Hailing from Southern Brazil’s Curitiba, electro / punk / hiphop / favela funk trio Bonde Role have certainly already been the recipients of a huge amount of media attention, their reputation increased through rapturously-received (and delightfully unhinged) live performances at the likes of Austin’s SXSW, and the ongoing patronage of fellow electro-Baile funk practitioner Diplo. Indeed, Diplo has represented something close to both mentor and advocate to Bonde De Role, and given his role in initially raising the band’s international profile, it comes as to no surprise to find him credited on production amongst the sleeve notes for this highly anticipated debut album. In many senses, one of Diplo’s primary duties on ‘With Lasers’ has been to go through BDR’s original recordings and replay all of the copyright lawyer-baiting samples scattered amongst them; meaning that while you’re likely to keep spotting familiar snippets amongst the Rio-electro funk chaos and blistering metal samples, no classic vinyl was harmed in the process. Given the voracious accolades and comparisons to the likes of Peaches and the Beastie Boys generated by BDR’s live performances, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the trio would find it difficult to bottle this live energy in the studio, but in truth, for the most part, ‘With Lasers’ succeeds admirably.

Opening track ‘Danca do Zumbi’ certainly neatly outlines BDR’s over-the-top aesthetic right from the start, with hilariously parodic metal guitar fretwork building against Pedro’s effects-treated ‘demonic’ vocals; “you are about to bear witness to the most evil thing…” As an opening gambit, it’s certainly fairly hard to beat. From there, the frenzied guitar tapping locks down into bursts of Motley Crue-styled riff rock, the overdriven guitar chords sliding over the sorts of rolling electro-infused Brazilian rhythms favoured by MIA on her recent ‘Bucky Dun Gun’ single, while Marina’s punky girl chorus takes things out on a garage-punk tip that’s far closer to the likes of The Donnas (albeit in Portuguese). First single ‘Solta O Frango’ literally translates into ‘release the chickens’ and places robust Kraftwerkian block-party electro rhythms beneath eccentric-sounding synths that strangely call to mind fifties rock and some bizzare hiccuping samples while Pedro, Marina and Gorky cut loose with what sounds like group vocals sampled live at a particularly raucous party over the top. The cheekily-titled ‘James Bonde’ meanwhile apparently centres around one of Pedro’s particular homoerotic fantasies concerning the secret agent (being unable to speak Portuguese, I sadly can’t confirm this) and easily represents one of this album’s standout highlights, cutting the familiar Bond theme riff via sturdy rock guitars to within an inch of copyright litigation while redwood-sized electro-batucada beats rumble and Marina bellows the vocal hooks through what sounds like a megaphone.

By contrast, ‘Marina do Bairro’ takes things straight out into glittering Bambaata-homage block party electro, with Pedro and Marina’s digitally-stuttered vocals sliding fluidly against a streamlined backdrop of shimmering analogue synths and 808 rhythms, before ‘Marina Gasolina’ offers up another of this collection’s biggest highlights – indeed the phrases “meet me after school and I’ll beat you like gorilla” and “Afrika Bambaataa” are pretty much the only discernible English words amongst Marina’s Portuguese rap flow as woody-sounding funk carioca rhythms flex some serious bass muscle and trombone stab samples get twisted in a manner that’s sure to be familiar to anyone who caught Diplo’s production on MIA’s ‘Arular’ album. Even hard rock gods Metallica don’t escape a good plundering on jokily-titled closer ‘Bondallica’, with the powerful riff from the LA metallers’ ‘Of Wolf And Man’ being cut-up and scattered around whining G-funk synth-leads and clattering, polyrhythmic cyber-percussion.

From the first couple of minutes in, you’re probably have some inkling as to whether BDR’s boisterous electro-punk / favela funk fusion is your particular cup of tea, but for the already-converted, ‘With Lasers’ shows the Brazilian trio more than capably bottling the energy of their infamous live shows. In many senses, the extremely short running time (just on 30 minutes!) also mirrors baile funk’s short attention span aesthetic as a whole, meaning that the less headstrong are guaranteed a short concise migraine dosage. While the language barrier occasionally engenders the sense that Pedro, Marina and Gorky are having more fun than the listener, there’s still plenty here for fans of the likes of Diplo and MIA to admire.

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