Bonde Do Ro

"With Lasers"
DOMINO

Don't get me wrong bub, Bonde Do Role's "With Lasers" is pretty good. It's dumb, messy, sweaty fun. And the album sounds like it would totally take flight live and inspire all sorts of frenzy (which makes me even more disappointed that they pulled out of their early October TSI shows, citing that showbiz standby "exhaustion") and audience/performer overlap. So, cool, yeah. But "With Lasers" taken alone, without the live performance immediacy? Hmmm.... It's like a bratty collage of Beastie Boys "Fight For Your Right To Party," (the sadly departed) Shampoo, MIA and Miami booty bass with exotique Brazilian flavor. Besides CSS, they're the main ambassadors for the baile funk movement and apparently a bunch of metal samples didn't make the final cut - for legal reasons. I had my money on the opening track using Angus Young's riff from AC/DC's "Thunderstruck."

Sometimes "With Lasers" is a little too "wacky" (or new or fun or dancy) for my tastes but on tunes like metallized scorcher "Bondallica," the frenzied shouty chorus of "James Bonde," "Marino Da Bairro" full of snotty Kraftwerk groove and breathless boy/girl vocals, "Gasolina" with its toy synths and chants of "Afrika Bambaata," everything works out just fine. Songs are punk-rock length, so don't worry if there's one you don't like, thee's another one on the way. It's weird though, in the end this record will make people dance and have fun, and that makes my blood run cold. Hey no, enjoy it though.

-Matthew Moyer