This one of the smackingest albums I think I’ve ever heard. Spotify sucks for musical artists, but it does amazing things for music listeners. Of course the former is always also the latter so it puts us in a funny position – anyway, I wouldn’t have discovered this record without Spotify’s algorithm.

It’s funky, jazzy and from the 70s/80s (which Spotify know is my favorite lane at the moment). It hits from the first track with a cool synth arpeggiator into a very fat bass, crazy jazzy vocals, and then the tightest horns outside of Earth, Wind and Fire. “Jorgea Corisco” basically indicates what this record is about: smart, funky and virtuosic music. There’s only a little of what I’d think was Brazilian outside of the short “Raton” and the full samba on”Zé Piolho” near the end and actually most of the tracks have more in common to my ear with smooth jazz. If smooth jazz didn’t so often sit lazily on the unchallenging. This record really pumps – the mix is amazing, full of texture and excitement.

The wordless vocals add a lot to the sound of the record – very soulful – but it’s mostly an instrumental record by two super-producers from Brazil. Every moment is full of ear candy but not over-crammed. The compositions are wonderful. “No Bom Sentido” is a lovely tune that still grooves hard. “Aleluia” must have been an instant classic, with impossibly tight horns and a happy-go-lucky chorus. “Pret-À-Porter” is one of my favorites, with it’s very cool cyclic progression and some sort of key change that I’m definitely required now to go transcribe. Great management of orchestration throughout – these guys are monster producers.

“Squash” is another super-groover that immediately gets my head and butt bouncing. There’s a really cool “drop” on the one of the main phrase of the head (main melody) which feels so good. These guys were so happy to just sing wordless melodies on here and I love it. There’s a crazy fast triplet run in the middle I feel might be an Everest to transcribe and so many great counter melodies to keep the song interesting throughout.

“Eva” is one of these old tunes that sound like a deliberately retro modern tune for some reason; I’m sure it’s been very popular with DJ’s ever since, sort of like Roy Ayers has been. It’s so dreamy and jazzy, with a these cool guitar bends at the end of each phrase that give me a unexpected pleasure. As I’m on a funky buzz the more traditional-Brazilian-type tunes on here don’t excite me so much but there’s more than enough heavy grooves as it is, with Fà Sustenido” and “Ginga” really bouncing hard. Speaking of Earth, Wind and Fire, the groove on “Ginga” reminds me a bit of “In the Stone”. I’m sure EW&F would have lost their minds for this record.