CSS - Donkey

by Eddie Robson

Packs a punch

"The reaction to this record has largely been that people preferred them when they were less competent. Allow us to redress the balance."

Well, this must seem like a kick in the teeth. Five years ago a bunch of bored Brazilian kids formed a band and knocked out an album which, due to their limitations as musicians, was somewhat ramshackle. To their clear surprise everyone went mad for it and they ended up touring the world – enduring a tough couple of years due to being totally unprepared for it (poor management left them penniless at one point). So anyway, they came through and in the process they’ve learned how to play properly and here’s their new record. Only the reaction has largely been that people preferred them when they were less competent.

Allow us to redress the balance. The first album was, truth be told, a bit overrated, with a clutch of good songs and some eye-catching lyrics to distract from the fact that not all of the tunes were as strong as ‘Alala’ or ‘Let’s Make Love and Listen to Death From Above’. It was acclaimed for its freshness more than its quality. It was good, and gave them something to hang their live performances on, but there was certainly lots of room to improve there.

And they have improved. ‘Donkey’ contains some very fine tracks, most notably the excellent ‘Rat is Dead (Rage)’ which is new-wave gorgeousness of the sort The Strokes would kill for these days. Similarly, ‘Left Behind’ has a terrific high-octane chorus which demonstrates that they’ve honed their understanding of song dynamics. Both tracks trump anything on the first album, except possibly the underrated J-pop-punk of ‘Patins’. There’s also the muscular opener ‘Jager Yoga’, the synth attack of ‘How I Became Paranoid’, the slick nu-disco of ‘Move’ and the breezy melancholy of ‘Air Painter’. Not every track is a winner, but then that was patently true of their debut.

Admittedly there are no dumb-fun lyrics like ‘Meeting Paris Hilton’ or ‘Alcohol’, but as Lovefoxxx has said, she partly wrote that way before because her English wasn’t that great – so asking her to keep writing that way is rather like demanding that she, and CSS, take on the ‘funny foreigners’ role. Which is a bit patronising, really. It’s a tricky position for CSS – they’re far from the first ‘party’ band to feel that it would be nice to do something more serious (you’re next, Ting Tings) – but ‘Donkey’ is certainly a stab in the right direction and the last thing they should do now is take a backward step.
Fletchy Fletch Fletch said on July 16th 2008 [report abuse]

bloody good review.

ryk said on July 17th 2008 [report abuse]

agreed.

Smimrod said on July 18th 2008 [report abuse]

Hi Everyone, Just wanted to say I found a free download of 'Rat is Dead' off CSS's new Album 'Donkey' - Its also MP3 which is Sweet! I believe the company, 7Digital are also offering the album for a fiver…which is cool :-)

kt said on July 18th 2008 [report abuse]

what they said

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