Oruã has spent the last decade taking the sounds of Brazil’s underground music scene to international audiences. The Rio de Janeiro-based collective now celebrates that journey with Maldição (2016-2026), a 20-track double LP retrospective arriving November 13 through K Records.
Led by guitarist, producer, and Transfusão Noise Records founder Lê Almeida, Oruã brings together elements of psychedelic rock, krautrock, Afrobeat, noise, and Brazilian musical traditions. The result is an unpredictable, rhythm-driven sound built around repetitive bass lines, distorted guitar passages, improvisation, and expansive instrumental arrangements.
The band’s international profile grew significantly in 2019 when Doug Martsch of Built to Spill invited Almeida and synth player João Casaes to join the influential indie rock group temporarily. The two musicians subsequently worked on Built to Spill’s When the Wind Forgets Your Name, contributing to its recording, production, and mixing.
Since then, Oruã has toured extensively throughout the United States and Europe, released music through K Records, recorded a BBC session in London, and performed at Lollapalooza São Paulo in March 2026. Their latest retrospective captures ten years of recordings made across different locations and creative periods, offering a look at how a project rooted in Rio’s independent music community developed into an internationally recognized experimental rock band.
The band will continue its international run with a performance at the 2027 Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, Tennessee, taking place April 1-4.
With Maldição (2016-2026), Oruã celebrates ten years of pushing beyond musical boundaries while bringing the sounds and spirit of Brazil’s independent underground to audiences around the world.
