Chromeo - Business Casual (2010) [Atlantic] // Grade: B+

It’s a tricky path to walk when you’re a throwback or revival band. From the jump you have an immense amount of restrictions placed on your creativity. You have to replicate a defunct style of music down to the smallest detail or you risk coming off as a cheap knockoff or insulting to fans of the genre. Yet, even if you nail the conventions of the genre perfectly, there’s still the possibility that you’ll simply sound derivative. The looming question remains “why should I listen to these new guys when I have the old records”? Enter, Chromeo.

The duo (Dave 1 and P-Thugg) have spent their career throwing back to the electro fuck/boogie of the early/mid 80s that was perfected by the likes of Rick James, Cameo, Ready For The World and Morris Day & The Time. This is a genre that’s weirdly, not been embraced in the revival of all things 80s that happened at the turn of the century — yet, it’s pretty much perfect dance music. It’s a distillation of the excess of disco, merged with the extra heavy groove of funk and the electronics/futurism of new wave. There’s no fat here, no unnecessary parts. Just pure jams, for sweating out expensive haircuts — Chromeo fully realize and celebrate this.

Business Casual finds Chromeo coming the closest to recreating the bands they draw their influences from, musically they’re pitch perfect. From the bleet of classic synth solos, to the coldness of the drum machine’s hi-hats and delicately rich harmonies it’s all here. The album starts of with “Hot Mess”, a sexy dance song, engineered for women with big hair in tube dresses to demonstrate how well they’ve strengthened their core muscles during pilates. Serpentine motions are so necessary for this one, especially when it reaches it’s crescendo of fat synths and vocoder. Songs like “Night By Night” and “You Make It Rough” both enter the realm of disco/electro hybrid usually occupied by bands like Daft Punk and demonstrates that Chromeo understand the subtleties of electro by throwing in some great flourishes. “Night By Night” has a synth, vocoder, guitar dueling solo section that reeks of the early 80s fascination of combining shitty guitar solos with synthesizers — an idea to later be revisited in the 90′s with DJ scratching replacing synthesizers, shitty guitar solos remain a constant. “You Make It Rough” not only comes through as a great smoothed out electro number, but also serves as a demonstration of how awesome the arpeggio function is on a synthesizer. Which in 2010, is kinda whatever, we’ve all heard arpeggios before. But, in 1983? “Shiiiitttt”® – The Wire. It’s tiny details in songs like this that give the album the authenticity that your ear (even subconsciously) recognizes. This authenticity also allows Business Casual to fully function as an entry in the genre along side all those classic bands, instead of just being a commentary on them.

The only part of the album that really comes across as lacking are Dave 1′s vocals. That’s not to say dude has bad vocals, he’s very competent. The issue lies in his lack of flair. He has a limited range and wisely stays within that range, but this robs the songs of some of the hysterics that are par for the course in this style of music. If you play metal, at some point you’ve gotta scream. If you rap hard, you’re going to have to curse at some point (except Will Smith, he don’t have to curse in his rhymes). If you’re going to play electro you’ve gotta wild the fuck out and gimme some “oohhh”‘s some “ahhh”‘s maybe a “babbbyyy”, even a patented Klymaxx “somebody slap me!” would do. I know it’s Business Casual — all praise be to The Gap — but even dudes in chinos and moreno wool cardigans break the girl in accounting off a lil something every once in awhile. Let me hear that shit Dave 1.

The lack of vocal histrionics aside though the album is pretty spot on, and totally ready to transition your next party from lounging on the leather sofa to clear out the tables so we can dance territory. I just wish it had a little bit more of the Prince feel, that transitions the party from dancing in the living room to “ladies please don’t scuff my silk sheets with your heels” territory.

- Behold the Destroyer