Donkey
CSS
Sub Pop
“If you are my friend you can sharpen my things with your teeth,” chirps CSS frontwoman Lovefoxxx on the dirty synth dance number “Let’s Reggae All Night.” Is the lyric gibberish? A sly sexual innuendo? Who knows. Ultimately, it’s one of those lines that’s impossible to define but grabs your attention nonetheless. Donkey is full of ’em. (“Kiss you in the photo booth/Duct tape you to my roof,” goes the chorus to “Believe/Achieve.”) That’s what keeps São Paulo, Brazil, quintet CSS afloat in the flooded field of retro electro-pop, a genre reliant on incessant, lo-fi plastic rhythms that purposely recall early MTV-era post punk. CSS became critic’s darlings two summers ago with its full-length debut Cansei de Ser Sexy (Portuguese for “Tired of Being Sexy”). Donkey plays like a formulaic sequel, but, y’know, with a fresh batch of memorable lines. 3 stars
This article appears in Aug 20-26, 2008.
