Cartoon | uk

CARTOON (not to be confused with the Australian and American bands of the same name) is a Brazilian quartet whose style resembles that of OS MUTANTES - an experimental psychedelic band at the center of Brazil's rock-tinged 'tropicalia' movement in the late 60's. CARTOON's sound is a combination of rock, classical and Brazilian music that features exotic instruments alongside the traditional rock staple of bass, guitar, keyboards and drums. With their humour and impromptu musical happenings, their live shows are reputed to be real attention getters - befitting the band's name.

Their first album, "Martelo" (1999), features a raw, untamed sound with a mixture of KING CRIMSON, ZAPPA, TRYO, EXIMIO and Sergio Mendes influences (the vocals are in Portuguese). Their second album, "Bigorna" (subtitled 'The Real History of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table') is a concept album, a spoof on the legend of King Arthur - nothing remotely similar to Rick WAKEMAN's solemn "Myths and Legends". Very irreverently, the band plays fast and furious, showing flashes of ZAPPA, Alex Harvey, The BEATLES, The BEACH BOYS and SPLITZ ENZ all mixed together, yet they manage to add the usual prog fare of YES and GENESIS. The production is quite good and the material is upbeat and accessible, but you can also hear some nice symphonic arrangements throughout, loads of keyboards, melodic guitars and lots of acoustic textures. The (all-English) vocals vary from operatic to light hearted, somewhat reminiscent of 10 CC. .