By Jodi Root

Last night I was torn between catching two of my favorite artists from 2008—both CSS and Love is All were playing; CSS at the Metro, Love is All at the Empty Bottle. Obviously, by the title of this post you can figure which gig I ended up at—but I’m definitely interested in hearing if any of you caught the show at the Bottle. Both groups promote upbeat, dancey, delectable pop music—one from Brazil and one of Swedish sorts—but it was the opener at CSS which was my deciding factor—SSION.

Many of you may not be super familiar with this eclectic, androgynous pop nightmare, but these Kansas City Natives sure now how to throw one helluva party. I caught them way back in 2002 when they played a free show with Numbers in Madison. Their obnoxious costume changes, (chicken/cow suits), stage props (bloody baby dolls), and live theatrics scared the shit out of me. So I was pretty excited to see what these cats were up to six years later, and I knew from Lolla this August that CSS definitely brings the dance party hard, so despite the all ages scene, I was stoked.

SSION hit Metro’s stage at 7:30 PM on the dot. The line-up seemed to have changed since I last caught them and sad to say, the cow/chicken costumes were not accounted for—but lead man Cody Critcheloe was definitely glammed to the nines with his creepy handlebar ‘stache, black eyeliner and leather get up. Critcheloe rocked the crowd with his two-man crew, busting out beats from their last few albums including the stellar cover of “Credit in the Straight World,” Fool’s Gold’s “Street Jizz,” and my personal favorite dance jam “Clowns.”

I didn’t recognize any tracks from Opportunity Bless My Soul, but from what I can tell I think the direction of the group has vastly disbanded their previous sounds—which is too bad, but the crowd didn’t seem to notice. Critcheole had the party pumping away hard, with his frequent outburst screaming fits of “CHICAGOOOOOOOO, MAKE SOME NOIIIIIISE!!!!” and eventually closed the 40-minute set with a plea to pick up some of the group’s merch so the posse could keep doing drugs. And that about sums of SSION in a nutshell—oh yeah, and I totally got my face groped while attempting to snap some pics in the pit to which I discovered that Cody definitely needs to invest in some waterproof mascara. (Unfortunately, these super would be sexy photos didn’t turn out, however, due to the lame fog machines.)

Around 8:40 or so Miss Lovefoxxx and her homegirlz (and homeboy singular) brought the packed crowd of teenage hipsters exactly what they needed—loud keys, raging guitars, childlike cooing, high-pitched screaming and plenty of jumping around. If you could see through the sickeningly over usage of Metro’s fog machines, you would have noticed Lovefoxxx’s sexy signature bodysuit, this one of a black and white spectacle, complete with a Native American headdress and chunky, blue eye makeup.

CSS rocked the show with no slowing down—opening things up with Donkey’s intro track, “Jager Yoga,” and “closing” the show with party favorite, “Reggae All Night.” The set focused mostly on material from Donkey, including “Left Behind,” “Rage (Rat is Dead)”, and the irresistible body-shaking “Move.” Material from their self-titled debut was also accounted for, including “Meeting Paris Hilton,” “This Month, Day 10,” “Off the Hook,” iPod commercial fave “Music is My Hot Hot Sex,” and “Alcohol.”

I don’t think I’ve had as much fun overall at a show in forever—the crowd was so diverse and full of shameless booty shakers—even the bro rocking the Iron Maiden shirt and long pony tail to my left seemed to be digging what Lovefoxxx was dishing out—twelve year old girls behind me were hopping and skipping about and no one seemed to be having as much fun as the 45-year old large man in flannel, who screamed to my friend and I, “F*** yeah! I’m not ever gonna stop!” (Weird. But also, hilarious.) Balloons floated amongst the crowd as Miss Foxxx rambled something about a fashion internship at Elle Magazine as the crowd fixated on popping as many balloons as possible. The dancing never once ceased even after “Reggae All Night” closed the set.

The first encore number was “Air Painter,” but I must admit that in my golden years, I skipped out early to grab my coat from coat check to avoid being trampled by the teeny boppers.

Did anyone happen to catch the additional encore numbers? What were your thoughts on SSION? Anyone make it to the Bottle to check Love is All?

Related: 5 Questions with CSS

Myspace: CSS
Myspace: SSION
MP3: CSS – “Rat is Dead (Rage)”

My second day at Red Rocks brought the heavy-hitters. The opportunity to see The Avett Brothers, Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings, The Kills, Band of Horses, TV On The Radio, CSS, and Justice over the course of one day was worth all the travel hassles endured.

After the cold weather crept up on me the night before I was thrilled to have the Colorado sun beating down on me during the Avett Brothers set. Already excited about their upcoming record with Rick Rubin it was a good opportunity to hear new material (“Standing With You”) mixed with their high-energy rockers.

Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings always bring the energy. After their set, my buddy and show going comrade Matt, dropped the knowledge on me that the 4’11″ Jones once called prison guard as her occupation. I’m not even going to check the validity of that, but regardless that woman knows how to get the masses to shake their asses.

I made it up to the top of the amphitheater to catch The Kills for the very first time. Midnight Boom was one of the year’s biggest surprises and their live set was great aside from the band seeming as if they wished to be anywhere else.

Band of Horses brought some new material with them, including a song dedicated to front man Ben Bridwell’s infant daughter and keyboardist Ryan Monroe also contributing one of his songs as well. Additionally the band performed a cover of Them Two’s “Am I A Good Man,” that’s been done before, but was knew to me and identified by Chris.

The recurring talk of the day was that TV On The Radio weren’t going to make it in time for their set due to a bus breakdown somewhere around Salt Lake City. Instead of throwing in the towel, the band rented two SUV’s to take them through the mountains and arrive at the main stage to perform a gorgeous set sprinkled with Dear Science, material and a “Starring At The Sun” closer. Not too bad for a band that was set up and playing without a soundcheck in about thirty minutes. If you’ve heard any of the new material, “Dancing Choose” is an absolute live staple, look forward to hearing that one at their shows for years to come.

I could have walked down from the mountains to my rental car a happy man at that point, but wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to catch Justice. In all honesty, I didn’t think my schedule or location would ever afford such a chance to catch the French duo, but I’m definitely glad things aligned. Though their set was plagued by sound problems, which would eventually lead to their premature departure from the stage after about 40 minutes, during their time on stage the crowd was absolutely batty. Easily the highest energy show on the main stage. I grabbed a video of D.A.N.C.E., which you can check out here.

I spent yesterday in a frustrated state of being at the Denver airport all day – not fun. Regardless, it was great to hang with my friends at Gorilla vs. Bear, My Old Kentucky Blog, You Ain’t No Picasso, I Am Fuel, You Are Friends, and Cause = Time.

I first came to know CSS a few years ago at the Pitchfork Music Festival. Since that time I’ve come to enjoy their high energy live performances and, especially lately, their most recent release, Donkey. In addition to their upcoming festival spot at Lollapalooza this weekend, the group will join label mates The Go! Team for a roof-raising live performance at Milwaukee’s Turner Hall on Thursday, July 31st. In preparation for their upcoming Midwest shows, I caught up with Adriano to discuss the new record and tour preferences for our continuing 5 Questions with Muzzle of Bees feature.

Could you lend some information on the recording process of Donkey? Where and how was it recorded, and were there any lessons learned that you’ll apply towards future recording sessions?

It was recorded at the Trama studios in São Paulo , we had two sessions, two weeks in December of 2007 and six weeks in early 2008. I did all the pre-production while we were touring so the recording went pretty easy. Organization was very important during the process.

Tell me about the cover art for your new record. Where is the image from and how did you come about choosing it?

Lovefoxxx did that donkey/thing head. She worked with paper-mache, plaster and mirrors. It was a huge thing, very unmanageable. She had this idea of a donkey/thing head in the middle of the jungle. So we found a nice location in São Paulo and Luiza Sá photographed with assisted by a friend.

You’ve played your share of clubs and festivals including an upcoming spot at Lollapalooza in Chicago. In terms of preference do you prefer indoor or outdoor venues and do you tailor your set list to the type of audience you’re playing to, perhaps a lot of first timers in a festival setting?

My perfect scenario would be the big festival stage after the sun has gone. It’s always nicer to play with our lights. And we really can’t stand playing only old songs, so we been mixing our new album across our set. But we still play all old singles.

We’re always looking to uncover new favorite artists, are there any band(s)/record(s) that you could recommend to our readers?

Glistening Pleasure, from Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head. These kids are the shit.

The internet has dramatically altered the way artists can reach an audience. With things like blogs/myspace/etc, what are your thoughts on the power of the internet in terms of helping (or hurting) your music?

I don’t really know. You can’t hope that the internet will solve all your problems. And you can’t also blame it for all your failures.

Myspace: CSS
MP3: CSS – “Rat is Dead (Rage)”

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