Few acts have done as much to bring funk into the 21st century as Canadian duo Chromeo. When Future Music sat down with members P-Thugg and Dave 1 backstage on their recent UK tour, they took the opportunity to learn how the band go about injecting funk and groove into their synth and drum machine-driven music.
According to Dave 1, the balance of live playing and sequenced sounds is the key to the band’s modern take on funk. “There needs to be a combo of stuff that's machine-like and on the grid, and stuff that's a little bit off,” he explains. “For me personally, if you're playing something live the whole way through, you can play funky, but you're never going to sound as good as a Kool and the Gang record – so what’s the point? You can't even come close.”
Citing the likes of Daft Punk, Phoenix and The System, the pair explain how incorporating synths and samples can be just as effective as traditional ‘funk’ playing.
As P-Thugg explains, composition plays as much a part as musicianship itself. “If you listen to a lot of electronic bands from the early ‘80s, it's all about the syncopation and the writing, and where you decide to remove some bass notes,” he tells us. “The System is a good band to listen to if you want to understand how to stay on-grid but still be funky.”
“Never overplay, always underplay, always leave in syncopation,” Dave 1 agrees. “Leave notes to the imagination, because they're implied.”
Elsewhere in the interview, which you can watch in full above, the duo discuss setting up their Private Sector studio and the gear they used to create new album Adult Contemporary, which is out now.
