Every year there are albums that define the chapters of my life. I guess that was kind of a cheesy sentence… It’s not rocket science. Everyone has music in their lives that will alwyas be linked to memories and will bring specific feelings every time they hear it. When I went to Brasil, everyone working with the band I was with down there, the Brazilians, were telling me about music they were excited about. I came back from that trip with about thirty cds. Tons of Caetano Veloso, Milton Nasciemento, Jaques Morlenbaum, Tim Maya, Ed Motta, Tom Ze, Gal Costa, and samba school cds… Another album that had just come out out there that everyone was telling me about was Tribalistas. This was a super collaboration album with Marisa Monte, Carlinhos Brown, and Arnaldo Antunes. These are all singers the Brazilians love. Big artists. I remember first hearing Carlinhos Brown years and years ago. I first heard him on that great album Bill Laswell produced for the Axiom label called Ritual Beating System. At the time, he was the young Brazilian Salvador answer to all the hip hop music I liked at the time. Artists like De La Soul and Tribe Called Quest… Marisa Monte is someone that everyone down there loves. Whenever you mention her name people sigh and shake their head. She’s that good. Arnaldo Atunes is someone that I knew the least about. Everyone was talking about that album. I didn’t get a chance to pick it up on that trip and it wasn’t until last December that I got back there again and bought it. It’s one of those albums that gets you right away with the way it’s recorded. The sound of those three voices together! Why does it sound so good? One of the reasons if that they are singing an octave apart!!! So cool. Atunes sings the low parts. His voice is so low and the tone is so thick that it sounds like a solid thing. It’s just beauty and it really grows on you the more you hear it. The song O Amor e Feio just popped up on Itunes and I remember driving with Ang to Arizona or driving with the The Ditty Bops and Jesca Hoop from San Francisco. Definitely pick this up! And here they are: