Cobra Starship - Viva La Cobra!

Rating

single starhalf star

RIYL

Fall Out Boy
The Academy Is...
No Doubt

Tracklist

1. The City Is At War
2. Guilty Pleasure
3. One Day, Robots Will Cry
4. Kiss My Sass
5. Damn You Look Good And I'm Drunk (Scandalous)
6. The World Has Its Shine (But I Would Drop It On A Dime)
7. Smile For The Paparazzi
8. Angie
9. Prostitution Is The World's Oldest Profession (And I, Dear Madame, Am A Professional)
10. My Moves Are White (White Hot, That Is)
11. Pleasure Ryland

Users Rating

single starsingle starsingle star
1 rating

Your Rating

Create an account or log in to rate this album

Recent Ratings

A band, especially in this overstuffed day and age, is simply the sum total of their influences. What distinguishes any group is what they do with those influences. Do they use those influences to their own ends or do they let them take too large a role and control the sound of their original material?

Cobra Starship, a quintet from New York known best for a song on the Snakes on a Plane soundtrack and its vaguely ironic use of the key-tar, finds themselves wrestling with that question all too often on their second album. The band has apparently been subsisting on a steady diet of '80s new wave and Timbaland / Neptunes styled hip-hop, with a healthy smattering of emo pop on the side. All of those styles make appearances on Viva La Cobra, but in iPod shuffle mode, jumping from one to the other in a rather erratic fashion.

This wouldn't necessarily be a knock on the band's abilities if they attempted to bend them to their own ends, rather than working intently at trying to make each song sound as much like their referents as possible, sometimes in glaringly obvious fashion. Case in point: starting off their Justin Timberlake homage, "Kiss My Sass", with the line, "I'm bringing sassy back." Elsewhere, they ape the moves of late '70s disco/funk on "Angie", early '80s rock on "The World Has Its Shine", and a variety of other dance floor ready grooves, all to rather specious effect.

Cobra Starship does find a steady middle ground on Viva, particularly when they keep closer to their own glossy emo roots, adding daubs of color from other genres. "Guilty Pleasures" and "One Day, Robots Will Cry", a one-two punch that comes early on in the album's proceedings, are both anthemic pop gems replete with superb hooks and choruses meant for a fist pumping sing-along with a thousand of your closest friends.

The men and women of Cobra Starship are mere reflections of this amorphous world we are living in, one that almost demands that we try to absorb as much information and entertainment as our brains can handle. It's no wonder, then, that a group of young musicians would then spew their intake back out at a willing audience like they are doing on this album.

There's obvious talent to be found on Viva La Cobra, but it is undermined by their exuberance and attempts to be too many different bands at the same time. With the guiding hand of a decent producer and some maturity, they might still surprise us with something really accomplished, but until such a time, we will have to take what small pleasures they give us.

--Bob Ham

Author

Bob Ham
Last updated: 09/29/2009 08:59PM

Comments

rustycage
11/14/2007
07:50AM
I don't agree with this review... at all... I'd give them 2 stars. But now that I think about it, you're right.
Rich
11/14/2007
08:03AM
Age: 26
Location
Leeds, England
I thought the first album was absolute trash. I found myself enjoying this a quite bit.

I agree about the Neptunes influence.
ctsdrums
11/14/2007
08:21AM
rustycage
I'd give them 2 stars. But now that I think about it, you're right.


wow. you really felt it necessary to post a comment distinguishing the fact that you feel this is a 2 star record and not a 1.5 star record?

you even considering going into politics? i hear you can make a living fretting over irrelevant things like that!

i'd prefer to give this album a 1.75 rating - is that doable?
Dante
11/14/2007
08:38AM
Age: 21
Location
Fort Bragg, CA
I reviewed the first one for the site (didn't much like it) but I really enjoy this one.
rustycage
11/14/2007
09:53AM
ctsdrums
wow. you really felt it necessary to post a comment distinguishing the fact that you feel this is a 2 star record and not a 1.5 star record?

you even considering going into politics? i hear you can make a living fretting over irrelevant things like that!

i'd prefer to give this album a 1.75 rating - is that doable?

Back on topic, Cobra Starship is like one hot girl teasing you, only to find out she's not slightly interested and has pimples on her ass.
tim
11/14/2007
07:42PM
Age: 28
Location
Green Brook, NJ
this is a guilty pleasure band if there ever was one.
Dante
11/14/2007
08:15PM
Age: 21
Location
Fort Bragg, CA
I agree with Tim.
andrewking
11/22/2007
03:50PM
I know it's been said before, but...

Gabe blew it.
Get the dudes from Midtown back together, and go make some palatable bouncy rock songs people can drink to before The Starting Line plays or whatever.
This 'punk but with bling' act has to stop.
HEARTandSYNAPSE
12/26/2007
05:21PM
Location
Manchester, England
really though, this album is brilliant, and a huuuuge step forward from their debut.

also, there is no mention of Patrick Stump's incredible production, this man is just getting better and better.

really, im in love with this record. im not letting anyone else review a FBR/Decaydance release again.

Dante
12/26/2007
06:41PM
Age: 21
Location
Fort Bragg, CA
I'd like it more if I didn't love Midtown so much.

COME BACK MIDTOWN!
HEARTandSYNAPSE
12/26/2007
06:43PM
Location
Manchester, England
their last album was the musical equivalent of the colour beige.

Dante
12/26/2007
07:14PM
Age: 21
Location
Fort Bragg, CA
HEARTandSYNAPSE
their last album was the musical equivalent of the colour beige.


Their last album is my second favorite cd ever!
HEARTandSYNAPSE
12/26/2007
07:21PM
Location
Manchester, England
did nothing for me, sorry.

but i got an eyeliner pencil for christmas, so what do i know.