Brazilian group Grupo Um formed in the mid-1970s while its members were playing with Hermeto Pascoal. Their music pushed contemporary jazz, improvisation and Afro-Brazilian rhythm into increasingly experimental territory. Their first album, Starting Point, was recorded in 1975 but remained unreleased for almost half a century. Far Out Records later recovered that material, while another archival release, Nineteen Seventy Seven, appeared in January 2026.
There is something strange about hearing experimental music decades after the moment that produced it. We naturally interpret a recording through everything that came afterwards. Ideas that might have sounded radical in 1975 can now resemble techniques we already recognise.
But the recording itself has not changed.
That creates an interesting reversal. Instead of asking whether old music still sounds modern, perhaps we should occasionally ask how much supposedly modern music has been quietly following paths that earlier musicians already discovered.
An archive can change musical history simply by opening a tape box.