Cansei de Ser Sexy

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CSS (Cansei de Ser Sexy)

Background information
Origin São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Genre(s) Rock
Indie rock
Electro
Alternative rock
Indietronica
Years active 2003–present
Label(s) Sub Pop
Website Official website
Members
Lovefoxxx
Adriano Cintra
Luiza Sá
Ana Rezende
Iracema Trevisan
Carolina Parra
Former members
Maria Helena Zerba
Clara Ribeiro

Cansei de Ser Sexy (Portuguese for Tired of Being Sexy), also known as CSS, is a Brazilian band from São Paulo, where they benefited from unprecedented levels of hype on local newspapers and TV channels. The main musical influence is electro-rock, and this is blended with other media e.g design, cinematography and fashion, and then augmented with plaintive lyrics in English and Portuguese. CSS emphasizes style, fashion and a cool aesthetic, over their place in the music industry. Their broken English compositions are sung with a strong São Paulo accent: fans say this adds a special appeal.

Contents

[edit] History

Formed in September of 2003, the band started as an excuse to meet for drinking, and nobody but the drummer could play their instruments properly. The name of the group was taken from a quote by Beyoncé, who allegedly declared that she was "tired of being sexy". Lead singer Lovefoxxx declared it was a stupid thing to say, and christened the band with the phrase.

Like the Arctic Monkeys, CSS became well-known through the internet. The Fotolog of the band became famous, and there was a surge in popularity of CSS song downloads from the Trama Virtual website (a Brazilian site similar to MySpace Music). This "virtual" notoriety brought CSS to the attention of the worldwide musical press, and articles were printed in many Brazilian magazines and even British newspapers such as the Observer Music Magazine. The writer of the latter, Peter Culshaw, saw CSS when they were still unsigned, in a club in São Paulo. At that point 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 America broadcasting of The Simple Life (the tongue-in-cheek pop tune "Meeting Paris Hilton"); the Brazilian Big Brother TV series ("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, 2 Many DJs and Kraftwerk.

In 2005, they signed with the Trama Virtual label, and in October of the same year their first album was released in their home country Brazil, along with an 7-track EP that could be bought at their concerts. Unusually, a limited edition version of the album had a CD-R included. The purpose of this was that the buyer could burn a copy of the album onto the CD-R to give to someone else as a gift, paying homage to the effects of digital technology upon the dissemination and popularization of music. In Brazil the album has reportedly sold 5,000 copies to date, but neither album nor singles have charted either there or elsewhere. In addition two videos were 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 the discopunk "Let's Make Love and Listen 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 U.S and Canada, then across to the U.K, France and Netherlands. While in Europe, they performed at the Pitchfork Media and NME festivals, 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.

The song "Alala" and video for "Let's Make Love and Listen Death From Above" have been included preloaded on the Zune multimedia player, released in November 2006.

CSS have recently played NME's first ever Indie Rave Tour in 2007 along with The Sunshine Underground, New Young Pony Club and headliners Klaxons.

CSS sold as much as 60.000 copies worldwide up to February 2007 (according to journalist Lucio Ribeiro in Folha de São Paulo).

Lovefoxxx is dating Klaxons's guitarist Simon Taylor-Davies. Apparently the romance started at the NME Indie-Rave tour.[citation needed]

[edit] Band members

[edit] Former members

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

* Brazilian release by Trama in 2005, international release by Sub Pop in 2006, international re-release by Warner in 2007.

[edit] Singles

  • "Ódio Ódio Ódio, Sorry C." - 2003
  • "Off the Hook" - 2005
  • "Alala" - 2005
  • "Let's Make Love and Listen Death From Above" - 2006
  • "Alala (international reissue)" - 2006
  • "Off The Hook (international reissue)" - 2007 UK #43

[edit] External links

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