CSS

Most people know CSS (Cansei de Ser Sexy) as the band whose star faded after Apple turned their "Music Is My Hot, Hot Sex" into an iPod Touch commercial. They were late to the disco-pop party (the Rapture and Franz Ferdinand were both already experiencing a backlash) and the rest of their singles, even their biggest hit, "Let's Make Love and Listen to Death From Above," paled in comparison to the catchiness of "Music." But somehow CSS persevered and their latest effort, La Liberacio'n, is proof. Liberacio'n finds the band sliding catchier, even emotionally weightier material into their typical throwaway pop numbers. Album highlight "You Could Have It All" is an icy, chiming track punctuated by the affectingly self-assured chorus lyric, "You could have it all, but then what's left for me?" If only vocalist/lyricist Lovefoxxx's lyrics were always so stirring. Her wishes to live in the city on "City Grrrl" ("Heads up, girl, you can rule this place") are trite and the fact that love "hits [her] like a rock" on, yes, "Hits Me Like a Rock," is puzzling, to say the least ― the typical "ton of bricks" is surely the stronger simile. Enjoyable numbers like the melodic "Partners in Crime" and the rousing, shouted title track keep La Liberacio'n afloat, but they alone can't make it compelling.