Album Review: Red Hot + Rio 2 by Various Artists

The first Red Hot + Rio, from 1996, reimagined bossa nova; this one jumps off the politicized, avant-rock Tropicália movement of the Sixties and Seventies. Many songs are classics - like "Baby," envisioned here by arty soul singers Alice Smith and Aloe Blacc, and "O Leãozinho," voiced by Beirut's Zach Condon in his best indie-matinee-idol voice. (Both were written by Tropicália godfather Caetano Veloso, who joins David Byrne for the theremin-charged "Dreamworld.") Other tracks, like the kinetic breakbeat jam "A Cidade," by DJ Dolores with Gogol Bordello's Eugene Hutz, take the Tropicália spirit into the 21st century, where it sounds perfectly at home.

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Red Hot + Rio 2 follows a full 15 years after its predecessor, and 21 after the Red Hot Organization initiated its series of AIDS research-funding compilations with the million-selling Red Hot + Blue. Rather than concentrating on the nation's standards and contributions to world pop, this second volume in Red Hot + Rio focuses instead on the songs of the Tropicalia movement of the late 1960s and '70s, where Brazilian bossa, samba, forro, and other musics were wedded to innovations in international pop, rock, soul, and even funk. While many of its songs -- and some of its artists (on either end of the historical spectrum) -- may not be as canonical as those found on its predecessor, but as a musical document, this is a far more interesting listening exercise.

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The Red Hot Organization was founded in 1989 with a noble if idiosyncratic mission: to fight AIDS through pop culture. At the time, the general public was just beginning to understand what AIDS actually was and how it could be transmitted. Red Hot's decision to raise money for AIDS research by selling themed albums featuring prominent musicians helped raise awareness as well as funds, and its first compilation, 1990's Red Hot + Blue, featuring David Byrne and Tom Waits, among others, covering Cole Porter songs, sold more than a million copies and made millions of dollars for AIDS-focused non-profits.

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Shabazz Palaces “Clear some space out so we could space out,” Palaceer Lazaro raps on Shabazz Palaces’ debut album, “Black Up” (Sub Pop), summing up the group’s aesthetic. Ishmael Butler, a k a Palaceer Lazaro, called himself Butterfly when he was a leader of the jazz-loving, Grammy ….

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