Chin Chin
(Definitive Jux)
For fans of the Salsoul Orchestra’s live disco with its vibraphones and sexy Latin brass in full swing, the whistle of Steely Dan when it hit the Gaucho stage, and that moment when David Byrne discovered dancing in bigger suits, Chin Chin has your number. Three guys with high voices who fear not to use them (Torbitt and Wilder Schwartz, Jeremy Wilms) started life as a Brooklyn backing unit for MCs, but eventually realized that (a) they didn’t want to play hip hop, and (b) they didn’t want to provide backup. Instead, Chin Chin’s ticklish Fender Rhodes, cymbal riding rhythms and warmly melodic twists make for music on the jazz-funk tip with charismatic instrumental prowess to back it up.
This is what separates Chin Chin from a lot of the boys trying this at home – that most don’t have Chin Chin’s chops. Like the guys who built disco – Philadelphia International’s studio mavens, Brass Construction, the men at Miami’s TK label, the Ohio Players – Chin Chin have the force of real funk, guys musk-ing it up in the name of something sweet.
Only Sharon Jones/Amy Winehouse’s Dap-Kings ensemble comes close to this. But there’s more in that Chin Chin’s song craft is warmly tuneful, comfortably creamy and soaked in Steely-n-Drambuie-soaked chord changes. Yum.
Standout Tracks: “Miami”, “Curtis” A.D. AMOROSI
