Far to the north-east of Brazil's twin musical capitals of Rio and São Paulo, lies the city of Recife, in the state of Pernambuco. During the country's lengthy and oppressive military dictatorship (1964-1985), a cadre of like-minded and socially conscientious musicians were quietly building their own music scene, away from the glare of the censors. Strongly influenced by the psychedelic music coming out of America and Britain (and further inspired by visits to India and Morocco), local musicians such as Zé Ramalho, Lula Côrtes and Alceu Valença were to be the vanguard of their own, wild, hedonistic Pysche-scene.

There would be sitars and lutes merging with traditional Pernambucan percussion; constant collaborations and ethereal art-collectives; experiments with 'found-sound' colliding with earthy flutes and driving backlines - all helped along by men wearing lipstick, acid, mushrooms, marijuana, suggestive dancing and plenty of onstage kissing.

This movement eventually met with military resistance. In one instance Lula Côrtes and Zé Ramalho were forced to leave Recife and flee to the woods to record their cult-classic album, Paebiru - named after the mystical Paebiru Stone which is alleged to have alien hieroglyphs carved into its sides.

The songs and artists featured on this album are a diverse selection - this is an eclectic blend of Americana, pink, folk and acid. While it won't be to everyone's taste, this is an interesting audio record of Brazil's underground movement.

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Nick Smithson