Donkey

"We had this friend in Brazil and she always went around calling people a donkey, like 'oh you're such a donkey', and in Brazil a donkey is a stupid person so that's where it came from" -- Lovefoxxx

Okay, Lovefoxxx has explained why the album is called "Donkey" but this is a rather strange title for CSS' second album. Their sound is much more tight and adult, and the risque, sometimes potty-mouthed lyrics have gone out of the window. "Cansei De Ser Sexy" would have been a better title for this one but I'll let it slide this time...

It's been a tough couple of years for the Brazilians: Ira Trevisan left the band and returned to fashion design citing "environmental issues" and they sacked their long-term manager Eduardo for incompetency after they ended up financially in the red despite massively successful world tours that saw them rocket to fame - as a result the band claim that they spent their time without hardly any money in strange cities and sleeping in rubbish motels. Ira was in a relationship with Eduardo. A lot of these hardships are reflected in this album.

"Rat Is Dead (Rage)" is a somewhat lyrically melancholy song that seems to touch upon fighting and desperation and I can believe that the rat of the title is Ira. Opener "Jager Yoga" sees singer Lovefoxxx sing "Don't mess my holiday!" angrily as if speaking to Eduardo when he was messing around with the finances. New single "Left Behind" seems to be a song about moving on, but reflecting on the past, commenting on the bad memories that still haunt them (Lovefoxxx recently broke down in an interview after being questioned over the past couple of years, saying that she was angry over what had happened).

Luckily, they still haven't lost their fun side. Nearly all of the melodies on the album are upbeat and happy despite the dark undertones and tracks like "Move" (my personal favourite song, with Lovefoxxx rapping towards the end), "I Fly" and "Let's Reggae All Night" showing that they still haven't lost their touch for danceable indie-pop, despite being tighter as a unit.

Their debut "Cansei De Ser Sexy" was a brilliant mess but this is a testament to how far they've come in such a short space of time. In a way you can only thank Ira and Eduardo for turning the band into this much more grown-up and yet still utterly fun group. They still look like they're having fun - I still am as well.

What I'm Listening to Right Now - "I Fly" by CSS

Back. And Q&A

This is just a little quick post to let everyone know that I'm back from holiday and I'm ready to be posting like crazy on both of my blogs (click here) over the weekend and possibly into next week.

On the music front I have decided that some of the money that was left over from my hols should be used to buy up some new CDs. So, expect some reviews of CSS, Ida Maria and Siouxsie and the Banshees (yes, I still haven't got a complete collection) to come your way soon. Oh, and there'll be more from Mercury Month as I go through more nominees and have a good laugh about Estelle's contribution.

Also, many people want to know if I am a musician and how I know about all these new bands. My answer is this: to question one no, but I'd like to play bass because my fingers are a bit too stubby for guitar (I know this from experience).

To the second question, I have my sources, turning up to gigs to watch the support acts is beneficial (this introduced me to, among others, CSS, The Ting Tings, Yeasayer and Delays all well before they were famous. For instance I saw the Ting Tings at a New Young Pony Club gig and banged on about them to my friends who couldn't care less. Skip forward 12 months and I can say that I've seen one of the most popular new bands in the UK live before anyone had heard of them. And knew all of the words to "Great DJ" and "That's Not My Name" at the gig). But the rest is a secret ;)