Super Nova Samba Funk

Over a decade that’s seen all kinds of obscure and often fantastic Brazilian funk prised from the archives, the band that first carried the black Rio sound abroad have been conspicuous by their relative absence. In fact it’s been over a decade since William Magalhães, son of the band’s late founder Oberdan, reformed BBR for the well-received Rebirth album. SuperNovaSambaFunk pretty much picks up where that record left off, albeit with a roll call of collaborators both crusty and contemporary. Predictably perhaps, Seu Jorge pops up within a couple of tracks, although if there’s anyone who can recontextualise that vintage BBR sound it’s surely him and ‘Louis Lane’ doesn’t disappoint – a sun-bleached, P-funkesque monster with all its references down pat. Much of the rest of the album is smoother and more soulful, with Luaka Bop signing Marcio Local crooning his way through ‘Quem Vem Lá’ and the likes of ‘It’s The Time’ reminiscent of vintage Talking Loud funky soul. With hypnotic standout ‘Paname’, however, Magalhães proves himself as far-sighted as anyone in São Paulo, brilliantly locating the ghost of Marvin Gaye in the electro-grinding, Francophone machine of Brazil-based Congolese rapper, Pyroman. The old guard are saved till last, as the former minister Gilberto Gil broods some wisdom into the Afro-Brazilian percussion of ‘Irere’ and Caetano Veloso hovers tantalisingly over the really quite lovely closer, Aos Pés Do Redentor’. The flip side of all these collaborative sparks, alas, is the loss of the kind of seamless sonic vision that made the recent Azymuth album so intoxicating.