Chromeo – Head Over Heels

Having honed their synth-funk sound for more than 15 years, Chromeo find their style co-opted by the big pop music machine with all of its uptown funks and funk wav bounces. Dave 1 and P-Thugg’s solution is to take things back to the source on Head Over Heels, a multi-layered trail through the genre's various iterations loaded with squealing synth leads, big basslines, and more sass and energy than you can shake a stick at.

This is an album that takes in everything from scratchy, jittery Minneapolis funk to atmospheric slow jams to wildly over-the-top histrionics that would make George Clinton proud. But more than anything, Head Over Heels is just incredibly good fun. From the squelchy bass of Don’t Sleep to the backing vocals on Bad Decision that have more than a whiff of Yello’s 80s soundtrack classic Oh Yeah, it's packed with moments that will have you shuffling in your seat if not the whole way out of it.

It’s not perfect; a couple of the album’s feature spots from the likes of D.R.A.M. and Stefflon Don feel a little crowbarred-in, there's less of the punchiness that characterised the duo's early work, and the lounge-funk interlude of Right Back Home To You goes on for at least a minute too long. But when the pieces fall into place there aren’t many bands that exude this much ridiculous, filthy, party-starting energy.

Things come together best on the two-part Bedroom Calling. Part one’s an anthemic slow jam, all drum machine handclaps and reverb-laden bass; part two’s an uptempo pop-funk banger guest starring The-Dream that would be topping the charts everywhere if there was any justice in the world. If you want the funk this summer, Chromeo are still the guys to call.

Listen to: Count Me Out, Bedroom Calling pts 1 & 2