They bill themselves as the only successful Arab/Jewish collaboration in history, professing a sincere love for the cheesiest American pop the 80s had to offer. And they’ve just released the smoothest electro-funk record this side of prime Prince. Welcome to the slick, polished world of Chromeo.
Words_Chris Jones
Montreal natives Dave 1 and Pee Thug (aliases, we’re guessing) began to make a name for themselves with the release of debut album ‘She’s Lost Control’ in 2004. Heavy on vocoders and chunky synths, the record spawned the near-genius single ‘Needy Girl,’ accompanied by a memorable video featuring skinny hipster Dave breaking off from his popstar fantasy mid-song to take an inopportune phone call from the titular girlfriend. Combining electro-funk with, improbably enough, Don Henley’s ‘The Boys Of Summer’ and Hall & Oates’ ‘I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do)’, the song has done enough to keep the duo in audiences’ minds up to the point where they release their wondrously addictive second album, ‘Fancy Footwork’.
On this record, the slick FM pop that coated ‘Needy Girl’ is ramped up to the point where it permeates every single track, while the song writing has improved beyond all recognition. ‘Momma’s Boy,’ ‘My Girl Is Calling Me (A Liar)’ and ‘Bonafied Lovin’ are pop songs packed with hooks and full of wry humour, while at the same time the sound is still based on synths, beats and vocoders – the salacious ‘Tenderoni’ and ‘Fancy Footwork’ dripping with funk that demands the attention of your dancing feet.
This is the kind of stuff you could imagine sliding out of the speakers as you’re cruising round downtown LA circa 1985 – slick, refined, sexy and – superficially at least – totally undemanding, Chromeo distil 1980s synthpop and funk down to a fine essence. And this time round, things just got a whole lot smoother.
“We wanted a progression from the first album,” explains Dave down the phone from Paris. “We wanted this one to have slicker, more accomplished songwriting – we wanted our approach to be contrary to what’s going on in electronic music, to stay away from the glitchy electro stuff and come up with proper songs; to stress the whole songwriting aspect of what we do. We wanted the arrangements to be as finely crafted as possible.”
They’ve managed it with aplomb. Not for these gentlemen the gritty sound of a band on the edge, or a facsimile of a seat-of-the-pants live show. On the contrary, Chromeo are all about sonic refinement; polished funk guitar, synth basslines that bounce playfully and crisp beats. As for how they arrived at this point, Dave’s childhood is certainly a factor. A Jewish native of Montreal, he had several years of a head start in Western pop music over his talk box-toting Lebanese partner, and while cut-up, twisted beats and electronic sounds are currently in vogue courtesy of the likes of Simian Mobile Disco, Justice and Digitalism, smooth, laid-back soul and pop laid the foundations for Chromeo.
Posted on: October 20, 2007
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