Sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads

[bengraham.livejournal.com]

I went and bought the Bondo do Role album, 'With Lasers' yesterday. It's been produced by Diplo, who has been romantically linked with M.I.A and who contributed to 'Bucky Done Gun'. On first listen, 'With Lasers' sounded a lot like 'Arular'. But it also has the silliness of CSS, some typical Brazilian drumming, the electro-sex-funk of Peaches, and some pretty heavy guitars too. Personally, I think it will be a big hit with the Poptimists community, but I wanted to see if anyone else has got the album, or seen them live, and what they think? I'll hopefully be seeing them at Glastonbury (Saturday, 7.30pm Lounge Stage) so am intrigued to hear if anyone has seen their live set.

I was in a bit of a rush this morning, so only had time to upload one track, and it's probably the silliest on the album, featuring kazoos (yes, very Embrace)!
Bondo do Role - Geremia (Sendspace link)

Thoughts please.

Comments

[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

i saw a bit of a vid on the telly the other day and it was VERY SILLY (in a good way). i was under the impression they were a bit more baile funky than eg CSS, or is this just bad rockwrite?

i also intend to see them at glastonbury.

[bengraham.livejournal.com]

Yes, they claim to be "baile funky" but who knows what that means? There's definitely more of a Brazilian sound to their music than CSS have. The drum beats are basically samba beats. But TBH, this is one of those albums that is going to be very difficult to place in a specific genre or sub-genre. Electronica? Rock? Funk? Samba?

[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

INDIE! ;)

i think i know what baile funk sounds like, clattery biscuit tin syncopated beats (approaching drum&bass velocity), squelchy bass and lots and lots of talking about bottoms (this is key).

[lockedintheatti.livejournal.com]

They are one of the acts I'm looking forward to most at Glastonbury.

They also popped up in the Pop World Cup here last year (losing to the Czech Republic in the 2nd round).

[zenith.livejournal.com]

I think I am going to buy or steal this album, and steel myself for the lexian disapproval...

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I checked out a couple of YouTube videos ages ago and was really disappointed - they sounded not enough baile funk and too much, I dunno, funk rock or something (Oh OK I probably mean INDIE but I knew they would be that). I think thenipper submitted a track of theirs for the Pop World Cup, and it was OK, so the jury is still out, but they sound like something I might have wanted to hear then than now.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iv8mZh3MHhA

Here we are. Not as bad as I remembered actually! The bouncy but limp electro-indie pretty much completely overwhelms the baile rhythms so there's no drive to it at all but it's a lot less messy than I remembered and good fun on the whole. I will suspend my Lexian disapproval but can't get very excited, sorry!

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I really hate this band. Like...yes, just what rio funk needed was a dose of fucking indie, with added shitty metal samples. Fuck off. They're shit live, too. And 'The Final Countdown' is one of the worst songs ever in any context.

[zenith.livejournal.com]

Where is the 'indie' in their sound? And can you recommend some rio funk artists/tracks that are entirely untainted by such terrible things as guitars?

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Zenith's right that loads of baile funk has rock/metal samples in it - Bonde Du Role seem to like the riffs being more upfront than the rhythms though, which I don't think works.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Most rio funk is more based on electro samples and kids' TV tunes. Or 'Papa Don't Preach'. Both of which make tons of sense given the roots of the genre and the other stuff it's related to! I haven't really come across much rock, and certainly no metal, in any of the comps I have...

But yeah you're right, most rio funk integrates its samples into itself in a way Bonde Do Role refuse to do - w/someone like Tati Quebra Barroco, the point first & foremost is the rio funk, and every so often a funny sample comes along to enhance or enliven it. With Bonde Do Role it seems the entire point of the project is to go "LOL WE HAVE WACKY SAMPLES ISN'T IT FUNNY TO MIX UP TWO THINGS WHICH DON'T WORK TOGETHER". It's v 'wacky', I hate that.

[zenith.livejournal.com]

Wait, so Bonde Do Role are self-consciously wacky and the stuff that samples kids TV themes (!) isn't?

I really don't get the wackiness thing, it just seems like messy fun to me. Yes, yes, fun is a moveable feast...

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I don't really like messy fun! I like sleek fun. Which brings me back to the first point - BDR are self-conscious not because of what samples they use but in the way they use them, foregrounding them at the expense of the rio funk - it makes it sound like the rio funk is secondary to the sample. Rather like Rihanna's 'SOS' in fact, where the sample dwarfs Rihanna to the extent that she's subsumed in it. It should be the other way round, which I think most rio funk does v successfully.

[poptasticuk.livejournal.com]

I tried to see them live but they got scared by the audience and didn't come on stage! So I'm kinda not pleased with them at the moment...