| Cobra Starship – ‘Night Shades’ |
| Written by Peggy Hogan | |||
| Wednesday, 05 October 2011 12:47 | |||
 As the story goes, Cobra Starship front man, Gabe Saporta, conceived of the band after having fled to the deserts of Arizona to ponder the meaning of life away from his emo band, Midtown. After several days and nights of wandering, Saporta supposedly met a talking cobra from the future that impressed upon Saporta that his purpose in life was to ensure that all of mankind goes out in style.
Needless to say, the members of Cobra Starship possess a healthy sense of humor – a quality that plays heavily in Night Shades, the band's fourth studio album. Gabe Saporta's emo rock sensibilities are apparent throughout this ten-track album, with an emphasis on each track thoroughly poking fun at a different facet of 21st Century pop music. As such, the album lacks continuity, but on the upside, thanks to Night Shades ironic dance parties everywhere have ten new theme songs.
The album's lead single "You Make Me Feel" features former member of The Bangz, Sabi. The song sounds something like what one might imagine could come out of a late-night jam session between the members of Jimmy Eat World, Kylie Minogue and Rihanna. It's a straight-forward club track except for the non-committal hook: "You make me feel that... You make me feel so... Get a little closer to me girl and you'll understand" which makes the whole thing seem like a Choose Your Own Adventure.
"Middle Finger" features rapper Mac Miller and is possibly the most universally likable song on Night Shades given that it's the most obviously funny. It's a Drake-esque club track with a hook that makes light of, well, club tracks: "Throw your cups in the air/ We so fly/ Middle finger up to the sky/ Throw it up in the sky/ Do it all the time/ Do it all night/ Middle finger up to the sky/ Throw it up in the sky." Mac Miller's performance is more reminiscent of his tongue-in-cheek "Donald Trump" than any of his more experimental work and lacks some of his usual wit, but his two verses are delivered with all sorts of top-40 swagger, making "Middle Finger" one of the more interesting tracks on the album.
It seems fitting that Cobra Starship's first claim to fame was their track, "Snakes on a Plane (Bring It!)" from the soundtrack album for horror-comedy, Snakes on a Plane. Their evolution since 2006 has brought them from being a novelty item to having three hits on the top 40 charts. Where their humor was once fresh and at the forefront of their music, Night Shades sounds like a parody that isn't really a parody; overly radio-friendly tracks like "You Belong to Me", and "#1Nite" bring home the idea that perhaps the joke Cobra Starship started with has turned into an excuse to churn out mindless hit singles that blend in completely with the top of the pops.
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