WHY WE'RE WATCHING From Bebel Gilberto to Anoushka Shankar to Femi Kuti to Bob Marley's talented brood, the next generation of world music stars are making their mark. Now comes Brazil's Moreno Veloso, son of the great MPB (musica popular brasileira) poet Caetano Veloso. The 27-year-old's debut, Music Typewriter, is a mélange of bossa nova, art pop, electronica, and whimsical dashes of Dadaist noise, of which his ever-experimental sire would heartily approve. With his bubbly trio and guests such as João Donato, Daniel Jobim (grandson of Tom Jobim), and, yes, his dad on hand, Moreno's artful yet childlike approach to a tune should enthrall MPB fans young and old.

WHAT IS A MUSIC TYPEWRITER? "In English, it doesn't mean anything, really," says Veloso. "But in Portuguese, it means literally a 'typewriter for composing music' and comes from a little story about Tom Jobim. He was coming back from New York to Brazil one time and was carrying his laptop computer with him at the airport. And the customs guy asked him, 'What's that?' He said, 'This is my typewriter.' And the guy replied, 'But it's so small for a typewriter.' And Tom said, 'Yes, you see, it's a typewriter for writing music.' The end!" [laughs]

STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS Veloso has already toured with such Brazilian icons as Gilberto Gil, Carlinhos Brown, Arto Lindsay, and naturally, his father, Caetano. "It's very good," he says. "It's like living in the music with friends and relatives. And you're learning all the time from everyone, like how to be onstage and a responsibility to the others playing with you. It's learning rhythms and techniques, and how to travel." Tough lot.

WHAT HIS FATHER TAUGHT HIM "Almost everything, from the beginning. He taught me how to sing a lot of Brazilian songs. He was always playing at home for us. And he's been a critic for me about my work, giving me advice." He reminisces, "One of my first strong memories goes back to when I was three or four years old, when he showed me how to sing "Só Vendo que Beleza." That was the first song I ever learned, and he plays it with me on this album. We re-create that atmosphere, just like when I was a child."

A LITTLE HELP FROM HIS FRIENDS Producer Andres Levin is well known for his work with Daniela Mercury, Aterciopelados, and Los Amigos Invisibles. "Alexandre Kassin [bass] and I planned the album from the beginning, and then thought to call my friend Andres at the end to help us finish it. We really like his work, so once we had it all recorded, we brought it to New York to show him. He gave it all those little extra touches, bits of sauce to it, and really opened up our whole view during the mixing process."

ZIPPEDEE DOO DAH! A pleasingly heartfelt version of the Disney song "I'm Wishing" puts a dulcet cap to Music Typewriter. "I really only sang that in English because that's how the song was done originally, and it's very beautiful that way. It's from the Snow White film, and Daniel [Jobim] and I were watching it once and were really amazed by the simple beauty of the song."

THE SIMPLE LIFE The deliberate textures of Music Typewriter invoke a feeling of unhurried craftsmanship. Veloso explains, "We started [the album] right from the start by thinking as simply as we could. We took a whole year, and it was in our own studio and in our own hands. So we had plenty of time to build those layers in a good way and maintain a kind of simple feeling throughout. So that's why it sounds that way, even if there's a lot actually going on."

HIS SCIENTIFIC METHODS Moreno's been working on a doctorate in physics for the past few years. Although it's been pushed to the backburner by his musical experiments, his general lab skills are thriving: "It became very difficult to keep up with my schoolwork when I began recording the album. But I still do work in a federal university laboratory in Rio, and that's really benefited from what I've been doing in the studio. Both places have the same vibe and involve the same kind of thinking, and so that helps me to avoid making certain mistakes."

HIS FAVORITE THINGS "Here in Brazil, we have a lot of different influences. Jorge Ben, Gilberto Gil, and this great band from the '70s called Os Novos Baianos. They mixed together traditional Brazilian styles and rock -- it was very free, very good." And beyond Brazil? "There's Chet Baker, first of all. I really like his singing. And, of course, we all like Jimi Hendrix. We know all about the Beatles and Michael Jackson and stuff, too. But ever since Björk appeared in concert here, I've thought she's just amazing. It is very, very important to have experimental and good pop stuff mixed together like that, and I think she's an amazing musician, with good ideas and a very good voice."

Abraham Velez