Pitchfork

For Brazilian electro-punk partiers, CSS are pretty plugged into the UK indie scene. Klaxons' Simon Taylor-Davis has CSS singer Lovefoxxx's name tattooed to his stomach. Lovefoxxx gets "super-duper Kelly Cooper fucking double super legal" on the 1990s' B-side "Super-Legal". And now CSS have taken the skinny ties off the Cribs' greed-conscious battle of the sexes, "Men's Needs". Given how closely CSS's mantra "Let's Make Love and Listen to Death From Above" recalls a line from the Normal's scene-starting 1978 single "Warm Leatherette", perhaps none of this should be a surprise.

CSS's remix downplays the original's jittery new-wave guitars, refashioning the track as something Swedish pop brutes the Tough Alliance might've included on their first album. Cheesy spring-break synths and heavy bass beats make singer Ryan Jarman sounds less like Julian Casablancas and more like an earnest clubgoer straining to be heard over the electronic din. Mars and Venus probably won't ever align, but CSS's needs agree with this Cribs song better than one might expect.

[originally from Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever; out now in the UK on Wichita but due 07/17/07 in the U.S. on Warner]