Songs Of The Times (Chromeo - Quarantine Casanova)

I was looking through bandcamp yesterday to scoop some releases and support their latest charity donation incentive for Juneteenth, and when I was browsing I found out that Chromeo had made a mew mini-EP during lockdown, so I thought I'd give it a look. It has the suitably Chomeo-style title of Quarantine Casanova.

Let's go over to Dave of Chromeo with a quote from the bandcamp page describing the process:

“Honestly, it started as a joke,” says Chromeo frontman Dave 1. “At the beginning of quarantine, we hunkered down in our studio, freestyled a song called ‘Clorox Wipe’ and posted it online to cheer people up. The response was overwhelming. So we wrote another one, and another one. Fans kept asking if we were going to release them for real, so after a couple of weeks, we obliged.” “As usual, it’s a high brow-low brow thing with us,” adds synth master P-Thugg. “These are obviously the funniest tracks we’ve ever written, but they connected in such a visceral way. We figured if we were to put them out, there would have to be a charity and an awareness component.”

Chromeo have always had a bit of self awareness in their style, often embracing the cheesier side of funk in a charming way. Quarantine Casanova is no different at least from a lyrical standpoint, the tongue is FIRMLY in cheek here. That's something that might be a turn off for some, I admit I was torn between eye-rolls and smirks at some of the rhymes, but it's brought in some needed levity to recent happenings.

Clorox Wipe is the first order of the day and is definitely a solid way to start the EP. I have been very much out of touch with what Chromeo have been doing since Business Casual 10(!) years ago now, from what I recall they were fleshing out their sound and I wasn't a super fan of it at the time, it's since grown on me but the point stands. Probably due to lockdown, the EP has an overall more basic feel, evoking for me the breakout days of Fancy Footwork (Even down to the tiny bonus tracks at the end of the songs!) which is refreshing to hear. I still have a major soft spot for that sound even all these years later.



I promised myself that I wouldn't harp too much on the humorous side of the album, but there is something inherently funny about a funky slow jam about respecting social distancing rules. It's worth noting that despite the jokey nature of the content and lyrics, neither of the Chromeo boys have taken it as an excuse to cut corners, the EP is solid throughout, I adore the glittery 80's intro on this one, and as you all well know I could listen to vocoders all day every day so there is more than enough for me to get my teeth stuck into here.



I really appreciate this one, the lyrics so far have been relatable at a base level but this one hits on another level, a combination take-down of influencers and the like, as well as a reassuring anthem if you're finding it hard in the current climate. Choice lines such as "Everybody's always bragging about all their activities / But there's really nothing wrong with zero productivity" are (to use an already overused internet phrase) really wholesome. Not to say that the humour is lost though, there are also lines like "You ain't gotta look fly when you're underneath the covers / You got WiFi, then you're covered" which never fails to make me grin a little, partly because of that absolutely dubious rhyme!



Skipping over one track for one final slow jam, that also takes the wholesomeness to another level; what starts as Dave lamenting all the Quarantine problems you've come to expect at this point but takes a lovely turn toward the end with this stanza:

So if you're seriously depressed
Suffering from all the loneliness
Close your eyes and this is what you do
You can picture us

Stuck in a room with you

Which is a lovely thought, and a nice twist that makes it not yet another track just about quarantine. The instrumentals also get a chance to shine not long after hat, not that I hate Dave's vocals or anything but up until now I don't think the instrumentation has had a chance to take center stage. (Not that it matters as the rest of the tracks on the EP are instrumentals of the above!)



The price is fairly reasonable I thought (but I am in GBP after all), but I appreciate not all of you will have the freedom of expendable income right now. If you do, consider picking this one up, it's a quality slice of Chromeo funk and all proceeds from the sales are being donated to Know Your Rights Camp's COVID-19 Relief Fund.For convenience, here is a link to the Bandcamp page! If this is your introduction to Chromeo, definitely check out the rest of their work, as mentioned before I feel like this release is most similar to Fancy Footwork (But I also haven't listened to their last two albums either so take that with a grain of salt), but if you like this odds are you'll find their whole discography appealing!

As always, stay safe and enjoy the music

-CVF

Tricks 2

Got a few other cool labels to add to the sound-cloud white list, no surprise Flying Lotus' Brainfeeder is there, which is a real blessing because as it turns out there was some Thundercat I had managed to miss about a year back. And thankfully we are not limited to 30 second previews so we call all bask in the funky goodness of Thundecat. Enjoy.



And since I was there I thought I'd share a couple more of my favourites from Apocalypse too. Heartbreaks + Setbacks remains one of the few tunes that I HAVE to listen to all the way through when it comes on, it wastes no time getting ot the meat of things and I will always be all ears.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Self Employed

Being reduced to one day a week isn't too bad, I got videos to keep me occupied and that, even if rendering takes up 80% of my time these days. Here's some tunes seeing me through my rotoscoping today!

Sigmar Polke - The Plant

First up is a tune I barely missed out of my overview of Stenchman's new album. This one's a collabo between his usual vibes and his love letter to the 80's project Steel Stallions and it's pretty bloody great in all honesty, as usual with stench those samples are on point and that bouncy bassline is damn catchy.



Which put me back on his solid Philestine side project. The remix he did of DJ Shadow's Scale It Back keeps it fairly simple but I cannot get enough of it. Headphones are a must to appreciate this one to it's fullest. It's got little in common with the original other than Yukimi's solid vocal contribution, amazing what a little increase in tempo can do for a song.

Philestine · DJ SHADOW FT LITTLE DRAGON - SCALE IT BACK (PHILESTINE REMIX)

And funnily enough as I was going through footage frame by frame this little number with a fitting title came up. I've said it before but I'd love for more demos from flylo in the vein of this. Not to say I don't love the direction he's taking but I love me some instrumental hip hop goodness.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Bank Holiday

Hey y'all got this Monday off thanks to the great British tradition of bank holidays, thought I'd take the opportunity to hook you up with some of my tunes from today. Tracks after the art!

Indie184 - Bliss

I have a couple of FlyLo's demos on here, this isn't from this years Ideas+Drafts+Loops though, this is taken from the '06 on, the same year his debut dropped on Plug Research. It's sounds very different from that though, much more rough round the edges like Los Angeles. Track 'em down for some interesting but unfinished sounds.



Bit of a jump now as I revisit Kittin & The Hacker's debut. Surprisingly I hadn't posted this one, it's pretty light all things considered, definitely far from the crude cult track Frank Sinatra. The Hacker's production really shines on this one, there's a lot of lovely sounds going around among Kittin's vocal accompaniment.



Another album I've dug out of my crates recently: Felix Da Housecat's Virgo Blaktro & The Moviedisco. It's pretty solid, though the second half seems to be made up of short tunes like this one here. Still, not to knock it too much, I'd forgotten how much of a funk/disco influence there was on here, it's kinda like Proto-Chromeo in a way. I dig it a lot.



And finally another reworking from the Sneaker Pimps' debut. This mix takes the hazy trip hop of the original and adds a little bit of a harder edge to it. I almost prefer it because the original does get a bit of 90's pop going on whereas this is more like straight up trip hop. Keep yer ears peeled for the cheeky Massive Attack sample.

Paul Oakenfold · Sneaker Pimps - 6 Underground (Perfecto Remix)

-Claude Van Foxbat

Weekend Tracks

I apologize for the bland title, i couldn't do any better.

i really couldn't

Anyways, these are a small selection of the songs that get sent to us that i liked, i hope you'll enjoy them too.

The melody in the beginning of this loftmind song is amazing, and the drop is spectacular as well.




I disliked the original version of this song, thankfully NPOWA made it into something groovy.





Another remix, this time from MYNGA very smooth track and a nice take on the original.




This song is great, Bebe Panthere  you are great, i will give you all my money                   psyche


 - Earl

Mum's The Word

Spur of the moment post, but yesterday it was Mother's Day here in the UK, so don't get all worried that you haven't got her a gift or anything if you're in the US or elsewhere! I have a bunch of relevant tunes, but here's three that really shine.

Ivan Shishkin - Rain In An Oak Forest (1891)

Funkateers Chromeo were pretty much a given on this list. This tune was long a favourite from Fancy Footwork and I used to use it to intro people to Chromeo cos I think it shows off what they do really well in a pretty short timeframe.



I remember the Bloody Beetroots from back in my bloghopping days when I was listening to more electro than was probably healthy. Whoda thought that their first album would actually have some pretty sweet non-dancefloor stuff on it, including this one that's got more than a tint of Justice's Valentine to it...



And finally, tune I've held off posting for a while cos it's actually massive. Like Timeless, Goldie's sophomore LP Saturnz Return is opened with Mother, an hour long epic that goes from classical to drum & bass and back again. It takes up almost all the first CD of the album and my 320 rip is a whopping 138 MB, To save on bandwidth have this resampled to 192kbps version.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Stuff We Missed

Trust that when we're busy getting the site stable and a new crew in that funkateers Chromeo drop info on a new album and a couple single dealies. Last thing I'd seen of them before this was their collabs with Daryl Hall of Hall & Oates fame. Not really feeling the cover art for this one personally, but whatever let's check it out!

So how does the new stuff sound? quite nice actually, starting with their latest addition Sexy Socialite; a little departure from their usual repertoire, and is probably the fastest track I've ever heard from them. Loving the breakdowns on this one.



And the other half, something a little more conventional from the duo as you can probably tell from that opening bassline. Unfortunately it seems they're catching the wave of uninspired "sounds like Daft Punk" comments that comes with doing anything remotely funk these days. Regardless these two are definitely worth your time, as well as their last three albums if you've missed them!



And of course, Miss Kittin's new album is fantastic. She's totally embraced the vibe changes that she usually has on her albums and made a massive double album, one side dancefloor, the other side more ambient. I was gonna embed a couple from her soundcloud, but they're disabled! Instead enjoy the video for one of the singles, Bassline.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Morepocalypse

Another Thundercat single dropped t'other day, this time featuring the Lotus man himself on the production side of things. To quote the man himself when he was teasing it he other day; "When I heard people trippin on the new daft punk song I said to myself. Wait till they hear this new Thundercat"

Electronic Lovin'

Well, it's that fateful day again. Lucky I went out the night before so now I have some video editing and some stuff to write up for Uni then huh? Regardless I'm gonna drop some tunes on you because I like procrastinating more than work!

HudMo lays down another of his annual slow jams mixes just in time for the 14th, not your conventional mix by any stretch of the means, apart from Mohawke dropping in some of his beloved gunshots here and there get ready for quarter of an hour worth of slow jams!



And some mo' selections from my catalogue for you. First is Sebastién Tellier with a bit from his fittingly titled Sexuality that has the honor of being produced by Guy Manuel de Homem-Christo, one half of everyone's favourite french house duo Daft Punk.



I'll throw in my favourite remix too, Kavinsky's touch on the opening track from Sexuality is just brilliant, the intro to it is almost perfect. And fits right in with the rest of the album's sound quite comfortably unlike some of the other remixes, which is something I like a lot.



And finally, a couple of tunes from Canadian funk maestros Chromeo. Fancy Footwork is where they started to nail the sound they were going for, and it reflects in the explosion in popularity around that LP in comparison to their first. Here's an under appreciated gem from Fancy Footwork



And I'll end it with the final tune from that album, and something that wouldn't sound too out of place on HudMo's Slow Jams tape up there, but with a little more of a funk vibe to it. Make sure you stay tuned till the end to hear the bonus reprise of Tenderoni!



Evol,
- Claude Van Foxbat

Sexy Dancing

Hi there, I just sawthe new video of Chromeo's single Night By Night.



It is sooooooooo sexy, David Macklovitch (the brother of A-trak) makes me question my sexuality! Damn he can dance...

Here's the song and and a brilliant remix by Smalltown DJ's. The percussions in the remix really make it a gem!





Short post out, enjoy!
Mr. Brown

From the father of HBFS (Boba's Blast From The Past)

Edwin Birdsong, some very interesting stuff this guy does. Not only did he create the wonderful loop in the background of Harder Better Faster Stronger, Cola Bottle Baby, he also put out many other releases which truly didn't get enough attention. The poor guy was overshadowed by The Brothers Johnson and Zapp and Roger, and left in the indie funk scene.

Edwin Birdsong was born in 1950 in the city of LA, son of a minister. Birdsong fought in Vietnam, where upon returning, he left for Germany to play in clubs. He later moved to New York to pursue a more serious music career where he fronted a blues trio and attended Julliard as a composition major. He put out five records, the first in 1971, the last in 1981. Although his personal recording career ended there, he did not stop his profession, and went on to produce for other artists and even played sessions for Stevie Wonder.

Over the last several months, I've been gathering funk and disco compilation bootlegs from across the web, and in doing so, I've found a rather nice collection of Birdsong's work.









Now... now I must vent. Thursday night was my school's formal. Before the dance started, I noticed the DJ setting up and went over to talk to him. In fact i talked to him so long that I entirely missed the dinner. But the guy was really nice, and he'd been DJing since the 1980's, when he had "red hair and long, black fingernails". Since I was there, he gave me permission to flood the request form with songs I wanted. Normally they limit the number of submissions at these things, but I think this guy was genuinely pleased to find a kid who's definition of 'dance music' isn't Katy Perry, Kanye West, or Lady Gaga.

Fifteen minutes into the dance, the first of my requests comes on! Digital Love! Right now, it happens to be my favorite song. I get up from the table, and walk over to the dance floor, some of my friends getting up and coming too... and what I found mortified me. No one was dancing. They were all silent, and either staring at the DJ in disapproval, or at me, because I was singing along, which was the only sound in the room.

"..and it looked like everyone... was... not having fun. *sigh*" I looked at the DJ and he shrugged back and fiddled with his laptop, walked over to his mixer and faded in What Is Love, and the party promptly started again.

This tells me something... I will not be able to DJ one of these dances. The music that I love to dance to is not the music they like to dance to, and I swear to God there will be NO LADY GAGA ON MY FRICKING PLAYLIST.

Annoyed-ly yours,
Boba

P.S. How about a hostile takeover of the event planning committee and put forth a Disco Ball next year? Heh? PUN!