Os Mutantes Returns in Force

The reunion of Brazilian psych-rock pioneers Os Mutantes has been much celebrated by music enthusiasts. Now the band’s first new recording in 30 years shows the group hasn't missed a beat, says PopMatters’ Michael Keefe, who awards Live at Barbican 8 of 10 stars. Os Mutantes is “every bit as skillful and expressive as they were in their heyday,” writes Keefe.

The album includes the band’s best numbers from their '60s and '70s records, but they’re performed “joyously”—rather than with the “paranoid undertones” that marked Os Mutantes’ salad days and the military coup Brazil was enduring. The band, which provided inspiration for Fiery Furnaces and Devendra Banhart, is now working on its first new material since 1974, Billboard adds. (More Os Mutantes stories.)