Chromeo: Best Of 2007

Men giving birth! Trees blooming crisp dollar bills in the spring! Britney cleaning up her act! These are all miracles that will probably never happen, at least not this year. However, one thing that turned out in 2007 was the ultra-success of Chromeo. The Montreal/New York retro-electro duo became one of the year's dance music success stories thanks to their clever lyrics, robotic vocals and fresh beats laid over old synths. But this wasn't due to miracles. Hard work earned Chromeo an ever-expanding fan base and made this year the group's time to shine.

"Our first and second albums were released with limited marketing budgets and very few placements in stores, so what still does most of the work for us is touring and word of mouth," explains talk-boxer, synth and keyboard player P-Thugg (a.k.a Patrick Gemayel). "By the time all these things come into sync, you come to a level where we have a fan base and now we can go to any city in the States or Canada and sell out, and it was done organically.

"I'd rather have things this way because you know your fans are real."

P-Thugg and Dave 1 (a.k.a David Macklovitch) strongly believe in their organic approach to music. While Macklovitch juggles working towards a PhD in French literature and Gemayel works as a full-time accountant, the electrifying team still find time to tour the planet.

Even if Fancy Footwork comes on strong with its retro-references to heroes like Michael Jackson, Parliament and Rick James, the duo know exactly what they're playing at and it ain't no joke.

"We've been doing music together since we were 15 years old and have had the same level of confidence the whole way through," says Gemayel.

"Chromeo should be taken very seriously," he continues in a sturdy tone. "There's a difference between being fun and funny. We're not funny, we're fun. We make you laugh with lyrics and references. We act like complete idiots during the shows and we have fun with it. We understand our references and we know some stuff is cheesy. You can't expect to use 1980s drum sounds full of reverb and not anticipate a smile from somebody. But at the same time, we work hard and we're really serious. This is our tribute to our idols. If we weren't serious we would have stopped after the first album."

With a winning combination of humour, sex, modern electronics and attitude — and having counted Justice, Bonde Do Role and Bloc Party as tour mates — this year's appetite for dance music propelled these childhood pals into
underground superstardom. But with their everlasting poise and newfound fame, do women follow?

"We get more attention, definitely," the keyboardist says with a laugh. "We're two confident dudes with a hip-hop background where nothing can stop you, so things haven't changed much." 

P-Thugg of Chromeo's album of the year:

KANYE WEST Graduation
"It's just a really good album, better than his first."

George Stroumboulopoulos says:
"I like those dudes. The dudes are kind of funny."

 The following feature is taken from the December 2007 issue of Chart Magazine. To purchase the issue, head on over to the Chart Shop.