Chromeo – White Women

The kids may not believe this, but there was a time when disco wasn’t popular, when its records were burned in Comiskey Park. It’s come back in a huge way in the twenty-first century, and had more than its fair share of sleaziness attached. But Chromeo turn that sleaze into sweet on the unabashed White Women.

With a name like that & a sound like theirs, White Women might seem to be a sleazy come-on of an album, and Chromeo do come-on. But it’s actually a sweet, even funny come-on. “Over Your Shoulder” extols a women with body self-esteem issues, and they put the ‘freak’ back in “Frequent Flyer”. There are also moments of actual self-knowledge, like “Jealous (I Ain’t With It)” and critiquing the social scene “Sexy Socialite”. And those songs are killer disco tracks, for the dance floor or right at home.

White Women has its standouts and some filler – nothing matches the killer chorus line to throwback “Old 45’s”, while guest-spotted tracks like “Come Alive” (featuring Toro y Moi), “Lost On the Way Home” (featuring Solange), and “Ezra’s Interlude” (featuring Ezra Koenig) just aren’t nearly as remarkable. But this is a record for people who love disco, who love that they can love disco – even to fall in love with disco.