If you know me at all, you know I'm a little obsessed with brazilian music. There are two recently-released albums that justify this obsession. Both are somewhat unusual, coming from the 'new wave' of brazilian music. In other words, it's not samba or bossa nova, and it's not Marisa Monte or MPB.

The first is the self-titled album by Naçao Zumbi, released on Trama Records. This group, originally run by Chico Science, released a few albums that were more or less emblematic of the Mengue Beat music of northeastern Brazil (history of the band). The music was very hard, with a large and loud percussion section and alternating rap and rock on top. The rhythms were raw and heavy, and some people really liked the Chico Science stuff. However, the new release on Trama is much tamer, and I like it a lot more. The rhythms are still creative and deep, but the vocals and other instruments work together much better on this album. The album is cohesive and strong, with plenty of funky beats. Best of all, it was released in the states. UOL has a review, with snippets of the songs available for download, here; there's also some info on the Trama/Zumbi collaboration here.

The second album, also on trama records, is orchestra klaxon, by max de castro. Apparently it's his second album, though I never heard the first. orchestra klaxon sounds like a semi-electronic version of Djavan, though less cheesy and less polished. De Castro came into the scene as a DJ and arranger, but his melodies are good and catchy. The only review I've been able to find is in Portuguese and fairly bland, located here. They called the album samba-jazz electronica. I guess that works. Check out the second and fourth tracks.