CSS

Small is beautiful. The confined spaces of Scala allow you to get close to a band in a way that London's other venues, such as the cavernous Brixton Academy or the echoing Forum, simply don't. Which is a good thing, as Sao Paolo's Cansei de Ser Sexy are also tiny, or at least the girls are, to the extent that token male Adriano Cintra towers over them like a father leading an outing of ten year olds. In a bigger venue, you fear that you would be looking at specks on the stage rather than a full blown art rock band.

Another advantage of the intimate location is that it limits the amount of damage that Lovefoxxx can do. Frankly, CSS' singer should come with a health warning. Her first stage dive comes during second number (and current single) 'Alala'. From that point on she is either climbing the barrier at the front of the stage, wrapping microphone leads around her neck or throwing herself to the floor, but it is her decision to sing 'Art Bitch' from inside the mosh pit that leaves even the security guards open mouthed. The girl's a hazard to herself.

The good thing about CSS is that every song is a little bit different, but not so different that the tempo really slacks. Even allegedly slow numbers like 'Alcohol' bristle with energy, whilst the pure pop nonsense of 'Meeting Paris Hilton' is thrashed out with something bordering on distain. So confident are the band in their own material (at one point guitarist Luiza Sa wanders backstage mid-song to grab a beer and a cigarette) that it is a suprise that they end with a slightly lumpy cover of L7's 'Pretend We're Dead'.

What do they sound like? Well, imagine how much more fun the Strokes would be if they were fronted by five hyperactive women...