Os Mutantes - A Minha Menina

To understand Os Mutantes, you need to know something of the history of Brazil. The military coup of 1964 was fermented by factions opposed to the left-wing president, and led to a repressive and anti-democratic hiatus of 19 years. Into this environment, the tropicália movement was born. It combined psychedelia with traditional Brazilian sounds, and arose from a general upswelling of the avant-garde in all its forms.

Os Mutantes were the most notable tropicália band, and A Minha Menina, which Google translates as "My Girl", is from their 1968 eponymous debut album. One of the trademark Os Mutantes songwriting tricks was to drop a lump of found sound, musique concrète-like, right into the middle of a track. It's absent here, but the astonishing squiggly guitar and occasional blast of abstract-sounding backing vocals seem to do much the same thing. This is a gloriously messy and musical slice of psychedelia, all done to a bossa beat. Quite unlike anything else, and a good thing too.