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It might be genius. It might also be the worst thing ever r

Cromulus | Rome | 09/08/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"You can't dangle a title like "Tenderoni" in front on me and expect me to look away. Its homage to Michael Jackson is impossible to ignore, its temporal place firmly rooted in the late 70's and early 80's, so much so that I don't know anyone who uses the word today. Leave it to the Marty McFlys of music to bring it back to us.



Since I like my funk written and performed by men significantly...err...more pigmented than I or these guys (think James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Prince and Fela Kuti), and because I don't carry around much love for disco music, I feel disqualified from talking about these fellas authoritatively but I'm pretty sure that this CD is smarter than it appears to be. It apes all kinds of dance moves better than some of the dance moves it apes, the odious Timbaland BlowBotVocoderVoice production tropes actually work on these songs, and the hook in "Tenderoni" recalls some of Stevie Wonder's finest moments. I know what some of you are thinking - music's for shaking your ass, not thinking about it - but here's where we part ways. Good music meant for dancing can and does both.



One half of me hopes they're ironic. The better half of me hopes they're earnest about their love because if that's the case, this is the first time in a very long time that dance music actually matters. But all of me knows that this should be both heartfelt and delivered with a sense of irony, otherwise it won't work. The reason that this is a polarizing record (and it is) is that only a hair's breadth keeps it from joining the sh*tpile it was born out of. It's not unlike a bad joke told by a smart person who found an ulterior motive to laugh, but that motive is not to denigrate the joke. The only question now is how often can one delight in hearing the same joke again. Will it wear out? Will I still laugh a year from now when I hear it again? Only time will tell. As of right now, this is very good, maybe even genius; Tomorrow I may change my mind.

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