$Chromeo-Oh-uo…Chromeo-Oh-uo$
publicado el 19-02-2008 por Clapping Hand, 13 comentarios
can’t fight the feeling. or get it shut down.
Chromeo. Obviously very big in Japan. Big here in Mexico, too. I think. They are great a n y w h e r e so… It was a hunch, first, but then everything confirmed it. Their gig last 14th and their show in Gudalajara’s Mxbeat left no doubt: they quickly entered my top five bands of all time.
The impression was so harsh on me that left me no choice but to write this post completely in English. Grasping the issue of my terrible use of the English language, specially when it comes to spelling and verbal phrases (that’s grammatical y’all), they (¿?) should take this as complete flattery. Also: have in mind I had an interview with them. It all sort of clicks: using English and all. Sorry for the guys that can’t read English. But, more so: sorry for the guys that can. Probably a work of mecanicity more than, like, brains.
Take it back to last Saturday. Hot weather on Jalisco’s capital city. Mxbeat well into its program. It’s about seven o’clock in the afternoon. I’ve been there for about three hours. Hours spent, of course, with a constant beer supply. Enough liquid to begin a blurriness just equaled by my love for the whole situation. The time for the interview approached with a slow but sure rhythm. I’m about to interview two of the biggest stars of the whole festival and there I am, sipping constantly on fresh beer losing it’s freshness. Maybe fortune will favor the bold. Well…probably it won’t.
Me (C$H): Sooooooo. Hello guys.
Dave-1 (D): Hi!
P-Thugg (P): Hello.
C$H: Anyways, mind if I do a some questions in a disorganized fashion?
D & P: Sure.
C$H: For example, just last week I downloaded a couple of new Needy Girl remixes. Being a three year old song, how do you feel about it? Do you find that flattering or something?
D: Well, in England they are re-releasing the Needy Girl single…
C$H: Really? (dumb question: duh!)
D: Yes. Well it’s good (the remixing). To us it’s like a classic record, so, you know, it’s still got life into it because it never really crossed over really, commercially. Like so, now, with all those new remixes and the new actions on the record, it’s actually becoming a more pop-commercial record. So, it’s not a bad thing.
P: Yeah. It’s actually cool to see that after three years that the song has been out, it’s still good and people are still digging it. It still makes sense, you know?
C$H: Of course. I know. (a fan, anyone?). Well, I saw your show back in Mexico City last Thursday (Saint Valentines day) and, if I was to describe it, I would say it was a work of precision. How do you achieve such an impressive sense of timing? (P.S.: smart question, isn’t it?).
D & P: Ha! (Well, they laughed at me quite a bit).
P: Actually, we were mentored by Tito Puente. (Go ahead, laugh at me you…geniuses).
D: It’s just like, we do so many shows. Like, the last year we were doing shows non-stop so we got a hang of it.
C$H: Well, its really impressive anyways.
D: Really?
C$H: Think so. And, how did you felt the mexican crowd?
D: Well, you know, last Thursday it was more like for the industry. I mean you could tell there wasn’t kids. Kinda elite. It was invitation only, media people, you know… It was cool anyways. I feel today is gonna be more of a real reflection of what Mexico is.
C$H: I have to say, last Thursday was great. But the issue of extreme crowdedness (like that’s a real word) came out as a disappointment for me. No fancy footwork was to be seen. How do you feel about that? Could you say Chromeo’s music is made to be danced at?
D: Well, or sing along a lot. Actually, in America or England its even more of a sing along show than a dancing one. You can dance a bit, but you’ll dance more like in a Daft Punk show, or whatever. But us is like singing. Like, they know the lyrics.
C$H: So, you couldn’t say that you’re like disco-innovators, dance music innovators of some sort but more like, I don’t know, picking up a great amount of influences that are taken from all around and mixing them in notoriously catchy lyrics and rhythms (like, how I would describe the post-disco pop production of the american eighties: come again?)?
D: Yeah! I think so. We actually like a lot that kind of big stadium rock. You know like those big and cheesy-Journey-you-know-Toto-Africa, you know…Stuff like that.
C$H: So my hunch about your loving Hall & Oates, obvious as it is, could be thought of as confirmed?
D: Of course.
C$H: I was wondering the other day, when I found out I was to do this interview, something that also strikes you as quite evident but, still…It is that I was wondering how much of lyric writing is left to chance and, like, I dunno how to pronounce it correctly, em, well, to be spontaneous? Is that right? (They nodded: great guys if you mind my terrible accent).
D: What do you mean?
C$H: Well, like, you have a certain theme in most of your songs, maybe with the exception of my favorite, “So gangsta”, that is centered in relationship stuff. Like constantly bringing up the image of this loser or totally in-love guy which you are like, giving advice and all…I mean, is it like a restriction or do you think it comes like a natural theme to you guys…Like, with the name of the band and all (Chromeo stood, at least in my mind, as Chrome-romeo; this wasn’t confirmed in the interview but it is in the interview they gave to Tim Noakes in Dazed and Confused magazine: go figure). Is that completely intentional?
D: Yeah, yeah…Well I think we’re very influenced by Hall & Oates, R. Kelly, R & B kind of themes…You know…Robert Palmer, too.
C$H: So, was that the idea that drove the creation of Chromeo?
D: Uhm…It wasn’t the idea from a start. But you know, it’s sort of what naturally became of it. Like, you could say its was planned but in a spontaneous way…Now, of course, it has become like our trademark…
C$H: I know (there you go, again).
D: Its not like…Its hard to come up with like, different ways to sing about that kind of stuff…Most people are like: “I love you”, “I met you”, you know. So we’re constantly trying to come up with new twists of the same theme…
C$H: All right. So, just a last one. (I sense relief. Yep). Have you ever produced someone else stuff, I mean, like produce someone else record or a song or something?
D: Well, we’ve never really done it before, with Chromeo. But before Chromeo we were actually hip-hop producers…So we did a lot of stuff back in Montreal…
C$H: And, do you have plans about producing something for someone in the future?
D: We don’t actually have anything confirmed (Aha! Start guessing), but, we like doing Chromeo stuff so… We’re actually more anxious to do a new Chromeo album.
C$H: Any plans in writing something in french (they are both from Montreal: born and raised)?
D: Well, we have like one song in french and one interlude in french in the new album and, em, it’s like, we tried but…Well for us, its just…Like everything has to come up as spontaneous, cause otherwise its gonna sound forced, and ironic. And sarcastic. So, we can’t actually plan it like that. It doesn’t work for us. We’re very sincere.
C$H: Ok, soooo…Thanks a lot. It was great.
P: Sure. See you round.
Laugh, always to your insides. Enjoy the tunes and dismiss all of the above. Have a bangin’ one.
Also: p.s.Gracias a los Dynamites. Chingon.
Hall & Oates – Maneater (Original 12 Inch Extended Club Mix)
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Chromeo – Needy Girl (Boy 8-Bit’s Talk Box Dub)
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Chromeo – Needy Girl (Dolby Anol’s French Mistake)
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Chromeo – Needy Girl (Teenage Bad Girl remix)
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Chromeo – (You’re) So Gangsta
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C$H
