The +2: Rockin' Rio With Some New Musical Math

Suppose the Beatles had introduced themselves to the world with the so-called White Album -- essentially solo material with the group backing each member in turn. Or perhaps if the first time we'd experienced Kiss was with the four solo albums the greasepainted rockers released in the mid-'70s.

That's sort of how the Brazilian band +2 burst on the world, though in their case the bursting took place over three albums, each spotlighting one of the three member, released over a span of seven years: the soft but askew 'Music Typewriter' billed as Moreno + 2 in 2001, the oft-electronics-based 'Sincerely Hot' by Domenico + 2 in 2004 and the recent wide-ranging trilogy-closer 'Futurismo' under the name Kassin +2. Each one reflects the respective front person's aesthetics, with distinctive takes on stylized updates of bossa nova, samba and colorful psychedelic tropicalia traditions.

But now that that's all out of the way: Meet the +2. A "debut" group album is in the works, with some material to be previewed in a short series of U.S. concerts, the trio's first shows here in more than five years. The unusual roll-out wasn't the product of calculation but of natural evolution.

"We never made big plans about how our music is supposed to sound," says Alexandre Kassin, a noted, versatile musician and producer (Marisa Monte, Bebel Gilberto) in his own right. "We have this project together because we are friends. We have fun making music together. It's not business."

Friendship, art or business, it's a solid venture. The three each are forces in the Brazilian music world. Moreno is Moreno Veloso, son of the essential tropicalista Caetano Veloso, with credits including playing in his father's band and producing several of his albums, including last year's brilliant 'Ce.' Domenico is Domenico Lancellotti, a drummer and electronicist who also is the son of a well-known Rio music figure, singer-composer Ivor Lancellotti. And Kassin covers all the basses, having played with just about everyone in the Rio scene (including serving stints as bassist in the elder Veloso's band and anchoring the sprawling Orchestra Imperial) and having produced such leaders of the recent Brazilian music generations as Marisa Monte and Bebel Gilberto out of his Monaural Studios -- not to mention making his own albums, including one fashioned from the noises made by a Gameboy.

With all that, it's not surprising it would take three albums to explore the various ways the combination could manifest musically. But now that they've done that, it's a logical next step to integrate it into a true trio, and fittingly the new group music will have a different approach and sound than the solo-ish albums.

"I think the band album will have the elements we have in common," he says." This time we wanted to star the songs over jams. The last album was pretty much a song album. We wanted not to focus on the fact that we have very interesting results when we play together and start the compositions over band playing. Recently we did a soundtrack together for a Brazilian dance company called Grupo Corpo. We did a few tracks like that, and the results were great."

The process-in-action will be a big part of the U.S. shows, which kick off with three New York dates, including participation in two Red Hot + Rio shows Thursday and Friday at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Those shows will have special elements, both in content and purpose, with bills including fellow Brazilian stars CéU, Curumin and Bebel Gilberto, along with Swedish singer-songwriter Jose Gonzalez and the shows commemorating the two '90s Rio-centric albums that was part of the AIDS-awareness 'Red Hot' series.

"The event is a tribute to the Brazilian soul generation," Kassin says. "We will be playing songs from Jorge Ben, Tim Maia, Marcos Valle. Those songs we are playing area a big part of my life. João Paraiba, the percussion player on this project, actually recorded some of the albums I've listened to most of my life. Just to be in front of him listening is a huge experience for me. I feel transported to inside my favorite albums. And it's a great honor to be part of this project contributing to raising funds for the combat of AIDS in countries where people need the most help."

And the trek, which includes stops in such intimate settings as the Hotel Café in Hollywood on Dec. 10, is also a chance to hone some of the new material.

"After that, we will play the +2 concerts, which is different daily," he says. "We change songs, structures. It will be different every night. We are five playing live now -- me, Moreno, Domenico, Alberto Continentino and Stephane San Juan, so it means the +2+2. It's very confusing."

Muddying up matters even further, Kassin is currently working on a few other projects, each pursuing some tangents from what was on his album. One is a new album with Sean O'Hagan , the composer/arranger best known for leading the lush classic-pop band the High Llamas, who co-wrote and sang on two 'Futurismo' tracks.

"We did many songs together," he says of the new work with O'Hagan." He came to Brazil and we started recording. It's sounding wonderful and different from either High Llamas or Kassin +2. It's a new form of composition for both of us."

As well, he's just completed work on the soundtrack for a Japanese animated film titled 'Michiko to Hatchin,' with plans for a January CD release (check out the frenetic trailer with some of the music here). Oh, and then there's a solo album -- not a +2 venture -- for which he's finishing up songs.

But at the moment, Kassin is just thrilled to be back in the U.S. after what has been for him too long a time.

"I love the U.S.A.," he says. "My mother lives there and my father is American. I have many friends there. But touring there has been hard, especially getting visas for the band."

He's optimistic, though, that things might be opening up on such fronts. "The last tour we did there was around the time Bush announced the war on TV," he says. "It will be good to see the Obama era starting."