Chromeo - Albums Collection 2004-2010 (5CD) [Re-Up]

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Chromeo - Albums Collection 2004-2010 (5CD) [Re-Up]

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With a love of talkboxes, vintage drum machines, and gleamingly plastic synth tones, Montreal electro-funk duo Chromeo developed a sound that looked to the deepest echelon of '80s funk and radio R&B to develop their sound. While wearing the influence of Zapp, Prince, and even Hall & Oates on their sleeve, their style would grow more refined as the years went on, with production getting more detailed as their songwriting became more nuanced. The band's homage to the greats of the dancefloor and its unbridled worship of pop found its summit on their fourth album, 2014’s White Women. By then the group had fine-tuned their formula and also opened up their creative world to guest vocalists and producers, maximizing their mainstream accessibility and resulting in their highest-charting release.

Chromeo were formed in 2002 by Montreal producers David "Dave One" Macklovitch and Patrick "Pee Thug" Gemayel. Dave One took on vocal duties, though both former hip-hop producers were multi-instrumentalists and brought their love of classic funk and soul to their nascent creations. The "Destination Overdrive" single appeared in late 2003, complete with the tingling B-side "Needy Girl" (a ringer for Yaz's "Situation") and a DFA remix. The single was followed by a proper full-length debut, She's in Control, released on Vice in early February 2004. To satiate their fans between records, Chromeo issued two mixes, 2005's Un Joli Mix Pour Toi and 2006's Ce Soir on Danse!, while gigging and working on their second album. Fancy Footwork arrived in the summer of 2007, boasting a slicker sound and poppier songwriting (courtesy of Cassius' Philippe Zdar on mixing duties), plus an avalanche of remixes. In the summer of 2008, they would collaborate with Hall & Oates' own Daryl Hall for part of his online series Live from Daryl's House. As fans awaited another album, Chromeo released DJ-Kicks in 2009. They finally returned in August 2010 with Business Casual, released by Atlantic Records in the U.S. The singles "Over Your Shoulder" and "Sexy Socialite" were released in 2013, and both landed on the following year's White Women, an album that featured Solange, Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig, and, in affirmation of their indebtedness to early-'80s R&B, vocalist Tawatha Agee (of Mtume). The duo's highest Billboard debut, it narrowly missed the Top Ten. Four years later, the band returned with fifth album Head Over Heels, another album heavy on guest contributions from the likes of DRAM, French Montana, Amber Mark, and others.

Johnny Loftus, Allmusic.com

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Chromeo - Albums Collection 2004-2010 (5CD) [Re-Up]

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Chromeo - Albums Collection 2004-2010 (5CD) [Re-Up]

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The beats buzz and the snarky sensuality tickles, even if Pee Thug and Dave swear they don't want it to. Chromeo's She's in Control is dirty late-night fun simply because it has fun. It begins abruptly with the distorted synth pop update "Me & My Man." "This is the new sound" (it's not), "We came to get down" (they did), "Our name is Chromeo" (it is), "And we are in control" (that's up to you) – it's only the first few measures of the album, and the duo has already established its tongue-in-your-cheek take on merging both the questionable and the cool from genres past into its own peach fuzz-and-ascot come-on. Serious? Farce? Who cares? Like Fannypack, Chromeo runs its musical resale shop out of a stall located behind the velvet rope. (Check DFA remixes and American distribution through Vice Records as proof.) Thankfully, Pee and Dave back up their pedigree with a clutch of great tracks. The detached chill of "Needy Girl" riffs on Yaz as it sketches the minutia of a casual sex relationship, while the cheeky "Woman Friend" features vintage vocal processing and an insistent cowbell disco bump. References to new romantic, new jack swing, and the new power generation continue flirting with one another more or less successfully over the duration of She's in Control, kept at the party by Pee's genuine flair for beat and genre recombination and Dave's handful of enjoyable, if not particularly genuine, vocal personas. Its singles are naturally the best part, but stay tuned for the mid-album instrumental "Since You Were Gone," which reimagines "Easy Lover" by Philip Bailey and Phil Collins as keyboard-heavy karaoke for Cylons.

Johnny Loftus, Allmusic.com

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Chromeo - Albums Collection 2004-2010 (5CD) [Re-Up]

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Back with a slicker set of moves and immaculately groomed hooks, on Fancy Footwork Chromeo are in even more control of their sound than they were on She's in Control. The duo's debut was undeniably fun, but it was such a slave to the rhythm that, at times, it was numbing; on this album, Chromeo take their electro textures and funky beats in a very pop direction, topping them with memorable melodies and witty lyrics. From the tongue-in-cheek drama of "Intro" – which conjures visions of Chromeo ascending the stage from a cloud of dry ice – Fancy Footwork builds on everything that made previous singles like "Needy Girl" good dirty fun. "Tenderoni" is a great example of the album's tighter, glossier sound and swivel-hipped rhythms, while "Fancy Footwork" itself boasts growling, squealing, and purring Moogs and a percussion breakdown made for busting a move. And, by trimming the fat off their tracks, Chromeo have made more room for knowing, entendre-laden fun. "Momma's Boy," with its instantly lovable electric piano riff and lyrics about finding your sweetie eerily similar to your folks, is a funny, catchy, twisted update on the Hall & Oates-style pop that the band loves so much. Skit-like humor seeps into "Call Me Up," which pauses while a girl looks around for Chromeo's phone number, and "My Girl is Calling Me (A Liar)," which ends with a brief conversation between Dave One and a talkboxing Pee Thug. Elsewhere, Dave and Pee show their sensitive side: "Bonafied Lovin" shows them taking more time to court a conquest, and the "Needy Girl" sequel "Opening Up" finds them trying monogamy – and liking it. Even though Fancy Footwork's grooves aren't quite as deep as those on She's in Control, Chromeo's transformation into polished Lotharios with pop skills to match more than makes up for it. [The 2008 Deluxe Edition includes the videos for "Tenderoni," "Fancy Footwork," and the album's other singles, and a second disc of remixes by the DFA, MSTRKRFT, Yuksek, Playgroup, and more.]

Heather Phares, Allmusic.com

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Chromeo - Albums Collection 2004-2010 (5CD) [Re-Up]

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Chromeo may be campy, but they have a completely sincere love for '80s synth funk, so it only seems natural that the duo would be invited to compile a mix for !K7's excellent DJ-Kicks mixtape series. The selections are a little smoother and spacier than typical club fare, but the music is the type that you would expect Dave One and Pee Thug to use to set the mood, piled with slick, twinkling arpeggios, slappy basslines, and bumping drum machine beats. It's an obscure batch of material pulled mostly from thrift store crates, as evident by a disclaimer in the liner notes that states, "Due to the rare nature of some of the repertoire featured on this release, we were unsuccessful in trying to locate the licensing source for some of the repertoire." Quite a repertoire it is. French-Canadian disco cuts (Pierre Perpall's "Virens Danser," France Joli's "Gonna Get Over You," Diane Tell's "Dans Tes Yeux," and the brilliantly robotic "Larmes de Metal" by Soupir) are wedged back to back with electronic R&B and adult contemporary artists who are more widely known, but still rarely found on dance mixes (such as Rick James protégé Donna Allen or the Alan Parsons Project). Like most entries in the DJ-Kicks run, the transitions are fluid and it's a steady, thoroughly enjoyable groove from start to finish. Of course, as entertaining as the experience of perusing Chromeo's crates can be, it's the moment when they take the mike and perform a talk box version of the Eagles' soft rock staple "I Can't Tell You Why" that really takes the cake.

Jason Lymangrover, Allmusic.com

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Chromeo - Albums Collection 2004-2010 (5CD) [Re-Up]

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If it didn’t capture the fun of ‘80s pop, it just wouldn’t be Chromeo. And for their third album, Pee Thug and Dave One are as campy and faithful to their roots as humanly (and robotically) possible. Coming off shows with Daryl Hall, after a guest spot on the blue-eyed soul singer’s Web show Live from Daryl’s House, the duo has tapped deeper into the intricacies of AM pop. Business Casual has the typically synth-suave electro-funk jams, like “Hot Mess” and “Night by Night,” featuring Gemayel's talkbox mastery over strobe-lit four-on-the-floor beats that are right in step with “Tenderoni” and “Needy Girl.” As the album progresses, though, Macklovitch and Gemayel dig deeper into crates for cheesy inspiration, and you can hear glimmers of Rockwell, Lionel Richie, Oran Juice, and even The Kids from Fame TV series. “The Right Type” seems custom-made for a montage, and the snappy “Grow Up” could be the theme from a sitcom. Elsewhere, Solange Knowles does her best Whitney/Mariah impression for "When the Night Falls," and “J’ai Claqué la Porte,” with its Casio fills and fingerpicked acoustic, is sung entirely in French and features Dave One at his most smirkingly romantic.

Jason Lymangrover, Allmusic.com