TUXEDO レコード& CD

Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but otherwise in excellent condition***


Like Chromeo before them, Tuxedo are one of those new wave boogie outfits who know exactly how to capture the infectious funk of the early to mid 80s and write their own sweet soul tracks with those distinctive chops. After a successful run on Stones Throw they established their own Funk On Sight label to carry their wares, and that's exactly where they land after a brief hiatus with the buttery smooth 'Don' My Best'. It's everything you want a boogie track to be, with a wiggly worm of a Moog b-line running underneath the crisp beats, sharp claps, cool keys and slick vocals. If you're into boogie, you can't help but jam to this one.

Review: Under the Tuxedo alias, Jake Dutton and Mayer Hawthorne have previously delivered two superb albums of revivalist boogie, disco and '80s soul for Stones Throw Records. For album number three - their first in two years - the pair has moved label, though musically it's business as usual. That means hot-to-trot early-to-mid-80s grooves, superb soulful vocals, colourful synthesizer motifs, rubbery slab bass and more club-ready, radio-friendly cuts that you can shake a stick at. Pleasingly there are plenty of high profile guests this time round, too; check, for example, the synth-boogie/rap fusion of MF Doom hook-up "Dreaming In The Daytime", the slow and seductive goodness of the Prince-ish "Extra Texture" (featuring Dam Funk) and the smooth but bustling "Toast 2 Us", where Dutch artist Benny Sings provides lead vocals. A triumph!

Review: The involvement of vintage disco mixer John Morales in the making of Tuxedo's eponymous debut album added an air of authenticity to Jake One and Mayer Hawthorne's revivalist '80s funk, soul and disco jams. Here Morales goes one step further, providing a quartet of dancefloor-leaning reworks of album tracks. The A-side features two versions of "Watch The Dance"; a sparkling, full vocal version and the superb, stripped back "Watch The Dub", in which Morales revisits some of his more often-used production tricks of the '80s. Flip for the heavy synth-bass, clipped guitars and D-Train style synthesizer doodles of the anthem-like "Right Time", and Morales' take on album standout "So Good" - a thoroughly positive chunk of '80s boogie goodness built around Hawthorne's sumptuously wide-eyed vocals.