Os Mutantes

Os Mutantes played to a packed room of confused fans who expected something that simply wasn't there. "How could something sound so good in my headphones, but so bad in real life?" was the question of the evening. The answer is unclear, but the latest incarnation of Os Mutantes sounds like the band your parents might start after a South American vacation, and with an affinity for the word "fusion." At times, the show had the uncomfortable feel of watching your drunk, desperate aunt hit on your second cousin, again. Somehow, the once grand Os Mutantes sound like Gogol Bordello - if Gogol Bordello was condemned for 20 years to open for Wayne Newton on an Alaskan cruise. It was music made for transit: elevator music, foreign channel on the airplane music, cruise ship band jams. You know, the kind of music that's played only when you're going somewhere else.