CSS (band)

CSS

CSS is a Brazilian band from São Paulo, whose songs have an electroclash sound, but they also play indie rock and synthpop songs. The band was labeled as part of the explosion of the New Rave scene. Their songs are in both English and portuguese. CSS is an acronym for Cansei de Ser Sexy (IPA: [kɐ̃'sej dʒɪ seɾ 'sɛksɪ]), literally "I got tired of being sexy" in Portuguese.

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 achieved notoriety through the Internet. Some of its members, like Adriano Cintra, had been previously known in São Paulo's underground club scene, but not outside of the local alternative subculture. Others, like Lovefoxxx, were owners of popular fotolog and flickr pages. 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). 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 the British newspaper The Guardian, whose reporter, Peter Culshaw, 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". Several songs by CSS were featured in mainstream media: "Meeting Paris Hilton" was featured in the Latin American broadcasting of The Simple Life, "Superafim" was used in the Brazilian version of the Big Brother reality show, and "Computer Heat" was used in the South American version of the game The Sims 2: Nightlife, including a version in Simlish. Still without a record deal, they released two independent EPs in 2004, and played that year at TIM Festival.

In 2005, they signed with the Trama Virtual label, 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 away 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.

In the beginning of 2006, CSS signed with Sub Pop to release their international debut album. The first single, released on 6 June, 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.

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 at various festivals across Europe in the summer of 2007, and 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.

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. 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 11 September, 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 28 October 2007, and later in Japan and Europe. Due to the song's exposure in the US, it hit #63 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the highest charting single by a Brazilian 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. FIFA 08 also features "Off The Hook". Their song "Jager Yoga" features in the soundtrack of FIFA 09. and "Rat Is Dead (Rage)" appears in Midnight Club: Los Angeles.

In April 2008, Iracema Trevisan left the band; Adriano Cintra replaced her on bass guitar. The band is currently working with a session drummer , Jon Harper of The Cooper Temple Clause.

"Rat Is Dead (Rage)", the first single to be taken from their forthcoming second album was made available as a free download from the CSS website in April 2008. The band's second album Donkey, was released on 21 July 2008 with first single proper, "Left Behind", preceding it earlier in the month. The song "Rat Is Dead (Rage)" is featured in the video game Midnight Club: Los Angeles.

Discography

Albums

• Cansei de Ser Sexy (Trama) - 2005 (Brazil)
• Cansei de Ser Sexy (Sub Pop/Warner) - 2006 (International) UK Number 69
• Donkey (Sub Pop/Warner/Trama) - 21 July 2008 UK Number 32, US Number 189

EPs

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

Singles

Year	Song	Chart positions				Album
		UK	IRE	CAN	U.S.
2006	"Alala"	89	–	–	–	Cansei de Ser Sexy
	"Off the Hook"	43	–	–	–
2007	"Let's Make Love and Listen to Death from Above"	32	37	–	–
	"Alcohol"	–	–	–	–
	"Music Is My Hot Hot Sex"	–	–	12	63
2008	"Rat Is Dead (Rage)"	–	–	–	–	Donkey
	"Left Behind"	78	–	–	–
	"Move"	–	–	–	–

Remixes

• Tiny Masters of Today - Hey Mr. DJ (2007)
• Bitchee Bitchee Ya Ya Ya - Fuck Friend (2007)
• Lily Allen - Alfie (2007)
• The Wombats - Kill the Director (2007)
• The Mules - We're Good People (2007)
• The Little Ones - Lovers Who Uncover (2007)
• Bonde Do Role - Office Boy (2007)
• The Cribs - Men's Needs (2007)
• Loney, Dear - The City, The Airport (2007)
• Asobi Seksu - Strawberries (2007)
• Kylie Minogue - Wow (2008)
• Tetine - I Go To The Doctor! (2008)
• The B-52's - Funplex (2008)
• Digitalism - Pogo (2008)
• Bloc Party - Mercury (2008)
• Lykke Li - Little Bit (2008)
• Keane - The Lovers Are Losing (2008)
• Sia - Buttons (2008)
• Tilly and the wall - The Freest Man (?)
• Blondie - One Way or Another (?)
• The Breeders - Cannonball (?)
• L7 - Pretend We're Dead (?)

Contributions

• Grizzly Bear - Knife (2007)

References

• Review at www.metacritic.com
• Review at www.cloudspeakers.com

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 at Stomp Entertainment

Interviews and live reviews

• CSS' Luiza Sa: The New Gay Interview
• Adriano Cintra talks about Donkey, gay karaoke & The Beatles
• CSS @ Gold Coast VFestival video feature - virgin.com/music, April 2008
• 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
• Live performance on BBC 6 Music Hub Session - 27 February 2007
• Live performance on BBC 6 Music Hub Session - 17 July 2008
• The Times, "I predict a riot"
• The Times, "Brazil Nutters"
• The Independent, "CSS: Too sexy for São Paulo", published 13 April 2007, retrieved 12 June 2007.
• The Telegraph, Donkey Review