Technical difficulties stop Go! Team, but not CSS

The Go! Team's lead singer Ninja (above, left) and guitarist Kaori Tsuchida in New Jersey last week. (Getty Images Photo / Jason Kempin)

Sometimes it can be tricky for a reviewer to produce an insightful analysis of a band's performance because he has an itchy ankle covered with bee stings, or, let's say, he misunderstands a set time and completely misses an act. Even worse, perhaps the reviewer can't decipher what a band sounds like because the acoustics are muddier than Revere Beach after high tide. Then there are nights when he is simply annoyed with the way an over-zealous, intoxicated fan is dancing, which makes him so cranky that he cannot think clearly.

But when the moon is in the seventh house, Jupiter aligns with Mars, and two of these four scenarios occur in the same evening, it's not good for all involved. First, mea culpa, the blame falls squarely on my shoulders. Because of an insanely early set time, I missed opener Natalie Portman's Shaved Head. Second, and this is when the review gets better because I cast blame on someone else, what on earth happened to the Go! Team's sound mix?

The Go! Team, the kindercore cut-and-paste sextet from England, has perfected a caustic and danceable combination of blaring horns, pounding drums, Hello Kitty-cute surf guitars, and cheerleader chants. On CD and in concert, it's a thrilling sonic collage that gets a caffeinated kick thanks to the band's lead singer, a spitfire named Ninja. In previous Boston shows at the Paradise Rock Club, the Go! Team pulled off the kind of thrilling performances that seem impossible for a band that relies on sound samples and studio tweaking

But the Go! Team's Saturday show at the Roxy was a giant, noisy mess. Either someone in the band insulted the sound engineer's haircut before show time, or, because Saturday was the band's final night touring with CSS, Natalie Portman's Shaved Head, and Matt & Kim, they simply turned the output level on every piece of equipment to 10. Whatever the cause, Ninja's vocals were lost under layers of guitar feedback, throaty bass, and whining synthesizers. Some of the Go! Team's better-known songs, such as "Ladyflash" and "Doing it Right," fared slightly better in the musical pileup, but there was a feeling of relief at the end of their performance.

The Go! Team's sound problems were even more evident when the Brazilian electro outfit CSS closed the evening sounding near perfect. CSS, short for Cansei de Ser Sexy, which translates to "Tired of being sexy," is exactly the kind of band you hope will be playing in your city on a warm Saturday night. Bawdy lead singer Lovefoxx (the name says it all), thanked a pair of newfound friends in the audience for getting her drunk before the show and proceeded to tell blush-worthy stories that sadly can't be repeated here.

Musically, CSS's output was just as raunchy and twisted. For a band that started as a group of art school students having a laugh, CSS has grown into a talented onstage party. Part Tom Tom Club, part Mary Jane Girls, Lovefoxx and the rest of the band danced with abandon. Squeezed into a silver body suit, Lovefoxx coquettishly commanded "Let's reggae all night." No one in the audience appeared to have a problem with this directive. During "Let's Make Love and Listen to Death From Above" I was so caught up in the band's exuberance that I jotted down "sounds like a less annoying version of the B-52s!" Yes, I even used an exclamation point.

The ultimate evidence of CSS's ability to party with the best of them came at a climactic moment when Lovefoxx needed to point out to the audience that, despite the cheers and dancing, they had not yet reached their final song of the evening. The crowd let out a thankful whoop, and the dancing happily continued.

Christopher Muther can be reached at muther@globe.com.