Artist:
CHROMEO
Label:
VICE RECORDINGS
Video:
“TENDERONI”
Director:
Jérémie Rozan & Martial Schmeltz
Add Date:
August 27, 2007
Greetings programming friends! It’s Andy Gesner and the hard working staff from HIP Video Promo bringing you the next big dance hit! The word “tenderoni” might sound like a neologism coined by those notorious pranksters in Chromeo; some arcane combination of a term of endearment and a side dish. But “tenderoni” has a long history of use in urban music, and Eighties R&B fans – and Dave 1 and P-Thugg of Chromo are nothing if not pop aficionados – will recognize the word at once. Michael Jackson referred to his “tenderoni” in “P.Y.T.”, Bobby Brown and funk-crooner O’Bryan both did songs about the ‘roni, hell, even the Lost Boyz rapped about having a “tenderoni girl”. In tribute to their heroes, Chromeo revives the term for 2007. Just as they’ve breathed new life into the synthesizers, vocoders, beats, and sonic textures of the Eighties, the duo has also revived some of the language of the era, reimagining it and refining it for a contemporary indie audience.
That audience already knows all about Chromeo from the underground hit She’s In Control – a synthpop-R&B explosion that favorite that spawned several dancefloor favorites. Walk into the hippest bar you know and wait until midnight; chances are, the deejay will start spinning Chromeo. Fancy Footwork, the follow-up, features everything that made She’s In Control so irresistible – but this time out, the beats are bigger, the colors are brighter, the subject matter is sexier, and the synthesizers are dizzier, catchier, more intricate, and more mesmerizing. “Tenderoni” is a good case in point: Dave 1 and P-Thugg augment their vocoderized melody with synths that bubble and twitter around the edges of the mix; each time a new sound is introduced, the song slips a gear, and becomes even funkier and more propulsive.
Since the success of She’s In Control, Chromeo hasn’t sat still for a moment. The duo is an excellent live attraction, replicating (and extending) their jams in concert — they’ve toured all over North America and Europe, and they’ll be performing at Fujirock in Niigata at the end of this month. Chromeo has toured England with Bloc Party; back home in Montreal, their shows are gatherings of local indie rock royalty. Still, Chromeo has made its name through its innovative recordings, and every aspect of their production and manufacture is carefully chosen. For instance, the clever iconography and arresting album art on Chromeo records has always been created by the Surface To Air team. When the duo needed to find a director to shoot the clip for “Tenderoni”, it was only natural that they’d turn to Surface To Air.
And what a clip they’ve made: one that perfectly captures the group’s playful, sexy, artfully retro day-glo personality. P-Thugg plays the truck driver and delivery man for “Tenderoni Pizza”, and we watch him ride through the streets on a beautiful day, making stops and dropping off pies. Dave 1 is there, too – he’s been spray-painted on the side of the van. But his is no ordinary portrait: he’s able to move, and sing, and dance to the beat. There’s a young woman on the other side of the truck, too, and she’s in motion; Dave 1 does whatever he can to dance his way over to her, sliding along the side of the van and toward the back. But when he reaches out to touch her (and she to touch him), P-Thugg opens the rear doors and separates them. That can’t keep them apart forever, and by the last chorus, the two spray-paint lovers are on the same side of the truck, dancing together and popping champagne. Yet the punchline belongs to P-Thugg: when he delivers his final pizza, it’s to the flesh and blood version of the girl depicted on the truck. As she pulls him inside her house, the camera cuts back to Dave 1, alone and two-dimensional, his tenderoni stolen by his bandmate.
Big thanks to Jamie Farkas, Adam Shore and Christopher Roberts at VICE Records for their hard work and dedication to all of their artists. We have a plethora of copies of Fancy Footwork on hand so drop us a line if you’d like some for on-air giveaways! If you need more info, call Andy Gesner at 732-613-1779 or e-mail us at info@HIPVideoPromo.com. You can also visit www.Chromeo.net to find out more about Chromeo.
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For info about Chromeo’s previous video, “Needy Girl” click HERE
For info about Chromeo’s previous video, “Rage” click HERE