Postmodern Platos

Postmodern Platos
Studio album by
Tom Zé
Released1999
LabelLuaka Bop[1]
Tom Zé chronology
Com Defeito de Fabricação
(1998) 		Postmodern Platos
(1999) 		20 Preferidas
(1999)

Postmodern Platos is an EP by the Brazilian musician Tom Zé, released in 1999.[2][3] It contains remixes of tracks found on his album Com Defeito de Fabricação.[4] The album and the EP helped to increase Zé's popularity in the United States and Brazil.[5]

Zé supported the EP by touring North America (for the first time) with Tortoise; Zé sold the EP at his concerts and online.[6][7][8] The remix EP conforms to Zé's philosophy of arrastão, where art can be "stolen" and repurposed.[9]

Production

[edit]

The tracks were remixed by the High Llamas, John McEntire, Sean Lennon, Amon Tobin, and Sasha-Frere Jones (as Gene to Gene).[10][11] Zé was surprised that his music was so appreciated by artists working in various genres; he also was pleased that some songs sped up his rhythms.[12][13] "Canudos" was a new song by Zé.[8]

Critical reception

[edit]
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music[12]
Orange County Register[14]
Pitchfork6.7/10[15]
Rolling Stone[8]

Pitchfork wrote: "When, four minutes into the almost seven- minute-long nebulaic journey, Tobin breaks out his trademark frenzied rhythmic assault, he casually casts off the best one-and-a-half minutes Postmodern Platos has to offer."[15] Spin determined that "rarely has weird alien funkaplinking been so relaxing."[16] The Star Tribune noted that the remixers "breathe their own musicality into Ze's songs."[17] The Orange County Register labeled the EP "little more than an appetizer for his full-length CD—but it's tasty nonetheless."[14]

The Los Angeles Times deemed the EP "a kind of '90s pop music echo of the eclectic, cut-and-paste avant-garde music of the '60s, an early influence on Ze during his student days."[18] The Village Voice concluded that "McEntire's 'Defect 2: Curiosidade' remix ... doesn't demonstrate particular insight."[19] Rolling Stone wrote that "the High Llamas dismantle [Zé's] song into free-floating radio transmissions that murmur above a plaintive, warbling synthesizer."[8]

Track listing

[edit]
No.TitleLength
1."Defect 2: Curiosidade (High Llamas Remix)" 
2."Defect 2: Curiosidade (John McEntire Remix)" 
3."Defect 5: O Olho Do Lago (Sean Lennon Remix)" 
4."Defect 2: Curiosidade (Amon Tobin Remix)" 
5."Defect 1: Gene (Gene to Gene Remix)" 
6."Canudos" 

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "1999 Rewind". The Wire.
  2. ^ "Tom Zé Biography, Songs, & Albums". AllMusic.
  3. ^ Dunn, Christopher (January 1, 2014). Brutality Garden: Tropicália and the Emergence of a Brazilian Counterculture. UNC Press Books.
  4. ^ "Tom Zé: Postmodern Platos". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  5. ^ Pareles, Jon (16 May 1999). "Weaving a Counterpoint of Ideas". 2. The New York Times. p. 23.
  6. ^ "Tom Zé Recruits Tortoise for Inaugural U.S. Tour". MTV. Archived from the original on July 29, 2022.
  7. ^ Marzorati, Gerald (Apr 25, 1999). "Tropicalia, agora!". The New York Times. pp. 6, 48.
  8. ^ a b c d Chonin, Neva (Jun 10, 1999). "Postmodern Platos". Rolling Stone. No. 814. pp. 123–124.
  9. ^ Rollefson, J. Griffith (Jul 2007). "Tom Ze's Fabrication Defect and the 'Esthetics of Plagiarism': A Postmodern/Postcolonial "Cannibalist Manifesto"". Popular Music and Society. 30 (3): 305–327, 447.
  10. ^ Darling, Cary (April 23, 1999). "New world-beat sounds". Orange County Register. p. F45.
  11. ^ Athitakis, Mark. "New world disorder". Dallas Observer.
  12. ^ a b Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 8. MUZE. p. 865.
  13. ^ Ouellette, Dan (May 23, 1999). "Still Crazy After All These Years – Brazil's eclectic Tropicalia founder embarks on first tour of United States". Sunday Datebook. San Francisco Chronicle. p. 45.
  14. ^ a b Darling, Cary (May 7, 1999). "Time for Brazil to bust out". Orange County Register. p. F52.
  15. ^ a b "Tom Zé: Postmodern Platos EP". Pitchfork.
  16. ^ Clover, Joshua (Aug 1999). "The Shredder". Spin. Vol. 15, no. 8. p. 157.
  17. ^ Gilmer, Vickie (21 May 1999). "Dada poet of Brazil music is a barrier-buster". Star Tribune. p. 1E.
  18. ^ Heckman, Don (23 May 1999). "Brazil's Rebel with a Cause". Calendar. Los Angeles Times. p. 55.
  19. ^ Krasnow, David (1 June 1999). "Practical magic". The Village Voice. Vol. 44, no. 21. p. 74.
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