Modo Aviao

Modo Avi​a​o is the eighth full-length album by Brazilian electric jazz-funk and samba fusion trio Caixa Cubo and their debut for Londons Far Out. It arrives a year after their 2023 breakthrough Ag​o​ra. The popularity of that album sent critics, DJs, and punters digging through the bands back catalog (all of it is worthwhile). While veteran warriors Azymuth have been an obvious influence on Caixa Cubo, one can also hear Tamba Trio, Antonio Adolfo, and Marcos Resende in their sound. Modo Avi​a​o is a return to entirely instrumental music after Ag​o​ra and 2020s Angela. While their musical mission has always been re-creating the spirit of Brazils golden jazz-funk/samba-jazz era of the 1970s and 80s in their own sonic image, they extend their exploration by wedding infectiously hooky and seductive harmonies to the rhythms of carnival marches, frevo, and baiao, jazz-samba, MPB, and funk. These 12 brief tracks (only one reaches four minutes) commence with "Jureta." A lithe samba is instigated by Henrique Gomides Rhodes piano, answered in syncopated 4/4 time by drummer/percussionist Joao Fideles under deliciously funky bass and wah-wah guitar vamps from Noa Stroeter. The title track is led by the rhythm section, creating a pillowy, fluid polyrhythm atop a funky samba and frevo rhythms. Gomide uses Rhodes and synths to weave a dreamy lyrical spell around them, elongating them in the bridge until the tempo downshifts to embrace it before picking up the pace again. "Villa Macarena" melds ethereal, echo-laden Rhodes over a reggae backbeat and dubwise effects as Gomide layers in warm, multiple flute tones on synth. "Baleia Azul" is joyous jazz-funk with phase-shifted basslines, rippling piano, and an easy yet pronounced rhythm thats suitable for dancing or humming. The piano solo, though brief, is dazzling as Stroeters bass pushes him forward. "Osaka" offers contemporary samba-fusion full of percussive effects and dancefloor grooves as a Rhodes solo opens a door in the harmony, developing a spacious, gauzy vibe. The rhythm section responds in double time as Stroeter layers in melodic flourishes. "Jet Legua" is its mirror image in extrapolated polyrhythmic percussion, fractured basslines, and mysterious lyric touches, before "Foguinho" shoots through, wedding Azymuths jazz-funk and early-70s Crusaders. Its followed by the midtempo ballads -- "La Rocha" and "Mancini" -- that both offer head-nodding beats, lush synths, and a sheer Rhodes piano over elegant drums and delirious basslines. "Malibu" lies between them, and together with "Laguna" and "Sound Checkin," deliver a striking take on contemporary samba filtering frevo and baiao through jazz-funk. Closer "Costa Cordoba" is spacy and nocturnal yet hooky. It threads a funky Latin bass groove onto a slippery luscious melody via bluesy Rhodes runs with Fideles circular polyrhythms wrapping the tune in warmth. Caixa Cubo never hide their influences, but here, they fully engage them in innovative, sophisticated compositions that manage to sound utterly contemporary and irresistibly danceable. ~ Thom Jurek