Brazilian Girls Know Best

Brazilian Girls
New York City
7.5 out of 10
By Roxy Satarzadeh

Remember the time you discovered Pop Rocks as a kid - the first time you tore open the package, emptied out all those colorful sugar crystals into your hand, threw your head back and opened your mouth not knowing what to expect? Remember how wide your eyes got as the tiny crystals bounced around the inside of your mouth, and the tingling, sweet sensation on your tongue? I liken my first time listening to Brazilian Girls to eating Pop-Rocks: fun, pleasantly surprising, and deliciously entertaining. These are all words I would use to describe the group. "Brazilian" or "girls" are not. The group does not hail from Brazil and is not comprised of girls, at least not entirely. Girls or not, though, they just wanna have fun, and fun is exactly what you'll have listening to their latest album, <I>New York City.</I>

When Brazilian Girls formed in a New York club in 2003, they were a quartet comprised of singer Sabina Sciubba, keyboardist Didi Gutman, drummer Aaron Johnston and bassist Jesse Murphy (currently on hiatus). Proving that quantity is not quality, the triplet powers on with their third full-length album on the prestigious jazz label, Verve Records. Lead singer Sciubba may be everything but Brazilian. Born to German and Italian parents and raised in Munich and Nice, she speaks five languages including French, Italian, German, Spanish, and English, all of which are incorporated into the group's songs. Eccentricity might as well be the band's middle name. The Brazilian Girls' music has been described as everything from electronic to techno to tango; in fact, they draw from all genres, lending to an eclectic, modern, world sound. Trust me: you'll feel more cultured by the end of the first song.

I first heard of Brazilian Girls at Coachella '07. There was this inescapable buzz about them. For some reason or another, I wasn't able to catch their set, but I did buy this awesome Brazilian Girls T-shirt at the merch booth. This T-shirt has come to haunt me. It's bright yellow and has a pop-art, Marilyn-esque lady on it with a censor bar over her eyes. Before I'd actually listened to the group, every time I'd wear that t-shirt people would ask me who the band was and if I was a big fan. "Um…" Thus, when I heard Brazilian Girls would be playing at this year's Lollapalooza, I made it top priority to see them. With 50,000+ people, it was like a giant dance party as Sciubba screamed to the crowd, "Let me hear you shout! Pussy! Pussy! Marijuana!" Who doesn't love a band who sings about some of the "necessities" in life?

<I>New York City</I> features a multi-faceted sound akin to world music but with a modern pop twist. Relying heavily on spunky percussion, interesting time signatures, and Sciubba's warm, throaty voice, <I>New York City</I> envelops you in rich, sensual sounds.

The first track, "St. Petersburg," begins with these moody drums that make me think of a jungle safari. Don't be fooled by the whistling - this isn't a Peter Bjorn and John song, though it may sound like that at first. As Sciubba's sulky voice slinks in, it's love at first listen. "Do you like my accent," she sings, "when I call you up again?" You know you love her accent. The unusual use of a saw gives the song an unexpected island feel. "Losing Myself" covers the electronic end of the spectrum with a hint of Crystal Castles. Though this is one of my least favorite tracks off the album due to less than unimaginative lyrics ("I'm losing myself, abusing myself, losing myself over you") and a plain-vanilla keyboard sound, you have to give Brazilian Girls props for switching gears on you like that and singing in French.

Speaking of the unexpected, I sure didn't see the tuba and following carnival-like orchestration on the song "Berlin" coming, nor did I expect to hear tinges of the mid-20th-century French singer Edith Piaf on the track. Sciubba's voice comes through. She waivers between English and French, singing "Vive! Vive!" You'll see what I mean by sensual when you hear the beginning of "Ricardo," with its low humming and fast-spoken Spanish. She seems to have the rolling of her "r"s down pat. Ignore the random electronic vocals in the background of the chorus. Sometimes Brazilian Girls try too hard, but we'll forgive them and move on.

My favorite track is, hands down, "Good Time," which is the first single. And what a great time you'll have trying to sing the song! I fully intend to dance my pants off to this track. As the bass kicks in, you hear voices laughing as they say the phrase "all the time" in different accents. You can picture friends of the band coming into the studio to help out with the song and having a blast. The best part of the song is, once again, Sciubba: "Some people want to lie on the beach in the Caribbean. Some people want to do crazy things to green amphibians. Some people want pussy, pussy, marijuana. We just want a good time." When you hear her sing "good time" in falsetto, you'll seriously consider learning French or Spanish or both.

Over all, the album is unlike anything I had listened to before and I think it's pretty strong. On my first few listens I didn't care for about half the tracks, but the other half are everything I ever want electronica/tango/world/techno to be. All said, I promise it's hard to have a dull moment with <I>New York City.</I>