Take Mark thecobrasnake, flip him Brazilian and slip him a tab — and you’ve got Marcio Local, the latest surprise in a basket of world tunes straight from South America. With boss vocal stamina and endless variations on the Rio party soundtrack, Local’s a hot little number we can’t stand to miss.

Granted, it’s been a slow burn. His latest drop, Says Don Day Don Dree Don Don shipped stateside in May ’09. Single “Soul Do Samba” secured a spot on the FIFA 10 Soccer Soundtrack for the notoriously addictive video game — right next to station faves Metric, Passion Pit and Peter Bjorn and John. Since then, Local’s been edging into our staunchly ’merican-stream. (Mostly by way of poorly stocked world music sections in Borders and Barnes & Noble … but never mind that pet peeve.)

Despite his consummate peers — namely, the Bossa Nova sensuality of CéU and the still-banging sex of Don Omar — Local shimmies through. He plucks steamy soul and big band horns; he samples the sweat of carnivale, birds-of-paradise, micro-bikinis and heels. That deep bossa voice — that relentless samba beat. It steals us away, until all we can smell is the salt of that damn South Atlantic. Until all we want to do is plunge in, and dance.

Right from the start, “Samba Sem Nunhum Problema” slides so easy and sweet, you’ve barely registered the beach-beat and Local’s round O-voice before it’s over. A rat-a-tat rap starts “Prexta Luxo,” the city-boy’s gorgeously-voiced homage to Brazil. Its streetwalk-rhythm cues head-bopping, then pulls on horns like a second skin. Effortless layering skates through the album. In “Soul Do Samba,” the album’s namesake rocks ocean-like over ganza shell-shakers, deep surdo drums and Local’s slick rap-to-vocal transitions.

And with this last element, Local knocks us out and takes us home. His vocal delivery — a cool, senselessly chic twist on classically-trained pipes — is almost too easy. He fingers our buttons, flips our switches. Even if, sliding between sunlit samba soul and bustling big-city beats, Local’s tracks tend to sound somewhat similar…who cares?

At the end of the night, when the girls pin up their sex hair and the boys swipe away their guyliner — when the bottle-to-person ratio reaches 7:1 — when the sunrise slices its first pink rays across that beautiful frosted hungover sky — when you can almost smell the ocean — and Local’s winding down our bones with “Happy Endings”… something changes.

Because at the end of the night, Local’s suaveness sinks right down into your skin. And somehow, like him, we’ve suddenly got all the right moves.

–DJ Allie Cuerdo

World Trippin,’ 12-2 PM Fridays

Marcio Local

Says Don Day Don Dree Don Don

Luaka Bop

4.5 out of 5