“Luaka Bop tries to look at music without prejudice, without saying ‘this belongs in this category and this belongs there’.  We like to throw things together that are going to be a little confusing for some people, but that’s the way we hear.  It’s like spinning the ideal radio dial and hearing interesting stuff coming out of lots of stations.  To me it means that you’re not totally comfortable with the way things are.  And I would say that if anybody’s completely comfortable with the way things are, then they’re the one that’s got a problem”
David Byrne

A brief history of Luaka Bop:
1) David Byrne makes cassettes of Brazilian music for friends.
2) David, through his solo deal with Warner Bros., starts a label out of the idea of making cassettes for friends. Luaka Bop sells 350,000 copies of first Brazilian compilation.
3) David hires Yale. Label does albums in Cuba when no one cares about Cuban Music.
4) Luaka bop signs Cornershop, Zap Mama, Los Amigos Invisibles, Geggy Tah, Jim White, and Susana Baca when no one cares or knows about Afro Peruvian Music.
5) Tom Zé  tours with Tortoise. It’s a revelation: up to then Tom Zé  was forgotten about even in Brazil.
6) Warner Bros. starts to notice Luaka Bop then merges with AOL and falls apart.
7) Luaka moves to Virgin and releases Os Mutantes and Shuggie Otis who had not been seen by anybody for the past 30 years.
8) Record industry starts to implode. Luaka Bop moves to V2 and releases Nouvelle Vague and Psychedelic African compilation. Os Mutantes reforms and tours.
9) V2 US goes out of business and 21 years later Luaka Bop continues as an independent to release music no one cares about....yet.