"Contemporary Carioca is an engaging study of musical production in Brazil that focuses on a group of Rio-based, middle-class musicians who emerged in the 1980s and 1990s and continue to produce innovative work. Among the book's many strengths is its organization around individual artists and the ways that they have approached questions of globalization, national identity, social class, race, and gender. Frederick Moehn succeeds admirably in describing and analyzing the specificity of Brazilian strategies for negotiating global and local musical practices." - Christopher Dunn, coeditor of Brazilian Popular Music and Citizenship
"Frederick Moehn guides us on a scintillating exploration of Brazilian popular music of the 1990s, combining deep critical explication of the work of key performers with sharp delineation of that work's place in the political and commercial context. No previous author has balanced intimate knowledge of popular music as a studio creation with careful exploration of the Brazilian cultural marketplace as successfully as Moehn does here." - Bryan McCann, Georgetown University
“Contemporary Carioca is a solid scholarly text, and it’s a good read.” - Bill Shoemaker, The Wire
“...Moehn’s work is important because it brings to the table fresh, interesting material that he analyzes with a nice combination of ethnomusicological and anthropological insights and frames. Present and future ‘new Brazilianists’ will do well to follow his lead by examining the multiple processes that go into making music and studying artists who, for one reason or another, have received little scholarly attention." - Marc Hertzman, The Americas
“[An] insightful mix of anthropological ethnography and musical analysis. . . . Moehn expertly switches register throughout the chapters moving from a mode that privileges the contextual description of a historian / biographer to one of a music critic exercising a precision of vocabulary to catch the subtleties of musical meter and harmony to a register of high theory engaging Deleuze and the present zeitgeist of anthropological musings on identity-as-becoming in addition to Turino and current theories of musical semiotics as indicative of sociality. The fluidity of Moehn’s prose evinces a mastery of all registers, that which only a performer, in all of its connotations, could pull off.” - Derek Pardue, Luso-Brazilian Review
“With his vast knowledge of post-production studio technologies and his intimate knowledge of popular music in both political and commercial contexts, Moehn provides a valuable and highly engaging contribution to the field.” - Jordan Saull, IASPM@Journal
“Moehn’s study provides productive insights for novices and experts in Brazilian music studies. His descriptions of how artists are managing and even benefiting from the decline of the record industry are especially illuminating for researchers who are interested in the effects of neoliberalism on musical production in Brazil and beyond. . . . Moehn’s descriptions of each artist’s biography and analyses of their major works are thought provoking and present a much-needed English language resource for Brazilian pop music enthusiasts.” - Falina Enriquez, Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology
“[A] capable study, particularly useful for its consideration of the music of Lenine, a major musical figure. For all libraries supporting study of popular music.” - Tom Moore, Notes
“This volume is an excellent resource for those interested in Brazilian culture in general and popular music in Brazil in particular. Recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates and above.” - K. W. Mukuna, Choice
“Moehn has written a compelling account of these important musicians, and he uncovers how they employed strategies of perseverance for their own artistic integrity within a homogenized musical marketplace.” - Eric A. Galm, Perfect Beat
“Beyond the nuanced assessments of musical production, the elaboration on meanings of mix makes this book attractive to postcolonialism, subaltern studies, multiculturalism, new historicism – in sum, for lines of cultural critique interested in relations of power and resistance. With so many poly- and interdisciplinary insights, Moehn’s book will appeal to colleagues in music, urbanism, cultural studies, Luso-Brazilian civilization, Latin American Studies, and Spanish and Portuguese. Individuals, academic units and institutions should all listen and include the book in their own mixes and playlists.” - Charles A. Perrone, Bulletin of Latin American Research
“Throughout, Moehn’s book is gratifyingly rooted in the specifics of musical sound and production procedure. . . . It bursts with telling details. . . . The sophistication of Moehn’s take on the thorny subject of middle-class identity is worth mentioning as well. . . . [An] innovative and well-accomplished piece of popular musical analysis.” - Joshua Tucker, Ethnomusicology
