Send "CSS " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
 The 2006 arrival of Sao Paulo novo-wave sextet CSS couldn't have been better timed, coming as it did in the wake of a pervasive post-punk revival in indie-rock, a burgeoning Diplo-led interest in gritty Brazilian dance music, and a broadband-enabled globalized mode of music consumption that allowed record labels to perform international A&R scouting from their desktops. And CSS were more than happy to seize the moment, making music with no regard for tomorrow, filling their hipster-embraced debut album Cansei de Ser Sexy with trashy tributes to indie-rock favorites of the day and 15-minute celebrities du jour.However, after their 2008 downer of a sophomore album, Donkey, failed to generate the same amount of dancefloor traction-- and following a subsequent split from their North American boosters at Sub Pop-- CSS know it's going to take a lot more than a Death From Above 1979 reunion tour to make them relevant again. And so on La Liberación, they attempt something of a maturation process. If, as Pitchfork's Eric Harvey said in his review of Donkey, CSS' disco-punk found its life source in Blondie's "Atomic", then La Liberación finds them uncoiling that tightly wound sound to absorb "The Tide Is High" island vibes and "Rapture"-style inner-city funk. Musically speaking, CSS can evolve only as much as lightning-rod frontwoman Lovefoxxx allows, and on La Liberación, she's only game to break from her potty-mouthed party-girl persona about half the time. That Lovefoxxx is aware of her own vacuity doesn't make it easier to take-- the remedial, call-and-response chorus of "I Love You" (all together now: "I love you/ I love you, too") may very well be a comment on the transactional nature of relationships, but, in the absence of a proper hook, it feels more like lazy songwriting. And the would-be empowerment anthem "City Grrrl"-- an unapologetic celebration of revealing outfits and one-night stands-- feels like a forced attempt to fly the freak flag for club kids sick of dancing to "Born This Way"....full text |
| Avclub |
| CSS is a tricky band. As easily likeable for its punchy dance-rock as it is dismissible for its lyrical detachment, the Brazilian act does little to shift that acuity on the new La Liberación. The album opens warmly enough: “I Love You” is the cutesy CSS from 2006’s Cansei De Ser Sexy, punctuated with noncommittal lines like “The rain is falling on my head / Bringing thoughts it never had / Like love and shit.” Following that, the dancehall-inflected “Hits Me Like A Rock” is a cushy out-the-gate hit (and first single) that makes good use of Primal Scream’s Bobby Gillespie. His polished delivery is a smart contrast to lead vocalist Lovefoxxx’s much higher and rougher pitch. A few tracks beyond that, though, the album seems to unwittingly plateau. The middle is a muddle of neutral rhythms and indistinguishable choruses. Even the title track has a listlessness about it that would seem to belie its punky, guitar-driven refrains. But this is CSS, after all—a band that is much better known for its catchy, singular hits and dance floor remixes than it is for its studio albums. La Liberación certainly shows the band’s potential as a shimmering and chaotic live act, but it doesn’t do much else. The third album for any group is a hard one. And where others might have taken this as their moment to sink or swim, CSS has chosen—either wisely or ambivalently—to just float along....full text |
| Latimesblogs |
| In hindsight, how prescient was CSS (Cansei de Ser Sexy, which means "tired of being sexy" in Portuguese) to release a sarcastic electro-poppy album about getting hammered and being too hot for your own good in 2006? Now that Ke$ha and Katy Perry have ridden similar sounds to the top of the charts (and tipsily onto the floors of the world’s best nightclubs), what’s a band of smarmy Brazilian discophiles to do? On “La Liberacion,” it’s to go unexpectedly earnest. The band’s third album freshens up its synth-heavy productions with flourishes of piano pop and tight Cars-style guitars. But now that the deepest American suburbs are down with electro party nihilism, the band’s transition to the heartfelt really does feel like it's tired of being sexy. Sometimes it works: “Hits Me Like a Rock” has a balmy, perfectly plastic Caribbean vibe; “Echo of Love” is a little late to the clean-guitar Afro-pop party, but CSS has enough street party chops to pull it off. But these smack-talking savants are usually way more fun than “Ruby Eyes” or “Partners in Crime” would suggest. “In the big city, nothing hurts,” singer Lovefoxxx purrs on “City Grrrl.” But the atypical sincerity of “La Liberacion” suggests that something -- whether the burdens of relentless sexiness or beating pop music at its own game too soon -- still does....full text |
CSS lyrics
|
| ||||||||||
