Infinito Particular

Universo ao Meu Redor Since her father was a director of Portela, one of Rio's most prominent escolas de samba (samba schools -- the huge, wildly costumed gatherings of percussionists, instrumentalists, singers, and dancers that make the annual carnival so unforgettable), Brazil's most-famous export ...	Memories, Chronicles and Declarations of Love Brazilian superstar Monte's fifth album is arguably her most daring yet, as she makes her art-pop leanings more explicit than ever. Memories is also her most beautiful and sensual disc; while it doesn't easily fit a radio format, it nevertheless begs the question of why Monte...	Tribalistas With this dreamy collection of soothing lullabies and playful ballads, the supergroup formed by singer/producer Marisa Monte, percussionist Carlinhos Brown, and former Titas member Arnaldo Antunes has proved once and for all that Brazilian music has moved forward beyond the shado...	Mais Marisa Monte's sophomore effort proved to be the breakout album for the young MPB (Brazilian popular music) diva. Adventurous and artful, the album took her where few had gone before, thanks to the production work of Arto Lindsay and musical contributions from John Zorn (both sta...	A Great Noise Marisa Monte is one of the great female vocalists to emerge from MPB (Brazilian popular music), and this part-studio, part-live offering goes a long way in capturing all of the facets of her style, from the softer tones of "Blanco" to a rhythmic, energetic cover of George Harriso...
Rose and Charcoal Marisa Monte's light but authoritative vocals could easily make her just another Brazilian pop sensation, but her choice of material and the company she keeps make her an artist to be reckoned with. Producer Arto Lindsay provides innovative and breezy backdrops (mostly in the sam...	Momento Three discs into her acclaimed solo career, it's a no-brainer that the Brazilian pop charms of Bebel Gilberto will conjure a slew of beach-inspired adjectives. "Refreshing," "wind-swept" and "sun-kissed" spring to mind. Momento continues Gilberto's trend of crafting sultry scene...	CéU It's no surprise that Starbucks is behind Brazilian chanteuse CéU's self-titled debut disc. (A co-release with the ever-tasteful Six Degrees Records.) The slinky, soulful sounds would be right at home amid mocha frapuccinos and lattes with extra foam. But CéU is more than a me...	Back to Black Amy Winehouse's second album, Back to Black, is one of the finest soul albums, British or otherwise, to come out for years. Frank, her first album, was a sparse and stripped-down affair; Back to Black, meanwhile, is neither of these things. This time around, she's taken her inspi...	Cê The adventurous veteran rarely fails to surprise, as Caetano Veloso continues to confound the easy-listening expectations that surround Brazilian music. Co-produced by Veloso's son, Moreno, and featuring the crisp, edgy backing of a band of three musicians a generation younger th...

I Love This Brazilian CD
From reading the many reviews of this CD listed under different UPC codes, you either love it or you don't. I love it but have to admit that somehow it does sound better when it's warm outside and it's easy to feel languorous. Seemed to sound much better in our Mexican rental house than at home in Oregon where it was colder. Wasn't familiar with Marisa Monte until I bought this and "Universo Ao Meu Redor", which she released in 2006 at the same time. (I much prefer this CD to "Universo.") Some complain that it's not groundbreaking but is that really what you want in Brazilian music?

Beautiful voice, great musicianship...a Brazilian music lover must!
Marisa Monte has an amazing voice, and demonstrates great musicianship on her album, Infinito Particular. I buy music sparingly, because my ears usually get bored unless the artist is versatile enough to compile a varied lineup of tracks, and Monte has done just that, creating an album that's pleasant and relaxing to listen to. If you like Brazilian bossa nova music, you'll probably like this album.

5 stars music on a 1 star CD
Marisa Monte's voice is as gorgeous as a woman's voice can ever hope to be and the songs in this album are beautiful. You will want to take this music everywhere with you, in your CD player and in your personal digital player. However, EMI has made sure that it is not easy for you to use iTunes to rip the music and create AAC files for your iPod. The CD carries a Windows program to protect the music content and to restrict the ways in which you are allowed to use the content that you have paid for. Pop it in to your computer's CD drive on a Windows machine and the Autorun feature takes control. It will allow you to burn identical copies for back up (carrying the nasty program with them) or to generate WMA files at 128 kpbs encoding. EMI has made these decisions for you and only with some pain you can bypass them. Their website states that it's Apple who is at fault for not licensing their DRM to third parties. This makes this CD unusable in iTunes. This thin excuse collapses when you consider that even using Windows Media you cannot freely choose the encoding bit rate for the music you bought. Fortunately, I discovered that I could use a Linux ripper (grip) to extract the tracks as .wav and then use them to burn a real audio CD without this abominable "copy control" program which is sold as an "enhancement" to this product. The clean audio CD is iTunes friendly and only with this gimmick you can generate the AAC files for your iPod. Shame on EMI for making me waste an hour of my time to be able to use the content I paid for in the way that is most convenient to me. After one hour of monkeying around, I finally can enjoy Marisa's beautiful music in the digital player that I own. No thanks to EMI for the hassle.

concepçao perfeita
First, I believe this is the most ravishingly beautiful CD Marisa Monte has created. Yes, I have "Universo ao meu redeo." I love that completely too. As she has said interviews, she has released her unidentical twins in 2006. Songs are short here. Hardly any are longer than 3 minutes. If you measure a CD by its length in minutes, then you will be disappointed. If you measure it by quality, then no. Her conception in this album is as perfect as I have ever heard from her. The songs,she says, were from several years or back composing, and if so, she has assembled a complete concept such I never have heard from her. There is so much here. (Although Marisa has created so much beautiful music in the past, that . . . who can compare?) Dance tunes like "Aquela" and lyrical poems too. Brazilian music is almost all intensely lyrical. You must understand the Portuguese language or find a translation to really plump the depths of what is going on in the song. Regardless, you can still be seduced by the sound. And it is here, in spades. Here she composes songs with Carlinhos Brown and others, and I can't find anything that is not just wonderful. There is not one song here I would wish to set aside for another one. They are all equally wonderful. If you love this and want more, go get Marisa's first CD. Or Memórias, Crônicas & Declarações De Amor. This CD is the basis of her concert DVD from her Rio de Janeiro concert and buy that too. Then you will start to know her.

Enjoyable.
A leading figure in Brazilian pop for 15 years, Marisa Monte had her biggest hit with the collaborative project "Tribalistas" (2002), and these simultaneously released albums are her first solo works since 2000. "Universo ao Meu Redor" is the more accessible, a slightly overproduced chamber pop project casting a fond ear over more than 50 years of samba history."Universo Au Meu Redor" (The Universe Around Me) came from Monte's loving investigation of classic samba from the 1940s and '50s, which is more lyrical than the revved-up carnival version familiar to most North Americans. For "Universo" she interviewed older samba artists and their families and collaborators, producing songs that had never been recorded and writing new ones inspired by a different musical era and ethos with which she felt much in common. Highlights include undiscovered gems such as the instantly memorable "Meu Canario" and "Perdoa Meu Amor", with its luminous harp and cavaquinho (Brazilian ukulele) duet. There is even a dutifully desafinado (out of tune) cameo by David Byrne on "Statue of Liberty". Monte's other new record, "Infinito Particular" (Infinite Private) was the result of two years of cataloging and organizing 15 years of Monte's own music. The initial goal was to digitally record work she had on paper or cassette. But it became an elaborate musical and personal journey. Monte invited several musicians, including American composer Phillip Glass, to do arrangements for a simple quartet -- cello, bassoon, violin and trumpet, seeking new sounds and new meaning from her music. In few words, it consists of previously abandoned or finished-and-forgotten originals co-written throughout Monte's career. Despite several slow growers, neither her extraordinary honeyed vocals, nor Alê Siqueira's inventive production, can quite distract from the sense that these are immaculately dressed off-cuts.