Nação Zumbi manage to blend the more disparate elements of rock - funk, rap and psychedelic - into a riotous, percussion-driven and triumphant whole. Emerging from Pernambuco's mangue beat scene in the early '90s, the band is now seven albums in to a career that looked like faltering with the tragic death of lead member Chico Science, but instead exploded like their maracatu-heavy funk, with more experimentation than ever. Collusions with Tortoise and Afrika Bambaata pointed the way, simultaneously bringing greater exposure outside of Brazil and giving the crew dubbed 'crabs with brains' (because of their Pernambuco roots), the cult successes they deserved.