Snakes Are to Blame

At the end of the hilarious B-movie Snakes on a Plane, a music video plays for an immensely catchy song (called “Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)” for the uninitiated) by “supergroup” Cobra Starship, featuring members of Academy Is…, The Sounds, and Gym Class Heroes.  It has an emo dance-rock vibe that’s undeniably stupid and brilliant at the same time.  Midtown centerpiece Gabe Saporta, who masterminded the snake-inspired summer hit, decided to go on by himself and record a full album under the Cobra Starship banner.  What’s unfortunate for him is that the quality output is about on the same level with that other band called Starship.  When the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets is emo dance-rock (as to be expected), but nothing comes close to matching the jaw-punch of a hit that was “Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)”.  The song titles are almost as bad as the tunes themselves (“It’s Amateur Night at the Appollo Creed!” is pretty high on the list [and yes, that’s how he spells it]), though for record, “Keep It Simple”—with its focused, simplistic (and catchy) center riff—manages to stand out among the crowd.  Yet the undeniable highlight is opener “Being from Jersey Means Never Having to Say You’re Sorry”, mainly because Saporta strips away the drum machines and electro-rock for a simple acoustic number that never strives for funky catharsis—it simply sits there and delivers what’s missing from a lot of emo these days: actual emotion.  Now if only the rest of the album didn’t bomb as bad as the movie did…

• Multiple songs MySpace