Introducing: Baraka Palmer

Brazilian band Baraka Palmer have crafted a deliciously engaging old-school rock sound that they summarise as “peated single malt.” And we’re hopeful they could ignite what they describe as a “Brazilian storm” in the country’s music scene.

The São Paulo collective is formed of Jacob Cury (vocals), Antonio Frugiuele and Marco Loschiavo (guitars), Johnny Zanei, aka Os Spoilers (bass) and, intriguingly, former MTV Brasil Arts Director Anna Butler as a non-performing member. The band began with long-time friends Jacob and Antonio, who played in a few punk rock bands – including performing with former Jamiroquai drummer Nick Van Gelder at London venues like The Notting Hill Arts Club and The Monarch in Camden – but hadn’t released any of their music together.

After playing a gig at Casa do Mancha, a small club in São Paulo, the duo were invited to perform at Brazilian rock festival Bananada. In order to play at the festival, they had to record one track but the band swiftly split up. A few years later, Jacob met Anna at a recording session for an Unplugged DVD of a Brazilian Band called Jota Quest, which Anna was directing. Anna ended up listening to the Bananda recording and introduced Jacob to two well-known musicians Duda Machado (drums) and Martin Mendonça (guitar), and they ended up rehearsing and recording 12 tracks.

That led to the band again playing Bananda, only to again immediately split up following a “strong argument” between two members. However, a year later, the band reformed and recorded another seven tracks, which were reviewed and broadcast by Sepultura’s Andreas Kisser on his A Radio Rock show. The band has since played with some big names like REM lead guitarist Peter Buck, Queens of the Stone Age and Eagles of Death Metal guitarist Dave Catching, Bingo Richey (who founded Rancho de La Luna Studio in California with Dave), and Screaming Trees drummer Berrett Martin. But the current lineup came together in the middle of last year and has been actively playing and writing together since.

The result of all that is Baraka Palmer’s debut album Time Travelers, which was released in 2022 but the band has only recently begun promoting. From that album, they sent us the second track Beautiful Dawn, which opens up with dramatic stabbing guitars that continue under engaging vocals. A distant synth creeps in intermittently, before flowing into a deliciously catchy chorus. A more dramatic second verse follows and flows into another chorus to bring the track to an end. Check it out in the stream here:

The album is packed with more rocky goodness, including great tracks like the sinister opener Lucious, which features a cracking guitar solo, House Of Love, a personal favourite Technology, Black Eyes, Lights Of Love and the super laid-back Step Inside.

On the track, the band told us: “Some people like it, some people don’t. Beautiful Dawn was uploaded about two years ago, but only now it started to be promoted. The whole album Time Travelers was uploaded in 2022, but it only started to be promoted a few months ago… in a way there is some Time Traveling to it. If people were to be expecting something, it should be guys trying to spread words of love in a beautifully fucked up world.”

The Baraka Palmer sound is influenced by a wide range of music, including classic bands like The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Kinks, Oasis, Misfits, Stooges, The Who, The Doors, Stone Temple Pilots, Ramones, Nirvana, Velvet Underground, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Depeche Mode and Creedence Clearwater Revival. The band also namecheck the likes of solo artists Cazuza and Rita Lee, Barão Vermelho, Legião Urbana, Tim Maia, Mutantes, Cachorro Grande, Titãs, Jorge Ben and Frank Sinatra.

And on what inspires them to write music, they tell us: “The music just appears out of nothing. Sometimes Jacob comes with a melody, sometimes Frugiuele and more recently Loschiavo as well, they get together and usually write it down, usually, in no more than a few minutes. There are all sorts of topics, but love is definitely one that appears more frequently.”

It’s been a while since we featured any Brazilian bands (over three years), so we asked the guys for their insights into the country’s music scene. “Although there’s not much space for rock/metal like there used to be, both in terms of media and in terms of venues, the ones that resisted are really good,” they told us. ” Everybody who’s not famous yet has to be willing to make an effort to play, but, in a way, the difficulties end up uniting the scene. So today, you really see bands helping each other and it really feels like there is a wave being created here. Who knows, maybe a Brazilian Storm. There are also a number of very good new bands like Crypta, Black Pantera, When I Die, Ego Kill Talent, Far from Alaska, Sioux66, Colomy, Dente Canino, The Monic, Terno Rei, Scalene, Super Combo, Deb and The Mentals, MIM.

“Other more traditional bands are still rocking like Ratos de Porão, Sepultura (actually on their final tour), Krisiun, Forgotten Boys, Cachorro Grande and Autoramas. Samuel Rosa, former Skank lead singer, has a very interesting solo project (Pedro Pelotas from Cachorro Grande plays with him), and Marcelo Gross and Beto Bruno (from Cachorro Grande) have their solo projects with very good reviews. Nando Reis (formerly in Titãs), Kiko Zambianchi and Pitty are still very active and delivering good music. Nando had been touring in 2024 with Peter Buck (REM) and Berrett Martin (Screaming Trees).

“There is a documentary recently released called Cachorro Grande a ultima banda de Rock, about the band Cachorro Grande that is really good! It was produced by Anna Butler, a member of Baraka Palmer, and directed by Lírio Ferreira, a legend in Brazil. Cachorro Grande is a very well-known band in Brazil, and famous for having a BritRock touch. They opened shows for Oasis and for the Rolling Stones in Brazil. You should definitely check it out!”

Baraka Palmer may have had somewhat of a tumultuous past but, with the new lineup very active and new music released and being promoted, we’re hopeful there’s plenty more to come from them. The band has several releases planned for 2025, starting with a few new tracks, which are currently being mixed or recorded, being released in April.

You can follow Baraka Palmer on Instagram, and check out their music on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.