Music Review

03 December 2008 06:15 BST

Bonde Do Role: With Lasers

Domino Records, out June 4th.

In a nutshell…

Electro, funk and hip-hop through a giddy favela lens.

What's it all about?

Exporting a patch of the Brazilian sunshine in time for summer, Bonde Do Role pack much more than samba rhythms into their twelve-track first album. An impish desire to cannibalise genres of music varying from electro beats to clap-happy pop results in a contagious collection of party tracks that still retains a hint of art-school irony and cleverness.

It's a filthy mash-up of funk from the south, throbbing bass lines, metallic guitar noise and raucous Portuguese lyrics, which apparently cover topics as varied as partying, sex, going to the beach, James Bond and long lines at the post office.

Pedro, Rodrigo Gorky and Marina Ribatski are currently hitting the airwaves round the world through a worldwide campaign with Nokia featuring track Solta O Frango. So if it sounds annoyingly familiar - that's why.

Who's it by?

The boy-girl-boy trio were picked out of the musical aether having started off mixing guitar riffs with beat-laden funk in their small southern Brazilian town of Curitiba.

American DJ-come-producer Diplo helped popularise similar party music known as 'funk carioca' through his work with Sri Lankan breakthrough artist M.I.A. and began mixing Bonde tracks into his sets, which brought them to the attention of British-based label Domino Records.

The Role crew are currently storming around Europe, but are heading to the UK for a set at Glastonbury on the Saturday. Though there's no chance of a ticket for that unless you're one of the lucky ones already sorted, so you can catch their electric live performances in late July when they'll hit the Lovebox Festival, before dates Glasgow, London and Liverpool.

As an example…

"Death to your speakers! Death to your speakers!" in the booming voice of a daemon from beyond the grave is what greets us to the album in Danca Do Zumbi.

Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys

A live performance at that charmless parade should be obligatory in my view - with lasers (naturally), kazoos and a battalion of backing drummers. But is it ever going to happen? Nah.

What the others say

"What holds Bonde Do Role above mere genre-band status is their rampant silliness." – Andy Freivogel, Dusted.

"By tagging themselves as an updated version of 'baile funk' (a Brazilian beat-heavy version of funk), and trying to shoehorn in a load of different sounds, rather than sounding fresh Bonde Do Role simply sound cluttered." – Drowned In Sound.

So is it any good?

Cramming joy and excess into every album track was going to be tough without falling into the trap of self-mockery and, though you can guess that Bonde Do Role aren't taking themselves so seriously, it results in a couple of wayward attempts breaking up the flow of good vibes.

Marina do Bairro grinds along while Caminhao de Gas breaks down into scatter-gun blasts computerised snatches of previous lyrics.

And the last track, Bondallica is a pastiche of metal head fervour which detracts from the album as a whole - leaving it ending on a down note.

But for the most part, you're invited to set aside any pretensions and bounce along the waves of irreverence - with kazoos kicking in on Geremia, to the Latin drumming of Tieta, all accompanied by the Casiotone melodies or guitar hooks from DJ Gorky.

All deliciously enjoyable, in a guilty, this-shouldn't-work-at-all kind of way.

7/10

Nicholas Claxton