Moreno Veloso

By Benjamin Nugent

Brazilian singer-songwriter Moreno Veloso, 28, sings like a sleepy puppy dog and strums his acoustic guitar as if it were liable to crumble in his arms. On Music Typewriter (Hannibal), the first album by his group, Moreno Veloso + 2, his sweetness is offset by the steely rhythmic support provided by Domenico Lancelloti on electric drums and Alexandre Kassin on electric bass. In addition, Veloso's lyrics flow in both warm and cold, bristling with restraint one moment and full of affection and vulnerability the next. On Arrivederci, he sings, in Portuguese, "I don't like you that much/But every time you leave me/I confess I can't forget you, girl."

Veloso's influences range from the bossa-nova and samba bands of his native land to the New York City new-wave group DNA. "Of course, there are influences [on Music Typewriter] from electronic music, from jazz, from experimental music and other things, like old funk," says Veloso, who lives in Rio de Janeiro. "But in a way, that for us is totally Brazilian."

He's right: Brazilians were mixing local rhythms with international rock styles well before his father, Caetano Veloso, helped pioneer the Tropicalia movement in the '60s. And if Brazil continues to produce albums as delicate and emotionally complex as Music Typewriter, that country's music will occupy as honored a place in the 21st century as it did in the 20th.

--By Benjamin Nugent