***SERGUEI is quite possibly the best kept musical secret from Brazil's glorious ‘60s/’70s scene. SERGIO AUGUSTO BUSTAMANTE was a flight attendant. In the sky, above the clouds, he used to daydream about Elvis. One day, he came down from the heights, added a "u" to the Russian name Sergei, which he took out from a friend. With his colorful clothes, long hair, red contact lenses, and hippie flags of peace & love, the anti-commercial Serguei had a public image much bigger than the number of records he was able to produce. Serguei tried psychedelia, tropicalism, and even Brazilian folk music without settling down into any musical style. His short adventure with singer Janis Joplin (in the summer of 1970 in Rio) has always been the most prominent reason for Serguei's mention in music history; but it's the records he released between 1966 and 1970 that have caught the attention of collectors. "I've never been recognized, few people give me value," he told Pop magazine in April 1978. This is no longer true, thanks to this collection of rare singles. Serguei self-proclaimed himself as “psychedelic” long before anyone else. He sang his hallucinations, found someone from alpha centaur and went in search of peace, from sunrise to sunset. His music ranges from psychedelic to garage psych, fueled by fuzz guitar (a track on "Guitar Fuzz Bananas" bears witness to this), with arrangements that are typical of genius.
LP $17.75
08/05/2014