CSS (band)

CSS

Cansei de Ser Sexy (IPA: [kɐ̃'seɪ dʒɪ ser 'sɛksɪ], literally "I got tired of being sexy" in Brazilian Portuguese), better known as CSS, are a Brazilian band from São Paulo. Their songs have an electro/rock sound, and are sung in both English and Portuguese; their lyrics mostly concern pop culture.

History

CSS formed in September 2003, consisting of a group of friends. Their name was taken from a reported quote by Beyoncé, who allegedly declared that she was "tired of being sexy".

The band first became known through the internet, and some of its members were somehow famous in São Paulo's underground club scene (but not outside of the local alternative subculture), like Adriano Cintra, and as owners of hugely popular fotolog and flickr pages, as in the case of Lovefoxxx. Their collective band fotolog also gained popularity and their songs were frequently downloaded from Trama Virtual's website (a Brazilian website loosely similar to MySpace Music). After this overnight sensation, Trama Virtual invested heavily in the band, inviting a series of Brazilian and British journalists to report on them. Articles were printed in several Brazilian magazines and even British newspapers such as The Guardian, whose reporter was invited to see the band playing just before their signing for the debut, at a club in São Paulo. He predicted that they "could be the biggest band ever to come out of South America". Songs by CSS found their way into the Latin American broadcasting of The Simple Life (with the song "Meeting Paris Hilton"), the Brazilian Big Brother reality show (with the song "Superafim") and the South American version of the game The Sims 2: Nightlife ("Computer Heat", including a version in Simlish). Still without a record deal, they released two independent EPs in 2004, and played that year at TIM Festival, on the same night and at the same stage as Soulwax and Kraftwerk.

In 2005, they signed with the Trama Virtual label (the first, and to this day the second only band to), and in October their first album was released in Brazil, along with an 7-track EP that was sold at concerts. A limited edition version of the album had a CD-R included, so that the buyer could burn a copy of the album onto the CD-R to give to someone else as a gift. In Brazil the album has reportedly sold 5,000 copies to date, but neither the album nor the singles have reached charts. Two music videos were also released: "Off The Hook" and "Alala". "Off the Hook" was directed by guitar player Ana Rezende, and filmed at the home of band members Carolina Parra and Adriano Cintra, where CSS recorded most of their songs.

At the beginning of 2006, CSS signed with Sub Pop to release their international debut album. The first single, released in June 6, was "Let's Make Love and Listen to Death From Above", with an accompanying video directed by Cat Solen. In July, along with DJ Diplo and funk group Bonde do Rolê, they began their first international tour. This took CSS through the U.S. and Canada where they performed at the Pitchfork Media festival, then across to U.K., France and Netherlands. While in Europe, they performed at the NME festival, sharing stages with the 1990s and opening for Ladytron and Primal Scream. They also played the first ever Indian Summer Festival in Glasgow, Scotland, alongside acts such as Antony and the Johnsons, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Gang of Four. There was also a small UK tour in November, undertaken with Basement Jaxx.

CSS sold as many as 60,000 copies in the US and Europe up to February 2007 (according to journalist Lucio Ribeiro in Folha de São Paulo).

They played on the NME Indie Rave Tour, along with The Sunshine Underground, New Young Pony Club and headliners Klaxons, and in the Coachella Festival in 2007.

Cansei de Ser Sexy performing at Rock en Seine in August 2007

CSS played various Festivals across Europe in the summer of 2007, including Roskilde Festival in Denmark,Hovefestivalen in Norway, Summer Sonic in Makuhari Messe, Japan and a packed-out high-profile slot on the Radio One/NME Stage at Reading and Leeds Festivals in England. They are opening for Gwen Stefani on the European leg of her The Sweet Escape Tour in late 2007, and playing at the Trinity Ball in Dublin, 2007.

CSS were rumoured to support Muse at Wembley Stadium on June 16, 2007, however the band were playing at the O2 Wireless Festival on the same day.

CSS played their hit single "Let's Make Love and Listen to Death From Above" on Friday Night With Jonathan Ross on Friday 15 June, 2007.

CSS were due to play Lollapalooza on 4 August, 2007 but they were held behind by United Airlines at New York Airport and missed it. They did arrive in time for their performance at Virgin Festival in Baltimore the next day.

They toured the UK and Ireland from 9 October to 20 December, 2007.

CSS caught an unlikely break when their song "Music Is My Hot Hot Sex" was used in a worldwide television commercial by Apple Inc. for the iPod Touch. An 18-year-old British student, Nick Haley, used the song in a homemade 30-second commercial for the iPod Touch that he created and then posted on the video sharing site YouTube on September 11, 2007. Creative executives from Apple's advertising agency, TBWA\Chiat\Day, saw Haley's creation, contacted him, and enlisted him to remake it as a broadcast version. The spot began airing in the U.S. on October 28, 2007, and later in Japan and Europe. Due to the song's exposure in the US, it hit #63[1][2] on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the highest charting single by a Brazillian band in the history of the chart. Coincidentally, the same song had been used in a promotion for the competing Zune media player a year prior. In March 2008, the music video for the song amassed over 112 million views on YouTube, making it the most-viewed video on the site, but it has since been removed.

Their singles, "Alala" and "Off The Hook" have been featured in the video game Forza Motorsport 2, while FIFA 08 features only "Off The Hook".

On the first night of their Christmas tour in Dublin, they performed four new songs : "Beautiful Song", "Give up", "Reggae All Night" and "Jager Yoga". They also performed a cover of L7's "Pretend We're Dead".

Discography

Albums

• Cansei de Ser Sexy (LP, Trama) - 2005 (Brazil)
• Cansei de Ser Sexy (LP, Sub Pop/Warner) - 2006 (International) UK #69

EPs

• Em Rotterdam Já É uma Febre (EP, independent) - 2004
• A Onda Mortal / Uma Tarde com PJ (EP, independent) - 2004
• CSS SUXXX (EP, Trama) - 2005 (Brazil)

Singles

Year	Song	Chart						Album
		BRA Hot 100	UK	IRE	U.S. Hot 100	U.S. Mod. Rock	CAN
2006	"Alala"	–	89	–	–	–	–	Cansei de Ser Sexy
	"Off the Hook"	–	43	–	–	–	–
2007	"Let's Make Love and Listen to Death from Above"	–	39	37	–	–	–
	"Alcohol"	–	–	–	–	–	–
	"Music Is My Hot Hot Sex"	25	–	–	63	-	12

External links

• Cansei de Ser Sexy official website
• Template:Myspace
• csstv
• Template:Lastfm
• Cansei de Ser Sexy on Flickr
• Cansei de Ser Sexy at Sub Pop Records
• CSS Trash, a CSS fansite with a frequently updated collection of articles related to the band
• CSS in the Yahoo! Directory
• CSS at Stomp Entertainment

Interviews and Live Reviews

• CSS Back To Brazil Feature - Dazed Digital, February 2008
• CSS first UK cover feature - Plan B Magazine, October 2006
• The Guardian, "Brazil nuts!"
• Interview with CSS on www.krugermagazine.com, 21 January, 2007
• Prefixmag.com, Interview with CSS, published January 29, 2007, retrieved 03 March 2007.
• Live performance on BBC
• The Times, "I predict a riot"
• The Times, "Brazil Nutters"
• The Independent, "CSS: Too sexy for Sao Paulo", published 13 April 2007, retrieved 12 June 2007.