Cansei de Ser Sexy

Cansei de ser Sexy (Portuguese for “tired of being sexy”) have come a long way since leaving their Sao Paolo art school/dance club roots, and the five girl/one guy Brazilian band seem to be having too fun much to worry about anything as mundane as pop world domination. Seattle’s Sub Pop label shrewdly swapped out four of the original Brazilian release’s Portuguese-language tracks, but the album’s core remains an often loopy mash-up of electro dance beats, New Wave sass and self-deprecating 'tude: Hard not to like a band who introduces itself with a Toni Basil-worthy cheerleader’s chant that insists “C-S-S-Suxxx!” Or one who forges something as instantly inviting as “Let’s Make Love and Listen to Death From Above” from a grab-bag of cheesy synth riffs and club music clichés, all the while paying tribute to one of their own fave indie acts. There’s an innocent, amateurish quality to vocalist Lovefoxxx that, wed to the snarky disdain for fame and pretension of "Art Bitch" and “Meeting Paris Hilton" and her band's disparate pop-craft savvy on “Off the Hook” and “Alcohol,” can be downright irresistible. In a world crowded by sanctimonious pop stars pleading to be taken seriously, CSS often succeeds simply by challenging you not to.