Rockin' Our Turntable: Cansei de Ser Sexy
By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on Jul 17, 2008 4:37PM
Between "Let's Make Love and Listen to Death From Above" and the iPod commercial soundtrack "Music Is My Hot Sex" we think it's safe to assume every human being has heard the music of Cansei de Ser Sexy (CSS). On their sophomore effort Donkey, due next week from Sub Pop, the band continues to deliver danceable rock songs guaranteed to keep their fans happy. We've heard some criticism directed CSS's way for not being experimental enough on the new album, or failing to branch out their sound, but we think that sort of misses the whole point of the band.
CSS espouses an ebullience and joi de vivre both on record and in their live shows that is hard to resist. They're a new millennial party band in the same slightly subversive way that the B-52s were a good-time group in the '80s. CSS creates sugary nuggets of danceable pop with a healthy dose of sass cut with a punk "anything goes" attitude. Singer Lovefoxxx's vocals rope you in as she peppers her schoolyard cadences with a coy sexiness that endear her to members of both sexes.
Donkey succeeds because CSS continues to build on their strengths and deliver an album that appeals to both brain and hips without really challenging either to work to hard. It's the band's ease with which they complete this dual seduction that is their strongest asset, and they make full use of it on Donkey.