Record of the day - Arto Lindsay "Envy"

I ran out of record crates and shelves long ago, so there's always a few piles of records scattered around the house. Every now and then I get the idea I need to sell some off, so I pull out a few I haven't heard in a while and ask myself "Do I really need this?" after giving them a good listen. The answer is always "No," of course, but want is another thing altogether, and 99 times out of 100 the record goes back on the shelf (or pile).

I'll admit I've held Arto Lindsay and the Ambitious Lovers' album Envy up for scrutiny more than once. Released on EG Records in 1984, I found it in a thrift store around 12 years ago and bought it because I recognized Lindsay's name from DNA and some John Zorn projects. This record didn't sound like DNA or something John Zorn would have anything to do with, and the electro drums and bass and overall oh-so '80s sounding recording put me off immediately. Not to mention, returning to his Brazilian roots, he sang in Portugese and incorporated bossa nova into the song, something I was definitely not into at the time. It sounded like a pop record middle aged nerds would love. Still, there was something eccentric and unique enough about it for me to hold on to.

Every few years I'd listen to it again, and each time something new would reveal itself. It helped that in that time I would hear more of Lindsay's solo work (including two other 80s Brazilian-influenced records, Greed and Lust), be turned on to Tropicalia and to a lesser extent the Brazilian music that came before it. Listening to it today, I'm struck by what it has in common with the bands featured on Soul Jazz's Sexual Life of the Savages comp, which surveys Brazilian post punk. More than that, it got me to thinking about the 80s fetishism and recycling that's been going on for the past decade or so, and I'm wondering if anyone's looked to Lindsay's '80s records for influence, and if so, who? (Though the one-minute percussion track "Beberibe" sounds a bit like the intro to M.I.A.'s "Bird Flu.")

Envy is that odd thing, a weird record not trying too hard to be weird. It's not an overlooked masterpiece or a touchstone for a genre. It's more a product of its time that retains its own strong identity. It's easy to imagine these songs being de-electrified and rerecorded by a traditional 4 or 5 piece rock band, but that would take away a lot of the fun.