Carlos Pontual

Carlos Pontual came up in Rio de Janeiro in the late 1970s, first with a band called Stress. By 1982 he was playing with guitarist Sérgio Dias in Camisa de Vênus, a group that became a touchstone for Brazilian rock. He went solo in 1984 and put out his debut album, 'Inventa Qualquer Coisa.' The title track from that record, with its oddball lyrics and catchy hook, got a lot of attention.

His music often leaned into absurdity and a sense of dislocation, heard in songs like '4 da Manhã' and 'Nem.' He had a way of writing that could feel both playful and slightly alienated. Pontual kept putting out albums that mixed things up, drawing from different sounds without settling into one predictable style.