Ah, summer. So fun, so fleeting, so freakin’ sweaty. There is still plenty of pleasure to be had in the humidity, so before the leaves start to fall and cold weather is called in to cover August’s shift, do yourself a favor: Hike up your tube socks and hit the roller rink, or hold one of those greasy backyard barbeques that inevitably meld into a community boy-girl sleepover (where we all know you’re not REALLY sleeping).
ALBUM: With Lasers
LABEL: DOMINO
Barely-legal Brazilian funktronica outfit Bonde do Rolê’s debut “With Lasers” will provide the perfect summer soundtrack to all those affairs and more, the type of record that isn’t nearly as suitable for any other season and is thus something to seize hold of while it’s bumping out of the speakers and onto the scorching streets.
Dodging in and out of Rio-born, Miami Bass-like baile, (very) early-’90s dance pop, hip-hop house, samba and, yes, even ’80s hair metal, these kids have created a supremely enjoyable beast of beats that is to-the-point catchy, never too complicated and sounds as if mostly composed on one of those pocket Casio keyboards.
And their step-by-step direction is pretty simple – drink beer, pour said beer on yourself, make out with the nearest body and shake it till you puke.
Lead MC Marina Ribatski always seems to be sassily sneering at us with her bratty playground chants on tracks like “Geremia” (complete with a chorus of buzzing kazoos) or club banger “Solta o Frango” (which, if you’re having trouble waiting the few months until M.I.A.’s “Kala” drops, will provide you brief satisfaction). The more traditional-sounding Brazilian jam “Tieta” or the booming brass bleats of “Marina Gasolina” too will assist in getting any party off the ground, even if it’s grandma’s.
The cream-puff-light “With Lasers” clocks in at only a hair over a half hour, but that’s part of Bonde do Rolê’s appeal. Even their impatience and need to move onto the next style of music before the first one is fully explored is done with pretty impressive consistency.
But who’s complaining? They’re simply here to spew, strut and celebrate their youth with an inexhaustible energy – and so should you. It is summer, after all, and for such a short time.