The Good is a Big God

Over the years, I have returned to Rio drummer Domenico Lancellotti's collaborations with Moreno Veloso and Alexandre Kassin - the trio calling itself +2, with each member taking turns to be the main focus - more than almost any other Brazilian album I own. They are albums that are agreeably melodic and accessible yet full of little avant-garde twists and turns. And much the same can be said of this, Lancellotti's second solo effort. It does, in fact, contain guest appearances from both Veloso and Kassin, while Nina Miranda also pops up on one tune, which she breezily ‘la-la-la's her way through, somehow evoking a spirit of 1960s flower power without even trying.

The whole album is a thrilling mix of the kitsch and the cool, the old and the new: it's pure samba one moment, angular rock, disco or pseudo-80s TV theme-tune the next. Credit should also be given to co-producer Sean O'Hagan, of Stereolab fame, for some intimate string arrangements that act as a perfect foil for the bursts of sci-fi synth, anarchic guitar and edgy percussion. This by turns melancholy, sensual and darn-right crazy album will provide musical nourishment for years to come.