Audio By Carbonatix
Reinventing an old warhorse like “Rock You Like a Hurricane” is no easy task, but Bonde Do Role, a hip-hop collective from Brazil, succeeds by keeping the beats heavy and the mood light. Formed in 2006 by MCs Pedro D’Eyrot and Marina Ribatski along with DJ/MC Rodrigo Gorky, the band found instant success in its homeland with a playful mix of sexual riffs (sampled from The Scorpions and Alice in Chains) and funk carioca, a local dance concoction.
Bonde Do Role’s thrilling debut, With Lasers, appeared last summer and, not long after, the band’ s frantic (and sexually explicit) stage show began to draw interest around the world. Internal dissension resulted in Ribatski leaving the band late last year, but a bizarre search spearheaded by MTV Brazil saw the band adding two new female vocalists: Laura Taylor and Ana Bernardino. Reconstituted as a quartet, the band was recently added to the Coachella Valley Music and Art Festival lineup. Not bad for a band whose members claim that their name doesn’t really mean anything.
Adding fun to this bill is Baltimore-by-way-of-Australia’s The Death Set, a lo-fi, low-rent outfit fronted by one Johnny Siera. The band’s recently released debut, Rad Warehouses Bad Neighborhoods, is chock-full of tinny laptop beats that expand the boundaries of geek rock in all the right directions.
