Ana Carolina
Ana Carolina "Ana Carolina" (BMG, 1999)
(Produced by Nilo Romero)
Possessed of one of the most masculine female voices in Brazilian pop since Maria Bethania hit the scene, Ana Carolina also exhibits a fairly bold musical eclecticism, blending elements of modern rock, soul, rap, rough-edged indigenous styles and searching, sometimes scat-like vocals. That being said, for the most part, the parts are sometimes greater than the sum: although this album has bold elements, its overall tone is fairly bland and mainstream, particularly on the slower ballads, where her weaker side comes through. The opening couple of tracks are fairly striking, but this disc didn't really blow me away.
Ana Carolina "Ana, Rita, Joana, Iracema E Carolina" (BMG, 2001)
Several Slipcue readers wrote in to recommend this gal, usually in comparison to Marisa Monte, another multi-facted, multigenre diva. I can see where the comparison stems from -- on the surface Carolina does indeed share some characteristics with Monte, particularly the mix of electronica-tinged modern rock and slightly-rappy soul singing. But Carolina's sound pales in comparison -- her arrangements are too stereotyped and predictable, and the band frequently overplays, particularly the piercing, irritating electric guitars. Can't say I'm that into her voice, either -- a husky, brusque, throaty style, similar in some ways to Maria Bethania, though without much of Bethania's subtlety. This album is okay; if you're looking for something new and relatively inventive, along the lines of Adriana Calcanhotto, Lenine or Marisa Monte, this might fit the bill... But in the long run it didn't really hold my attention...
Ana Carolina "Estampado" (BMG, 2003)
Seu Jorge & Ana Carolina "Ana & Jorge" (BMG, 2005)
A set of individual live acoustic performances and duets with singer Seu Jorge. He opens the album with several mellow tracks, Gilberto Gil-ish, laid-back and relaxed folk-samba strummings similar to his work in the Life Aquatic movie. Then Ana Carolina joins him and things go South for a while: their initial duets are a bit torturous and indulgent. You can tell they enjoy each other's company, but the songs aren't much fun to listen to. Then she does some solo stuff, again, slower and mellower, and that's okay. Seu Jorge joins her for the closing number and they kind of lose me -- I just don't like the way they harmonize, and find it puzzling that since they each sing mellow material so well, why they choose such clunky uptempo, rock-flavored stuff to collaborate on. There are some tracks on here that are okay, but mostly I found this album to be irritating and skippable.
Ana Carolina "Ensaio De Cores: Ao Vivo" (BMG, 2007)
Ana Carolina "Dois Quartos" (BMG, 2007)
A 2-CD set...
Ana Carolina "Multishow Ao Vivo: Dois Quartos" (BMG, 2008)
The live tour to accompany the Dois Quartos album...
Ana Carolina "Nove" (BMG, 2009)
Ana Carolina "Multishow Registro" (BMG, 2009)
Ana Carolina "Perfil" (Som Livre, 2005)
A best-of set, covering her work up through 2005.
