Their
burgeoning individual careers, to date, have included many years of touring
experience with some of the founding fathers of Brazilian Bossa Nova and
Tropicalia and collaborations with such diverse musicians as Beastie Boy
producer Mario Caldato, Brazilian noise-guru Arto Lindsay, and Trattoria
artist Takako Minekawa.Most recently, they have embarked together on the project of a musical trilogy: three albums by the threesome, each created under the leadership of a different member, and allowing his particular vision to come to the forefront. With each incarnation, we see the triumvirate through a different lens. As Domenico explains: “We had the idea to make a trilogy with music. Each member of the band will stand in the center and make his own album, in this way, we can change the focus every shot we make.”
2001 saw the release of Music Typewriter, the exquisitely crafted, lyrical debut of the plus twos. The album, accompanied by an extended tour of the US, Canada, Europe, and Japan, was highly praised by critics. “Half of this debut is mentholated bossa nova; half is sexy carnival music for the digital era. All of it is gorgeous.” (Entertainment Weekly; February 23, 2001)
Three years on, the band has undertaken a change in musical direction (and name), shifting focus to the drummer, electronic percussionist, composer, and "sound-scapist" Domenico Lancelotti. Sincerely Hot infectiously combines samba, bossa nova, tropicalia, MPB (Música Popular Brasileira), rock and electronica together in a raw, rough mix that still hangs on to its sweet Brazilian roots. It may be, in Moreno's words, "clearly a drummer's album," but its reconstitution of the diverse elements present on Music Typewriter - increasing the emphasis on groove and sonic experimentalism, without sacrificing the compositional mettle and subtlety that kindled the trio's first album - result in an invigorating, inventive, but approachable record that should appeal to ears of all stripes.
-Domenico- was born in 1972 and raised in an Italian-Brazilian family in Rio de Janeiro. The rhythms of samba are in his blood: his father is the well-known 1970s composer and singer Ivor Lancellotti. Domenico has collaborated with artists such as Quarteto Em Cy, Daniel Jobim, Caetano Veloso, Fernanda Abreu, Adriana Calcanhotto; in the '90s, around the time he first met and befriended his current compadres, he formed the experimental rock band Mulheres Que Dizem Sim (Women Who Say Yes). As well as a drummer, Domenico is also a visual artist - he created the cover art for all of the trio's releases so far, with the help of his wife Zoy.
“When we made Moreno Veloso+2’s Typewriter Music, we focused on the singing. And first when I thought of making mine, I wanted it to be as bossa nova trio like Milton Banana, where the drummer always leads other musicians. My album become something different from this, but the idea is till there and one can hear it on the album.” -DomenicoBorn in Bahia, Brazil's first capital and the birthplace of many Afro-Brazilian beats, -Moreno- was raised in Rio de Janeiro by perhaps the country's most respected composer and singer, Caetano Veloso, and his wife Dede. A gifted singer equally at home on guitar, cello, trumpet, and tambourine, Moreno has had the opportunity to experience firsthand the siftings and shiftings of Brazilian musics throughout his life. The constant exploration and recombination of styles which is evident throughout Caetano's career is also very present in that of Moreno, whose tendency is to bridge the experimental and the traditional, as with both his mid-90's band Gold Nyte Warszawa and the current group.
The group's third member and the producer of Sincerely Hot, -Kassin- is what we call a pure Carioca. From the beginning, Kassin has always been fond of the experimental, bizarre side of music. His older brother, a DJ, encouraged his catholic tastes early on, inspiring him to purchase his first album – a Kraftwerk record – at the age of 8. In 1996 he released his first album with his Tex- Mex/ska fusion band Acabou La Tequila. A
well-known producer as well as a bassist, Kassin has collaborated with and produced many artists including Lenine, Marisa Monte, Bebel Gilberto, Arto Lindsay, Caetano Veloso and Jorge Mautner.
“I have never cared about where music is from. I think it is very discriminative to categorize any music to a certain frame. [That] all the music except from U.S.A and Europe would be always categorized as world music – I feel this way of thinking is very colonial.” -Kassin
Welcome to the revolving musical door that is Moreno, Domenico, and Kassin. Stylistic trailblazers, accomplished instrumentalists, respected producers, heirs to a family heritage of Tropicalia and Samba, and the vanguard of a new generation of Brazilian musicians - these are three consummate artists whose unique mix of traditional Brazilian songwriting with the quirky beats, loops, and noises of contemporary electronica is defining the sound of New Brazil.