The much namedropped Brazilians known as Cansei De Ser Sexy open this gig with ‘`CSS Suxxx’, also the intro track to their Sub Pop released debut album. You could say it’s a double bluff (as well as a double entendre), sneakily laying claim to any negative judgements that might be made of them. On the album it works perfectly, setting the tone for the ensuing batch of sexy-smart, post-punk party tunes. Tonight though, unfortunately, they do kind of suck.
Maybe my expectations of CSS were unrealistic, but this gig isn’t as outrageously fun as I had hoped. Yes, singer Lovefoxxx shakes her stuff as enthusiastically as the Go Team’s Ninja, fearlessly crowd surfs, and teases us with some cartoonish moves. But after a while her act seems slightly contrived, like the most popular girl in school desperate to maintain her status as centre of attention. She carries out her vocal duties with ease, but some of the archness of songs like ‘`Artbitch’ are lost by her lack of focus on the lyrics, and the mostly female band seem just a little more concerned with striking poses than playing exciting music. It’s only when they encore with ‘`Let’s Make Love and Listen to Death From Above’ that the crowd really get grooving and for the final three minutes we get the full on CSS party experience.
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