The Phoenix Network:
 
 
 
About  |  Advertise
Adult  |  Moonsigns  |  Band Guide  |  Blogs  |  In Pictures
 
50bands-gift-prov

Review: Cobra Starship | Hot Mess

Fueled by Ramen/Decaydance (2009)
By DANIEL BROCKMAN  |  August 3, 2009

cobra_starship_hotmess_main

Are Cobra Starship's gleeful Day-Glo appropriations and their unbridled enthusiasm really indications of a disparity between intention and expression? Or is their crime simply the meta-mania of their fusion of '80s retro kitsch and '00s celebrity worship? Really, it's neither.

Only a music fan obsessed with the rules of authenticity and the requirements for lyrical profundity could find fault with the 11 odes to overload that make up Hot Mess. Well, unless that hypothetical music fan is allergic to asshole frontmen: Gabe Saporta leads these tunes with a kind of Auto-Tuned dorkitude that will polarize even the least judgmental listeners.

Lucky for him, this time his band have the tunes to back up his bluster, from the strange coup that was getting Gossip Girl's Leighton Meester to guest-vocal on lead single "Good Girls Go Bad" to the quizzically titled hyperkinetic rocker "Pete Wentz Is the Only Reason We're Famous" (which steals the chorus of the Damned's "Smash It Up" — I hope Captain Sensible and crew are getting royalties).

  Topics: CD Reviews , Pete Wentz, Leighton Meester, Leighton Meester,  More more >
  • Share:
  • Share this entry with Facebook
  • Share this entry with Digg
  • Share this entry with Delicious
  • RSS feed
  • Email this article to a friend
  • Print this article
Comments

Today's Event Picks
ARTICLES BY DANIEL BROCKMAN
Share this entry with Delicious

 See all articles by: DANIEL BROCKMAN

MOST POPULAR
RSS Feed of for the most popular articles
 Most Viewed   Most Emailed 



  |  Sign In  |  Register
 
thePhoenix.com:
Phoenix Media/Communications Group:
TODAY'S FEATURED ADVERTISERS
Copyright © 2009 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group