Diplo / CSS / Bonde Do Role

Referred to as "Brazilapalooza” by headliner Diplo, La Sala was a fitting temperature — hot! Starting off with Bonde Do Role, this two-guy, one-girl three-piece started with a "christening” by beer for two of the three band members and got only more rock’n’roll from there, continuing with illegal samples galore (AC/DC, Tone Loc and the Darkness, all in the space of a couple of minutes). Displaying a heroic level of alcoholic consumption, rarely has a more trashed-looking front person — female singer Marina Ribatski — been seen onstage at La Sala, and that’s no small declaration. Featuring basically a lot of shouting, in Portuguese no less, over patchwork beats, it shouldn’t have been nearly as good it was but they stole the show. Up next were the equally Brazilian but notably less entertaining CSS. Having met their quota of band members — six, with five women and three guitarists — they proceeded with a fairly average but nonetheless quite enthusiastic and well-received set of dance rock, à la Franz Ferdinand, but in Portuguese, for a sweaty and at this point, quite drunken crowd. Towards one a.m., Diplo magically appeared 15-feet above the dance floor at the DJ booth at the back of the room and started a laptop-based DJ set complete with manipulated audio synchronised to video — an impressive feat. Musically, it was exactly the ass-shaking tunage one would expect: "Hey, Mr. Postman” as a hip-hop track, plus Art of Noise’s "Moments In Love” thrown in for good measure and some Missy Elliott vs. Clash before going all Brazilian with a few guest songs by the openers, at which point the heat had reached critical levels. The fact that Diplo was the only act that didn’t crowd-surf probably tells you all you need to know; it was an entertaining night.