After being a long time fan of the legendary funk-masters themselves for quite some time now, when I read Chromeo‘s name on the Exchange LA lineup for the month of January, my eyes lit up wider than the LED visual screens of the club itself. With massive supporting acts such as Bones and special guest Gigamesh, the night was due to unravel into a purely unadulterated mecca of disco dance tunes and pristine vibes.
Although prior to attending this especially memorable event I had little to know familiarity with Gigamesh, one of the highlights of my night (as well as many others), was when he dropped his remix of “Tongue Tied” by Grouplove. Now, taking a brief step back, I don’t normally support dropping mainstream songs and remixes for boosted crowd reactions, however in this specific production and moment in time, an entire crowd of smiles and added emotions moved from left to right in unison. His artistic vibe paralleled the night almost as much as it paralleled the environment. Absolute bliss.
In the current state of electronic dance music (especially in Los Angeles), disco funk is a truly underrated form of authentic groove. With many of today’s listeners that enter the scene beginning with a more ‘accessible’ genre, most overlook the purest of them all- funk. As for those of us that began with the authenticities of artists like Daft Punk, Chromeo is a name synonymous with the organic electro-funk that our aforementioned musically-malnourished demographic of new listeners need to be dosed with.
One of my favorite foundational aspects of Exchange LA itself is the diverse musical habitat it provides for its attendants. Not only are the visuals ascending the expectations of the mental bar I’ve set from previous experiences, but the overall production value seems to accelerate with each new entrance into the renovated stock exchange. The club itself is a prime example of a state of the art musical facility, with a damn good taste in talent (special kudos to Insomniac, of course).
My experiences of the night proved to be nothing short of wonderful. More than once did I catch myself and my group of trusty groovers two-stepping to the slower sounds of the duo as they took us down a nostalgic journey that of classics and hits LA has been long overdue for. With every artist billed surprising the overwhelmed crowd with beautiful bass lines repeatedly, you can bet your behind I became more of a fan than ever before.
