Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears | Scandalous

CD Reviews

Chromeo

Fancy Footwork | Vice

By ANDREW GRAHAM | July 1, 2008

3.0 Stars

Given the retro-timely dance-pop style of Israeli/Palestinian collabo Chromeo, it’s no surprise that their sweet sophomore-sleeper-turned-instant-classic is being reissued with extras (remixes, videos, nifty repackaging, etc.). Starting with the title track’s pastel-toned, CaliFloriTopian breeze, every well-placed step on Fancy Footwork is planted firmly on a 1980s dance floor — or sliding suavely around a roller rink. “100%” evokes Lionel Richie’s finest solo moments; the lyrics of “Bonafied Lovin’ ” are new (as in Nu Shooz) and improved synth-pop throwbackery; “Momma’s Boy” is an immaculately preserved 1986 time-capsule gem. In a post-ironic ironic twist, Fancy Footwork, with all the familiar flavors of so many ’80s Top 40 one-hit wonders, comes to the world via Vice magazine’s vanity label (a WEA imprint). One of Vice’s early distinguishing traits was its amusingly brusque, dismissive album reviews — so, serious question: if Interpol was weaned on Joy Division classics, and the Drive-By Truckers grew up on a diet of Skynyrd and Allmans, what do you say about a band whose music most vividly recalls the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack?

Topics: CD Reviews , Interpol, Lionel Richie, Joy Division, More

| More

Friends' Activity

Popular

Most Viewed

See more deals

view all

[ 03/06 ] David Wolman @ Harvard Book Store

[ 03/06 ] Robert Glasper Experiment @ Regattabar

[ 03/06 ] "Seinfeld" Quiz @ Common Ground

ARTICLES BY ANDREW GRAHAM

CUBIC ZIRCONIA | FOLLOW YOUR HEART | October 25, 2011
Tiombe Lockhart has been hustling her hot vocal talents for an indie-neo-soul minute now, dropping arresting guest spots with PPP, Waajeed, and Kingdom.

BALAM ACAB | WANDER/WONDER | September 27, 2011
"Witch house" isn't the best tag for an act to get saddled with straight out of the gate, and when Balam Acab's first EP, See Birds, dropped about a year ago, that term had less of its current flash-in-the-pan feel.

CHROMATICS | NIGHT DRIVE | November 16, 2010
Independent Italo-disco throwback record label Italians Do It Better is rooted as deeply in punk-rock DIY as it is in dance 12-inches from the '70s and drugged-out '80s club-night afterparties.

HOW TO DRESS WELL | LOVE REMAINS | November 02, 2010
In the dreamy, spacious world of How To Dress Well (one-man band Tom Krell), everything is light: the tone, the production, the vocals, the touch of each aural element.

SALEM | KING NIGHT | October 19, 2010
In the beginning, there was Screw: the DJ from Houston whose slow and stuttering technique spawned a new musical subgenre.

See all articles by: ANDREW GRAHAM

Most Viewed

Most Emailed

BIG CHANGES ARE COMING FOR CENTRAL SQUARE
In December, Councilor Kenneth E. Reeves presented a report to the Cambridge City Council.

TELLING JESSIE'S STORY
Julie Ross didn't always plan to blog about her experience as the mother of a 10-year-old transgender child named Jessie (who, until her 10th birthday in 2011, was known as George).

AUTHORS STRUT THEIR STUFF
Literary gossip columnists, political poets, cranky lefties, and singing novelists are just some of the characters traipsing through Boston this spring to promote their new books.

8 NEW RECORDS THAT WILL GIVE BOSTON ROCK A CHARGE
Boston's going through an identity crisis; never has the city's music scene been so diverse, its sonic landscape so eclectic.

THE BIG HURT: RIHANNA/BROWN MEDIA ROUNDUP
Hey, remember when Chris Brown beat his beloved celebrity girlfriend to the point of hospitalization, and it looked like, thank goodness, he totally wouldn't get away with it?