Jogos de Armar is a fine album that features some of the common characteristics of
Tom Zé's past work, including homemade instruments and call-and-response vocals. One example of these instruments is the businorio, which provides the rhythmic car-horn sounds on "Jimi Renda-se/Moeda Falsa"; another example is a sampler called the hertZé, which was used to manipulate the sound of playground laughter for "O PIB da PIB (Prostituir)." While some of the instruments are rather quirky, they do provide additional texture and are well integrated into the music as a whole. The vocal arrangements seem quirky at times too, but they are generally quite interesting and catchy, including the whistling on "Peixe Viva," the chanting on "Passagem de Som," and the 46-second a cappella "Cafuas, Guetos E Santuários." One of the reason why this album is so satisfying is because the quirkiness enhances instead of detracting from the pleasure of the music, whether the songs are originals like "Medo de Mulher" or the back-to-back covers of the standards "Pisa Na Fulo" and "Asa Branca."
Jogos de Armar also includes a bonus CD with bits and pieces from the individual songs; this should be interesting if you want to do some remixing or are just intrigued by the creative process behind
Zé's music, but you probably won't spend much time listening to the extra CD otherwise. ~ Todd Kristel