Stereogum Home
June 30, 2008

New CSS Video - "Rat Is Dead (Rage)"

thumbnail icon: New CSS Video - "Rat Is Dead (Rage)"

It's still too early to say whether our first listen of CSS's forthcoming Donkey is representative of an overarching shift to slicker and new wavier studio sounds, or is just a one-off radio single, but this heavily pixilated official video shows that whatever the aural aura, Lovefoxxx will dress like everyday is art school graduation day. The camera occasionally whips around too fast to tell if the clip's slyly stitched together multiple takes, but they're going for a single-shot effect, with the band standing in a sloppy line on a huge soundstage under strobes and Lovefoxxx falling (and Fall-ing) all over the place.

Even if the track doesn't get too spunky, you can tell Lovefoxxx hasn't outgrown her energy. The song isn't bad necessarily, but I'm hoping they balance the calculated punk takes with the off-kilter anthems. That's what made CSS different, at a time when most everything sounds the same. I can always pull at random from the promo pile for compressed and gated post-punk stuff. To go:

CSS - "Rat Is Dead (Rage)" (MP3)

Donkey is out 7/22 via Sub Pop.

Posted at 4:47 PM by amrit in
Tags:




17 Comments

my ears and eyes are bleeding.

also it's not Halloween

Posted by: thissucks at 06/30/08 5:02 PM | Reply
Score = 2 Vote up Vote down

New album blows.

Posted by: Greg at 06/30/08 5:48 PM | Reply
Score = 1 Vote up Vote down

Unfortunately, this is the best track off the upcoming album.

Posted by: Anon at 06/30/08 6:13 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

I think the new album's okay. A bit more "rock" than the previous one, which will piss off the people who wanted them to make a carbon copy of the first record. They clearly got better as musicians. I think the veneration of musical incompetence is one of indie music's great failings. But that's just me. I liked CSS before and I still like them now.

Posted by: Johnnyboy at 06/30/08 6:33 PM | Reply
Score = 1 Vote up Vote down

If the veneration of musical incompetence is one of indie music's great failings for you, then I'm surprised you like CSS who clearly don't know how to play their instruments or sing very well. I suppose they are good at taking direction from the one musical talent in the band, and they're alright as a live act.

Posted by: Anon at 06/30/08 6:48 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

i was waiting for that..thanks

Posted by: nadsat profile link at 06/30/08 7:53 PM | Reply
Score = -1 Vote up Vote down

suck a penner
this song is fan-fucking-tastic

Posted by: Chadwickers at 06/30/08 9:39 PM | Reply
Score = 1 Vote up Vote down

nup, still sounds like the Sahara Hotnights to me

Posted by: autistk at 06/30/08 11:55 PM | Reply
Score = -1 Vote up Vote down

BoooooorrrrrrinK

Posted by: Ehhhhhh at 07/01/08 12:06 AM | Reply
Score = -3 Vote up Vote down

i sort-of liked the first album but i couldnt even listen to the whole of this it was so dull. they appear to have lost their spark and the song seems really over-worked.

Posted by: xsk at 07/01/08 6:47 AM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

You haven't even heard the album yet to be judging it you brain fucked moron.

Posted by: amused at 07/01/08 10:56 AM | Reply
Score = 1 Vote up Vote down

this band is nothing but irritating.

Posted by: Steve Lam at 07/01/08 12:01 PM | Reply
Score = 1 Vote up Vote down

england really loves them

*shrug*

Posted by: meemoo at 07/01/08 2:02 PM | Reply
Score = -1 Vote up Vote down

the album hasn't leaked yet, so I don't get how people are hating it already.
the version that had leaked is the 30 seconds preview from the Amazon site looped endlessly.

Posted by: lusco-fusco at 07/01/08 10:56 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

leaked about a week ago.

Posted by: bakfitty at 07/02/08 9:41 AM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

leaked the looped version, that I talked about on my previous comment.

Posted by: lusco-fusco at 07/02/08 2:48 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

rate is dead SUX!!!

but the new album is really good. There are only about a handful of songs that I don't tike and in my opinion the single is the worst song on the album. Don't be fooled the old CSS is still present on the album!!

Posted by: luvfoxxx at 07/09/08 3:59 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

Leave a comment


 

The 'Gum Drop

Get our newsletter. MP3s and giveaways weekly.

Search




Sort by:date relevance

Information

  • Contact:
  • About
  • Press
  • Advertising
  • Stereogum RSS Stereogum RSS XML Icon
  • MP3-Only RSS Stereogum RSS XML Icon
Stereogum CMJ 2008 Afterparty

Staff

Founder/Editor-In-Chief
Scott Lapatine
Executive Editor
Amrit Singh
Senior Writer
Brandon Stosuy
Columnist
Jon McMillan
Technology & Operations
Jim Jazwiecki
Angela Williams

The Cool Kids

All Stereogum Posts

Get Flash to see our mp3 player. Here are our mp3s: of Montreal - Smells Like Teen Spirit (Live In NYC) (»)
Passion Pit - Sleepyhead (»)
Blackout Beach - Cloud Of Evil (»)
Crystal Stilts - Crystal Stilts (»)
Gang Gang Dance - House Jam (»)
Marnie Stern - Transformer (»)
DJ Earworm - Reckoner Lockdown (Kanye West vs. Radiohead) (»)
Radiohead - Reckoner v2.0 (Diplo In A Train Wreck Mix) (»)
Larkin Grimm - Ride That Cyclone (»)
Beck - Gamma Ray {Pocket Mix} (»)
The Roots (Feat Lil Wayne) - A Milli (»)
Atlas Sound - Airedales (»)
Atlas Sound - Maybe Logic (»)
Mercury Rev - Senses On Fire (Fujiya & Miyagi Remix) (»)
Hospital Ships - The Shots I Drank (SayMyName remix) (»)
of Montreal - Id Engager (»)
The Notwist - Boneless (»)
Daniel Rossen - Too Little Too Late (»)
Volcano Suns - Jak (»)
Volcano Suns - White Elephant (»)
Lou Reed - Caroline Says, Pt. II (»)
Matthew Herbert Big Band - The Story (Edit) (»)
Reefer - Let It Go (Flying Lotus Remix) (»)
Wilderness - Strand The Test Of Time (»)
Deerhoof - Chandelier Searchlight (»)
Ssion - Credit In The Straight World (»)
Atlas Sound - Coffin Trick (»)
Magnolia Electric Co. - Texas 71 (»)
The Fireman (Paul McCartney) - Nothing Too Much Just Out Of Sight (»)
Letters To Cleo - Awake (»)
Letters To Cleo - Here & Now (»)

Band to Watch logo

Band To Watch: Blank Dogs

Blank Dogs are actually singular: It's the insanely prolific one-man Brooklyn-based band of Mr. Blank Dog. We don't know too much about the biography of the guy behind the bedroom new-wave pop/punk and he's usually covering his face with masks...

MORE »

Quit Your Day Job logo

Quit Your Day Job: Midlake

Eric Pulido plays guitar in Midlake: The Texas band, who last released The Trials of Van Occupanther two years ago, are currently at work on a followup in their Denton studio. Pulido also stays busy running a coffee company Cappulido...

MORE »

Premature Evaluation logo

Premature Evaluation: Oasis - Dig Out Your Soul

Pushing Noel off a stage in Toronto might bruise the erstwhile Oasis mouthpiece's ribs (maybe even his spirits) and cause the band to cancel a show or two, but nothing can stop the slow procession toward a new Oasis album....

MORE »

Video Hangover logo

Video Hangover: Marcy Playground - "Saint Joe On The Schoolbus"

Every week, we dig in the archives for videos that we find noteworthy, memorable, or just unbelievably stupid. And then, Jon McMillan breaks 'em down for you. This week: Marcy Playground blows their one chance at video immortality.

MORE »

Oldstand logo

OldStand: Rolling Stone, September 13, 1984

Take our ink-stained hands and join us at the OldStand, where Jon McMillan goes to remind everyone what an honest-to-goodness music magazine is supposed to look like. Lots of Huey Lewis (and the News) news lately, so let's go back...

MORE »

The Outsiders logo

The Outsiders: Vol. 19: The Blithe Sons, The Ivytree, Varghkoghargasmal

Not all of Stereogum's favorite sounds conform to what folks expect us to cover. In this space, resident Bananafish fetishist Brandon Stosuy focuses on bands, albums, singles, and villages in Sweden that may otherwise pass by unnoticed. This installment's virtual...

MORE »

The 'Gum Drop logo

+/- {Plus/Minus} - "Reeling In The Years"

Last month we brought you +/- 's "Snowblind," a dusky, exhilarating track from the Brooklyn trio's forthcoming forth albu