It’s hard to get a fix on an album that has credits from members of
Le Tigre, a guy who produced
Susan Boyle and
Il Divo, hip-hop hitmakers
Stargate,
American Idol's
Kara DioGuardi, the great
Arthur Baker, and ubiquitous songwriter-for-hire
Ryan Tedder. Throw in vocals by the French all-girl band
Plastiscines and
Britney collaborator
Sabi, a rap by
Mac Miller, and some help from the unfortunately named Brooklyn pop band
Jump into the Gospel, and it would seem that
Cobra Starship may have gone a bit overboard on their fourth album,
Nightshades. Packing so many WTFs into one ten-song record is hardly fair, a bit reckless, and ultimately (amazingly) successful. You don’t come to a
Cobra Starship record looking for artistic development or big statements, especially since
Gabe Saporta started them off as a joke band and they’ve operated as such ever since. Not that there’s anything wrong with that when they can make the joke work so well. Roping in such a weird mix of collaborators actually works in their favor, as the mix of sounds, styles, and ideas makes for a super enjoyable listen. Any album with a song that sounds like a
New Order/
OMD mash-up (the
Baker-mixed "Anything for Love"), one that sounds like a
Weezer ballad from the
Green album ("You Belong to Me"), another that sounds like a snotty
Bruno Mars track ("Fool Like Me"), and one that sounds like emo-
Rihanna ("You Make Me Feel...") is an album that’s hitting lots of pop sweet spots. There are even a few songs that sound a little bit original, like the boy/girl (the girl being the group’s keytar player,
Victoria Asher) dance-pop duet "Disaster Boy" and the
Le Tigre co-write "Shwick," which brings a touch of credible melancholy to the party with the lyrics about not believing in stupid love songs. Ultimately you could credit the outside writers and producers for the album’s success, but also save some love for the bandmembers themselves.
Saporta and crew have plenty of pop smarts and savvy to go around and they bring the right amount of sweetness and silliness to the album.
Nightshades is ridiculously fun and light, sure to spawn at least a couple of songs you’ll want to play at ironic dance parties, summer blowouts, and maybe even over headphones when you need some (mostly) mindless cheering up. What more could you want from Pop music?
–
Tim Sendra, Rovi