Chromeo – Fancy Footwork
By: Joe Toeben
“Say hello to the two super freaks of electrofunk.”
Chromeo are quite the group. The two men, childhood friends of Arab and Jewish descent decided one day to form themselves into a group now known as Chromeo an Electrofunk or “funktronica” group. At first listen their music is rather confusing and I wasn’t sure what to make of it but after a while and repeated listens you will learn to just take it what it’s there for and that’s just a fun, enjoyable time. The music is made up of mostly used synthesizers, keyboards, saxophone and then the occasional guitar as well. When this music is described as electrofunk don’t take the funk part lightly, it’s got enough funk to take you back to the 70’s – put you in your parents’ ugly yellow disco suit, chest hair showing and spin you around on that roller disco floor until you’re ready to puke.
The one thing that is hard for most listeners of this album to understand is that if you cannot swallow this kind of music; don’t force it. Some parts of this album can be tacky being that it is stereotypical funk, with lyrics deriving from women and lovin’ often and they also aren’t scared to use the word baby. Their concerts have been described as a “religious” experience, holding comparison of greatness to the birth of your first child or your wedding. While those analogies seem way off to me, I’m sure they put on a show that will turn some heads and probably send some unwilling participants out the venues door.
The albums opener, “Tenderoni” takes the cake as the worst title of a song ever written for any genre ever in the history ever. The song itself is bearable but with the chorus of “Tenderoni” it made me cringe every time I heard that deep, preacher voice say it. Some songs aren’t as funk-filled as others which is an incredibly nice balance to the album since it’s funk heavy anyways but when you get a brief break from it, it’s best to embrace it. “Bonafied Lovin” is one of the albums more solid songs, with more use of a guitar than other songs. Not as many lyrics are present in the song either which gives more of a chance for the guitar to make way and the synths to have their chance to take a break as well. I’m not sure if Chromeo was going for a joke song with “Momma’s Boy” but they definitely succeeded. It’s not one of those songs that’ll make you roll on the floor but it’s funny enough to make you smile just because it doesn’t really make sense. Anyways it has a nice guitar solo at the end of the song which again is a nice break from the funkadelic beats.
Don’t you forget “Call Me Up” which is the anthem and number one representative of this album. It’s one of their most popular songs and goes very well with the last two songs on this album to help finish the album out strong with three well rounded songs. “100%” is a great album closer featuring some mid range beats, and a very mellow saxophone solo at the end of the song. Chromeo have fashioned quite the album here with Fancy Footwork, blending electronica, guitars, and saxophones to create an all around electro-funk sound that isn’t all that popular in today’s musical realms. Their sound isn’t going to appeal to all listeners but it will appeal to quite a few and the ones that it does will love it because these are two talents fellows who know what they are doing. Fancy Footwork has some cheesy parts but take it for what it’s worth and it’ll turn into fun for you.
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