A Slight Donkey Punch

Brazilian train wreck sounding CSS flipped the indie field upside down a few years back with the release of their inaugural Cansei de Ser Sexy and its brand of irregular angst and hallucinating party bleeps. Hailing from the Sao Paolo vista, they appeared poised to marshal in a new brand of art, fun, and rickety music stateside and across the pond. But in the two years since they’ve stepped into the studio, the bubbly went flat, the DJ forgot to connect with his crowd, and the party is busted. As a result, Donkey finds the band somewhere between post-punk angst and disco delusion.

Donkey disposes most of what made up their inaugural effort - and its arty style - so paranormal. Gone are the animated oddities replaced by comatosed plugs like those found in the more mix than mastered ‘Reggae All Night’ or the Sonic Youth-isms of ‘Left Behind’. While there are romps to take advantage of, like rager ‘Rat Is Dead’ and soaring ‘I Fly’, little is of the same nor as fuck-you-confident as it was on Cansei de Ser Sexy. Sure you’ll still find the same themes of sex, drugs, and hipster fundamentalisms galore but it feels more contrived. This coming from a band who lyrically refuses to grow up. There is nary a moment when the band is set free to explore a sound all their own and instead rely all too often on generic replications.

Perhaps if you can look past the stamped out oddity that made CSS such an appealing performance originally and see them for what they’ve always been - possibly just a straight forward post-punk outfit - then Donkey folds with spades. For me, the bizarre-o world that was has now bottled up its own creativity. Those who recognize the band for what they were know they don’t lack buoyancy or coolness. But at times Donkey is short a backbone for which to stand its own with and rides about as smooth as one.

Sean Kendall