Chromeo consists of two guys from Montreal, Dave 1, Vice magazine's music editor, and his boy Pee Thug, one of the other guys at the Audio Research label. The record is also on Vice's record label, and that magazine's hating track record kind of gives this LP the "Mark Ronson effect" you want to hate it, but you can't really front on it. In fact, I heard "Mercury Tears(1)" over a year ago on some sampler CD without knowing anything about the group, and I was playing it on some "get up in the morning and face the world" type shit. At the same time though, it wasn't something I really wanted to let my friends know I was digging. Chromeo is definitely for a certain person, and I think there are three types of people who should buy this record. The first group is djs who spin electro/funk-ish music (Cameo, Prince, Lisa Lisa, Fannypack, The Faint, Daft Punk, etc). This will be a valuable addition. The second group is basically anyone who likes to party hard with drugs. Self explanatory after listening. The third (this is the group to which I belong) are the type of people who secretly want to marry all of their babysitters from the 80's and fiend for anything that brings them back to those days. Not to say that this is solely a retro record. Its roots are firmly planted in Reaganomic funk, but they also take advantage of numerous post-2000 production techniques, making for a fresh sound. All I can say is listen to "Me and My Man(2)," "You're So Gangsta(3)" and especially the lyrics on "Needy Girl(4)" and decide if you belong to any of the aforementioned groups.

reviewed by JMS