Cansei de Ser Sexy

CSS live.

Brixton Academy, London

Caroline Sullivan
Wednesday December 5, 2007
The Guardian

Cansei de Ser Sexy (as they initially were until they gave in to the English-speaking world's lack of enthusiasm for other tongues) have already grasped a basic fact about how to win over UK audiences. Play party music to a British crowd when their reserve is down - at a summer festival, perhaps, or in the month before Christmas - and you have a career. CSS have exploited this knowledge: in June and July, no outdoor stage went unvisited by their five-female, one-male Brazilian rave-up, and here they are again, headlining 4,000-seaters in time for office-party season.

Their commitment to fun extends to decorating the stage with tinsel and small, bespangled Christmas trees, and the band arrive on stage dressed as gift-wrapped presents. As a tape of Jingle Bells plays and "snow" drifts down from the ceiling, they gambol around with a lack of self-consciousness that would be alien to British bands. "It's the best time of year!" bawls Lovefoxxx, the cat-suited firecracker who acts as mistress of ceremonies and singer.

She is the one band member who might be recognised by those outside CSS's indie-rave world, by virtue of being the loudest component of a loud band. A year of touring their self-titled debut album has not quenched her enthusiasm for being the centre of attention - far from it. More dedicated amateur than conventional singer, she still derives joy from yapping the words to Music Is My Hot Hot Sex and CSS Suxxx. And it is Lovefoxxx's dervish-dancing that keeps the mind from wandering when songs occasionally blur into garage-rock mush, which is the inevitable outcome of six people pounding out tracks that are more pulsing rhythms than "tunes" as such.

There are occasional big-chorus moments, though - Let's Make Love and Listen to Death from Above and the new mock-reggae Jamaica Song stand out here - and when they happen, band and audience frenziedly bond. Brazil may be better at producing footballers and Britain superior at making rock music, but at moments like this, it is one happy bilingual family. "Let's reggae all day!" bleats Lovefoxxx, which makes about as much sense as any of her lyrics - again, though, it is all in the delivery. It is easy to see why these former art students have been embraced by the fashionistas, but don't let that put you off.

· At the Academy, Glasgow, tonight. Box office: 0141-418 3000. Then touring.

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