Bremer/McCoy is a Danish duo of Jonathan Bremer on acoustic bass and Morten McCoy on the keys and tape delay. While the two started as a reggae group (believe it or not), their sound has transformed into an amorphous mix of jazz, dub, and neo-classical.

“Most of our songs have lyrics even though they are instrumental. Although some of our tunes are more conceptual and dub-like, most of our tunes are songs with clear melodies.”

These records were not meant as a snapshot of Brazilian music being made at the time, instead they looked back over preceding decades to give an inkling of the riches and pleasures to be found beyond the usual clichés. It worked, compilations like these could do that in those days. It was a moment in time, when what was essentially a playlist could change people’s perceptions of music and their place in it. This music often reflected the social and political convulsions of the time. Gil, Caetano and others were jailed and sent into exile. As joyous as they often sound they are deeply serious, and the dictatorship was afraid of them. Joy, beauty and pride are potent weapons. As we go through our own present period of political turbulence, maybe these songs can serve as an example—how to maintain one’s creativity and humanity in the face of forces that seek to grind innovators down and silence voices that dispute those in power.

Tim Jones is known by several different monikers; Preacherman, Midi Man and Ironing Board Band to name a few. Though perhaps his most notable is the one that describes him best, T.J. Hustler. In 1979 as T.J. Hustler, Tim selfreleased one extremely rare LP, Age Of Individualism. In the years since, he’s released two even rarer CD’s as Preacherman, of which the tracks on this forthcoming reissue, Universal Philosophy: Preacherman plays T.J. Hustler’s Greatest Hits, are taken.