Head Over Heels

Five albums in, Chromeo prove they can still bring the funk. But unlike their clubbier past releases, which refashioned retro grooves for sweaty Brooklyn dance floors, *Head Over Heels* is broader and more human—and packed with guests. (DRAM, for instance, provides the raspy croon in album opener “Must\'ve Been,” and The-Dream lifts “Bedroom Calling, Pt. 2” into a glitzy \'80s jam). Recorded over two years in the pair’s first proper studio, a wood-paneled wonderland in Burbank, California, it features some of 2018’s biggest new artists (Stefflon Don, Amber Mark) alongside industry greats (Raphael Saadiq, The Time guitarist Jesse Johnson, and legendary bassist Pino Palladino). Or, as lead singer Dave 1 told Beats 1 host Zane Lowe, “Old-school players and new-school cats—that’s our mix.”

On their bona fide all-stars album, everyone from DRAM to Amber Mark to The-Dream cannot save the electronic duo from their tastelessness.

Melody’s Echo Chamber pushes its warped psych pop to new lands on Bon Voyage, while Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever debuts with the dreamy, mature Hope Downs, and Chromeo strikes the right balance on fifth LP Head Over Heels. These, plus Immersion and The English Beat in this week’s notable new releases.

'Head Over Heels' album: Veteran duo Chromeo work with array of high-power guests, offer more of the same silky formula they've become known.

Also this week: Mike Shinoda’s new solo album, Chromeo’s ‘Head Over Heels’, and a debut from Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever

Montreal duo Chromeo have maintained the same blueprint from the start: '80s-inspired electro-funk brimming over with talkbox riffing, slap bass, neon synths, and catchy melodies to hold it all together.

Chromeo's new album is a multi-layered funk odyssey loaded with squealing synth leads, big basslines, and more sass than you can shake a stick at.

A good Chromeo album has always a statement of impeccable taste. For almost 15 years, the Montreal duo have mined the bleeps, pops and wobbl...

It works best when Chromeo finds the elusive sweet spot between pop hooks and music-geek verisimilitude.

Chromeo pay tribute to the greats of funk and disco in our review of 'Head Over Heels' while not exactly changing with the times.

Head Over Heels is maddeningly catchy and no party this summer is complete without it.