Talk to La Bomb
It's not a bright and sunny day in the land of Brazilian Girls anymore. That's the message one might take from "Jique," the opening track of this, their second album. In concert, they've performed "Jique" more playfully, but onTalk to La Bomb, a snarling bass-line and juggernaut drum riff drive this piece of post-industrial squall as singer Sabina Sciubba maintains her sophisticated cool against the electronic storm surge. There are no more cute songs with choruses that go "Pussy pussy pussy marijuana" like those that appeared on their first blast of joyful noise. This is a darker album full of Babel language, post-war rage, and techno-hysteria. "I always have an orgasm when the tanks are rolling, crashing through the borders," Sciubba declares on "Never Met a German." Brazilian Girls maintain the same kinetic thrust and hook-laden melodies as before, but they've turned up the rhythmic aggression and electronic squelch to 11. Attitudes that were bemused in "Lazy Lover" are now pissed off in "Sexy Asshole." Even when they start off sultry, like in "Rules of the Game," it turns into sardonic, synth-fuzzed anger. There is a stridency to some of the tracks, including the title piece, which starts out echoing Miles Davis's "Bitches Brew" before launching into a militaristic rhythm and sloganeering chorus. Only "Nicotine" has that seductive, late-night rendezvous mood of their first album, and eventhathas a bit of the Residents' zombie groove happening. OnTalk to La Bomb, Brazilian Girls move from seducers to provocateurs.--John Diliberto