fugazi, Black Flag and Mogwai), and testifies to how hard to label their sound is.