Os Mutantes

If Frank Zappa, The Beatles and a samba parade got together and made a baby, they might have created Os Mutantes. Wild, weird and ahead of their time, they helped revolutionize Brazilian music in the late 1960s, and influenced numerous pop and rock artists decades after their peak of fame.

Formed in São Paulo by multi-instrumentalist brothers Arnaldo and Sérgio Dias Baptista and Arnaldo’s girlfriend, singer Rita Lee, the trio used distortion and feedback in ways that were almost alien to ’60s and ‘70s Brazilian pop. As members of Brazil’s Tropicália music movement, they rebelled artistically against the country’s military dictatorship by melding traditional Brazilian and African sounds with psychedelic rock and vocal pop harmonies.

Along with fellow Tropicália artists Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso, Os Mutantes were at odds with Brazil’s pre-democratic, authoritarian hyper-patriotism. But they were more openly provocative. Napoleon costumes and vulgar pantomime were sometimes part of the stage show, as the band encouraged Brazilians to join in being beautifully, bombastically strange. Kurt Cobain and Beck would later state their admiration for the band, with the latter’s album, Mutations, named after them.

Each track on their self-titled 1968 debut are all worthy of dancing to — in your room with a lava lamp. Standouts include “A Minha Menina,” “Panis et Circenses” and “Bat Macumba.” But it’s not until the 1970 single, “Ando Meio Desligado,” that their music really transformed into pure rock and psychedelia. It starts out smooth: fuzzy wah-wah guitars accompanied by Lee’s trance-inducing croon. Then it builds and crashes into a freaky finale of frantic keyboards and moaning vocals, and a guitar solo that just might melt your brain.

Original member Sérgio Dias revived the band in 2006 after an almost 30-year hiatus. Returning to stages in a far more technological era, Os Mutantes are keeping alive an analog-era spirit of funky rebellion. As recently as 2020 the band was still putting out new music that sounds fresh, unhinged and fearless. In some ways, they’ve never really left the music scene; they were and are a glittery tropical fever dream that reappears right when we need it.

Os Mutantes play 7pm Tuesday, July 8 at ZeyZey Miami. zeyzeymiami.com ~ Olivia Feldman