Chin Chin

Chin Chin - GG & The Boys

intern — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:43:51 -0400

was just sent an email saying new Chin Chin track and I had no idea what the fuck this was. But I was bored so I checked the song out and Chin Chin is fucking dope. Some chill music with some tight instrumentals. They are a band based out of Brooklyn with 10 or so members. You can pretty much do anything while listening to this music. Eat, drink, dance, run, chillax, sex?…possibly. Check them out for sure tho uno track is below. Listen Here: Chin Chin - GG & The Boys No Comments yet... Posted in hip-hop, music | Tags: Chin Chin

A Funky Chin Chin

intern — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:26:04 -0400

One of my favorite YouTube clips is of legendary funk bassist Bootsy Collins laying down a slick live bass solo in 1978 with Parliament-Funkadelic, treating an audience in Maryland to the glorious sight of his nearly unmatched skills as a funk bassist, his trademark space bass, and a form of emotional involvement that very few modern musicians are able to express on both an audible and visual level. Take a look at the clip here and let me know if you are aware of many other contemporary artists who exhibit the same form of passion and personal enjoyment that Bootsy does; you may be able to name a few, but certainly not many. Sure, a naive critic could pin it all on the hallucinogenics of the ’70s, but it is inevitably agreed upon by fans and critics alike that Bootsy would be strutting out his unparalleled skill regardless of his level of intoxication, with his talent and personality leading the way. It would be safe to say that he found his own perfect little world in funk music, the infectious fusion of soul, jazz, and R&B that originated in the mid-1960s. Since the funk explosion of the ’70s, the popularity of the genre has diminished throughout the years, as alleged substitutes like dance and synth-pop began to reign dance floors and lure listeners who begged for anything that was hip, new, and instantaneously infectious. It had to do with both a decline in quality and a commercialized demand for something else, leaving new artists with funk influences in a bit of a daze. Though it seems that all the sensationalized pop stars feel the need to cling onto the “hot new thing” in order to capture a fan base, independent artists have maintained a commendable mentality that shuns what is recently accepted in order to create a fresher, innovative, and more engaging sound. In fact, as the Brooklyn-based Chin Chin prove on their glaringly impressive debut album, recapturing the nostalgia and infectiousness of ’70s funk can give off an ironic feeling of freshness, even if the rooted elements of the result take their dues directly from artists who thrived over 30 years ago. With subtle implementations of dance and contemporary pop, Chin Chin’s grasp of funk provides for a listening experience that should appeal to both veteran and new listeners. In addition, the group remarks simply enough on their web site that their intentions are to make listeners dance, chill, relax, and “bug out”. Though I have not had such a simultaneous rush of emotions during one single track on their self-titled debut, it remains heavily apparent that it was the intentions of the group to do so. Instead, each differing track provides enough variation in the genre to give off multiple and differing sensations. It would be easy to call such a rush a trademark of quality funk music, as artists like Sly & the Family Stone, James Brown, and Parliament-Funkadelic have proven in the past. Chin Chin provides a glimmer of hope that enjoyable funk music still has its niche in the often cluttered world of independent music. Chin Chin is primarily the work of a trio in guitarist Jeremy Wilms, keyboardist Wilder Zoby, and drummer Torbitt Schwartz. However, in most press photos and live performances, they are accompanied by a variety of musically capable friends. Session musicians Tada Hirano, Jeff Pierce, Jesse Boykins III, Yusuke Yamamoto, Felix Chen, Yoshi Takemasa, Marcus Farrar are most of the collaborators, often transforming the band into anything from a four-piece to a group of nearly one dozen musicians capitalizing on their similarly touted influences. Wilms, Zoby, and Schwartz serve almost like conductors in the studio, directing the talented cast of session musicians on a route toward success. On the album they perform on, set to be released on April 29th via Definitive Jux Records, Chin Chin’s self-titled debut follows a series of acclaimed singles and EPs that served as mere glimpses of the group’s potential. With popular acts like Gnarls Barkley and Outkast bringing funk music with a contemporary, hip-hop edge to mainstream audiences, Chin Chin certainly chose a great time to come forth in the public eye. Audiences appear more receptive to funk music - regardless of its form - than they have in several years, which should be quite satisfying to Chin Chin and their fans, as Chin Chin is one of those few debut albums that proves memorable right from the get-go. The primary aspect that makes Chin Chin so enjoyable is its tendency to stray outside the norm, playing with a variety of styles in ways that conventional thinking would not be able to comprehend. Despite utilizing a tight rhythm section and a plethora of brass that appears typical of most funk music, Chin Chin’s inclusion of elements such as dance and world music makes it a very unique experience. Considering that Gnarls Barkley found extreme success with several funk-tinged singles, I would not be surprised if “Miami” turns out to be one of the most acclaimed singles of the summer. Its unpredictability and varied structure may make it seem too inaccessible for most radio stations, but most open-minded listeners who tend to discover quality music on their own should bask in its infectious glory; I was digging the track extraordinarily from the first time I listened to it. As an opener and a surefire ode to the city of Miami, it prepares the listener well for the rest of the album. Ardently soaring vocals, intricately bustling instrumentation, and a variety of great hooks are steadily prevalent, especially in the stirring chorus. The last two minutes of the song is entirely instrumental, transforming from a swanky brass to an energetic guitar solo; it is simply one example of Chin Chin’s faultless display of musicianship. As I mentioned earlier with Chin Chin’s use of synth-pop and world music, “Appetite” serves as another incredibly catchy track that has the same chance as “Miami” of breaking the group out in a big way. In fact, considering its more conventional structure, its higher degree of accessibility may make it the first breakthrough track from this Brooklyn collective. The vocals are gently sung, quickly declaring “appetite!” during a chorus with underlying synths, snappy guitars, and a rhythm section with a concisely effective R&B flair to it. An excellent vibraphone solo, compliments of Yusuke Yamamoto, emerges around 01:52 after the blaring of horns subsides, providing yet another display of the group’s multi-instrumental prowess. “Le Petit Mort” is fascinating in that it is so different than both “Miami” and “Appetite”. Though elements of funk are constantly evident, the use of a vocoder over a swanky bass line is certainly something new for the group. The mixture of classic funk elements (horns, ) and slick modern techniques (vocoders, synths) personally reminds me of Prince, which is certainly nothing to be ashamed about. Be sure to pick up Chin Chin when it drops next week; I would be surprised if a better release in the realm of modern funk comes out this year.

Chin Chin shows their mastery of fusion

intern — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:22:55 -0400

This Is Modern jazz and funk in a fuzz-tastic way. i haven’t heard anything like this groovy since the 70’s (and I didn’t exist then). Even after drawing heavy influences from the older time period, the band does not sound retro but more pop. when people speak of fushion, they should be citing Chin Chin as their exhibit A. Their cultural and genre mixture is rich in sound and really full of flavor. Chin Chin has an influence from everywhere and every-when. “Miami” takes some Latin horns with a 70’s R&B sound. Rating: B-

Chin Chin

intern — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:18:37 -0400

Brooklyn’s Chin Chin have three members at the center, but sound like a larger band on their self-titled debut album, released in France last year and in the US this year, through the hip-hop label Definitive Jux. Actually, in addition to the core of Jeremy Wilms, Wilder Zoby, and Torbitt Schwartz, 11 other musicians play on the album—never all at once, but sometimes close to it. Some double-up on the same roles as the core trio: guitarist, bassist, vocalist, and percussionist. But it’s the horn players that make the difference. At various times there’s tenor sax, trombone, flugelhorn, trumpet, and baritone sax on these tracks. The horns change Chin Chin from a tight funk-soul group into a “big band” version of the same. As a big band, Chin Chin plays party music. Def Jux label-head/paranoid-MC-extraordinaire El-P described it as “like the world’s greatest wedding band on acid.” At first listen, it’s the “wedding band” part that rings true, more so than the “on acid” part. This is get-down-on-it, shake-your-ass music. Disco, funk, and soul music, always on the beat and pushing it hard. Chin Chin’s members have session-band roots. The group got its start as part of a monthly party. Those facts make sense, they add up in what their music sounds like. Chin Chin is not the kind of wild head-trip that the getting-trite phrase “on acid” is meant to describe. However, that doesn’t mean Chin Chin is not stranger than your average party band. They are, though for the first half of the album they’re only slightly stranger than a solid wedding band, and that strangeness seems forced. The vocals have a P-Funk warp to them on tracks like “You Can’t Hold Her”. But that’s a template too, now—not as crazy as they may want it to be—though at the song’s end they do rap in a crazed, raspy way that reminds me of demonic teddy bears (teddy bears on acid, maybe?). In the first half of the album they mostly jam, concisely, within simple song-structures that evoke Stax, P-Funk, Curtis Mayfield (especially, but not only, on the track “Curtis”), Fishbone (meaning, I suppose, a photocopied, more ‘alternative’ version of Mayfield, P-Funk, etc.), and, on “Miami”, a Latin groove of sorts. And they jam well. It’s the second half of Chin Chin, what would be Side B, where the drugs kick in more. Or at least the vocoders do, on a succession of three tracks, the third of which is titled “Mr Sexy Boy”, perhaps a reference to Air’s vocoder-happy track “Sexy Boy”. And I suppose Air is a good influence for a funky party band to have, to make them more interesting. “Mr. Sexy Boy” actually sounds nothing like Air, more like a sexy ‘70s nighttime ballad, with shades of Steely Dan even: a love song for rooftop summertime parties. The second of the vocoder-tracks, “Ohio”, is especially interesting, moving from a lullaby into an almost-metal crunch, while they curiously welcome us to the title state. The vocoder is essentially used as a cool effect, but really, what is a vocoder except a cool-sounding effect? So they use the vocoder well, adding character to the album as a transition into the final section, when the grooves get deeper, the songs get spacier, and the lyrics get goofier, more absurd. As the songs get stranger, the band seems to play with even more confidence, turning on a dime, dropping splendid horn charts and guitar licks out of the blue. The playful “Toot D’Amore” turns into a killer brass workout at the end, the guitars adding a strange atmosphere throughout without slowing the song down. In an almost throwaway moment in the abstract yet still-moving “Cotillon”, they turn Sly and the Family Stone’s immortal “And so on and so on / And scooby dooby doo” line into a whisper, a breeze. “Le Petit Mort” almost ridiculously pairs a spot-on slow-jam come-on with a premature-ejaculation confession. At some point they throw in Mayfield’s line “Keep on pushing” as a punch-line. That and the Sly reference give a good sense of what Chin Chin is up to. They’re taking their favorite styles of music and having a ball with them. On Chin Chin, that party doesn’t really get going strong until the second half. So, like always, those wedding guests who split early are the ones who missed out on the real fun. Multiple songs MySpace

Chin Chin - self-titled

intern — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:14:37 -0400

The swirling grooves and plush bass lines of Chin Chin came out from under the auspices of a monthly party. This might explain why every show the band plays becomes one giant celebration. The13 tracks of spry, fuzzed-out jams on their new album capture that feeling of unbridled revelry. Torbitt Schwartz (drums, vocals), Jeremy Wilms (guitar, vocals), and Wilder Zoby (vocals, keyboard) are the core trio of musicians that make up Chin Chin. Stirring together elements of funk, jazz, disco, rock and R&B, the band has created an alchemical brew. Their sound both recalls the 70s and surpasses the era in a synthesis of retro and contemporary. Friends and fellow former session musicians add vigorous accents throughout the album. On the lead off song, “Miami,” blaring horns punctuate the rhythm with brassy fanfare. The gentle vocals of “Appetite” flow along a twinkling synthesizer track and later yield the floor to a vibraphone solo. And the smoky groove of “Le Petite Mort” slinks along under a blurry Frampton-esque vocoder. Unleashing their music for the first time in the US on disc, Chin Chin found a home on Definitive Jux. Joining contemporaries such as Justice and Out Hud, Chin Chin uses world music rhythms, disco-bass and R&B styling to make tuneful, danceable modern funk. press quotes "Tighter than your boss with a raise." - Time Out NY biography Chin Chin, formed in 2001 by Torbitt and Wilder Schwartz - joined soon after by Atlanta Georgia bred Jeremy Wilms- was originally intended to improvise back-up music for singers and MC's at a monthly party in Brooklyn. Realizing a greater potential, the brothers started writing music. With songs in place, they began recruiting musicians from the fertile Williamsburg scene. Combining elements of jazz, funk, disco, contemporary R&B, rock, and electro, with smart lyrics, powerful horn arrangements, great showmanship, and a taste for partying Chin Chin have synthesized the quintessential elements of such dance floor heroes as Brass Construction, Ohio Players, and Roger Troutman, while presenting something decidedly new. As a live unit, Chin Chin can range from the streamlined quartet to a thunderous ten-piece ensemble. A typical Chin Chin show will quickly evolve into a contagious dance party, the audience responding at once to their incendiary musicianship and charisma. Time OUT NY aptly summed this phenomenon up when they said that Chin Chin were "tighter than your boss with a raise." No surprise they were featured in the august 2004 FADER magazine as a band to watch out for. In New York as well as Europe they have shared the stage with Tv On The Radio, Antibalas afro beat ensemble, Gogol Bordello, Sufjan Stevens, Lily Allen, ESG, Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings, Theo Parrish, DJ Spinna, Doctor Dog, the Rogers Sisters,the Bravery, and VHS or Beta. Each member brings unique experience to the band.Wilder Zoby, the youngest member of the band, brings creative spark with his keyboard and synthesizer versatility and vocal eccentricity. A powerful performer, he uses his experience as an actor to engage and excite audiences. He has been found doing session work for Hip Hop giants Beans and El-P. Wilder also scored The Maysle Brothers film on the making of Wes Anderson's The Life Aquatic as well as the Strictly kings production People. He received a jazz performance degree from the New School of Jazz and studied with such faculty as Chico Hamilton, Reggie Workman and Junior Mance. Torbitt Schwartz has a reputation as a well-versed drummer who also shares vocal duties in Chin Chin. Raised between Brooklyn and Louisville, Kentucky he studied jazz performance and composition at the New School of Jazz and contemporary. He’s a multi-instrumentalist/DJ/producer that has played or recorded with Bernard Purdie, TV On the Radio, Peanut Butter Wolf, Matthew Shipp, and Reverend Vince Anderson, among others. Under his dj persona "Lil' Shalimar" he has held down residencies at some of New York City's most happening clubs (Good World, Black Betty, Pianos, Union Pool) and parties (Rubulad). His production company formed with bassist Jeremy Wilms has produced music for documentaries, independent films, and comercial works (CNN, Nike, Sundance Channel, etc.). Jeremy Wilms started playing guitar at the age of 7. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree in 1995 from Georgia State University in Atlanta. In 1997 Jeremy moved to New York City where he continued studies with jazz pianist Kenny Werner. He has since shared the stage and/or recorded with Tony Allen, Steve Shelley and Lee Ranaldo from Sonic Youth, Daniel Carter, Sabir Mateen, Chris Lee, Christina Rosenvinge, Reverend Vince Anderson, Akoya Afro-beat, Dub Nomads, Butch Morris, among others. On records and/or on stage the band gets a lot of help from some of New York City's top session musicians: Tada Hirano, Jeff Pierce, Jesse Boykins III, Yusuke Yamamoto, Antibalas Afro -Beat ensemble, Felix Chen, Yoshi Takemasa, Marcus Farrar and many more...... Guitarist Tada Hirano played in cult bands Blonde Redhead and Cibbo Matto, Jeff Pierce has played with The Temptations, the Delfonics, and the Glenn Miller Orchestra, Although Jesse Boykins (featured on Hey Hey) is only 21 years old, he has been singing, writing and recording for more than half of his life. His voice spans a 5-octave range and his sound draws upon his eclectic taste, creating a style that is not bound by generations or time. He honed his skills as with classical trainer Kamal Scott and Universal Music recording artist, Bilal. The group's self-titled third release is scheduled for European release March 19, 2007 on Dialect Recordings. From the opening of "Miami" to the closing of "Step by Step", Chin Chin show us their talent to raise the excitement level in the room by several degrees, mixing powerful grooves with catchy melodies and smart lyrics on such burners as Miami, Toot d’Amore, Hey Hey and Appetite. They also demonstrate a knack for arrangements and more sophisticated settings in such delicate tracks as Ohio, Le Petit Mort, Step by Step. Destined to become a classic, this is definitely one of those albums you will listen to from beginning to end for years to come.

Chin Chin at Endless Boogie

intern — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 16:30:23 -0400

Chin Chin & Endless Boogie - Wednesday, Oct 22 @ MAX FISH Anyone at CMJ can come to the Wax Poetics sponsored party to see them from 6-8pm !!!!(Free Beer)!!!! ~ Chin Chin & Endless Boogie Performing Live Wednesday, October 22, 2008, 6 - 8pm Max Fish - 178 Ludlow Street (Between Houston & Stanton Streets) Free PBR's (With CMJ Badge or With RSVP) Open to All!!!!! ~ :Shout Outs 2 - Kathryn/Biz3 - For the Scoop* POSTED BY B0YR0B0T! AT TUESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2008 0 COMMENTS LABELS: EVENT REVIEW

Chin Chin

intern — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 17:57:08 -0400

Chin Chin

Back before music came packaged to us in mp3 files, vinyl records, or even Edison wax cylinders, music was the sort of thing you could only enjoy in social settings. Back in the pre-recording days, hearing music meant one of two things: either your town was about to be overrun by an advancing army as rich in drums and fifes as guns and knives; or more happily, there was a party goin’ on. It is in this latter spirit that Chin Chin has released their debut, self-titled album. Their complex twist on funk and disco is like a really good eggs las migas - the ingredients are familiar enough, but spiced just unusually enough so that surprises lurk in every other bite. Chin Chin has created an intricate, weird, and occasionally excellent album whose only major shortcoming lies in the fact that it is actually an album and not, in fact, a party filled with other sweaty, dancing people.

A keyboardist and a couple of multi-instrumentalists make up the core of Chin Chin, though the guest list of percussionists and brass-men take up the majority of the spare liner notes included with the album. The tracks tend to reflect this set-up - a central groove, like a community bicycle, is taken turns on by the vocalists and soloists (there are usually at least two) before guests hijack and joyride, and eventually disassemble the thing. Whether they’re aping Steely Dan, as in lounge-chic opener “Miami”, or creating anthems for ’80s criminals on “Curtis,” the results tend to be enjoyable. What the songs lack in melodic catchiness, they generally compensate for with tightness and unpredictability. And the unrestrained, silly fun oozing out of tracks like “Toot D’Amore” makes you willing to forgive sleepers like “Step by Step”, a closer which sounds like it was wisely axed from a poorly augured Pink Floyd/Os Mutantes collaboration album in the ’60s.

Still, despite the chant-worthy hooks and the well-placed accents, the album might not drive anyone into uncontrollable fits of booty-shaking. The lyrics, with a few exceptions, are eminently forgettable, and the impressive vocal range of the band goes to waste on songs where vocal melodies are plagued by repetition and insufficient dynamism. “Appetite”, for instance, has all the components of a great Prince song except that it doesn’t tell a story; it settles for repeating one lackluster paragraph for its whole four-and-a-half minutes.

Chin Chin claims to have gotten its start playing a monthly party, and cut its teeth on high-energy live shows. I’m surprised, therefore, that the tracks which shine the brightest are probably the least feasible live–the band’s secret weapon in the studio is a sublimely bizarre vocoder. This is not the hackneyed, pointless self-sampling of T-Pain; when Chin Chin rolls out its electronic voice-effect, it’s like they’ve added a new, robotic member to the band. Somehow, the paranoid, olfactory images of songs like “Donchusee” cohere into something legitimately scary when sung by a robot, and the repeated, multilingual greetings on “Ohio” take on a first-contact-with- aliens feel when they get this treatment. Even a potentially inelegant song about sexual performance anxiety is saved when it becomes a man-machine duet; there’s something inscrutably adorable about a robot chalking up his premature climax to “psychological malfunction.”

Despite the weak spots on the album, though, even the weaker tracks here would set a party ablaze. After all, not many people go to a live show to listen carefully to lyrics. A good live band can get away with disconnected phrases about white gloves and doing the foxtrot, but those sorts of endearing, quirky lyrics can lose a lot of their magic on a studio record. Still, I’ll be first in line to catch these guys the next time they’re in town, and I’ll be looking to see if the next album more accurately translates the barnburner vibe onto musical end-product.

June 5, 2008

GET WEIRD TURN PRO: TOOT D'AMORE

intern — Thu, 5 Jun 2008 15:17:41 -0400

Brooklyn based Chin Chin are the first non-hip hop signings to Def Jux and it seems that the guy on the right might have access to a time machine, that’s taking retro to a whole new level. Label boss EL-P has described them as ‘like the worlds greatest wedding band on acid’ and their self titled album is full of wigged out horny psychedelic jazz disco. Here’s a remix by DJ Eli Escobar that popped up recently on the internets.

mp3: chin chin - toot d’amore (dj eli remix).

28 May 2008

Rhapsody Radish Review Chin Chin

intern — Thu, 5 Jun 2008 15:15:07 -0400

Album Review Playlist: Volume 6

Our Album Review Playlist series takes a random group of new or reissued albums, pulls a single track from each into a playlist, and includes a mini-review for each album. Anything is game, and you’ll never know what’s coming next. This edition features 17 new albums or reissues for you to check out. Listen in full with Rhapsody or Yahoo Music Jukebox.

From the album Chin Chin
Last.fm page / Search for lyrics

The eponymous debut by Chin Chin on Def Jux is a feast to be savored. It melds so many influences so well that it quickly becomes something you can’t turn off — the curiosity of what will come next will leave you transfixed. Incredibly danceable, the record throws out funk grooves, disco beats, R&B sensuality and Steely Dan-esque styling.At times the album becomes a bit of an overload, but in the end Chin Chin have a fine debut on their hands here.

May 26 2008

MySpace Monday: Chin Chin!

intern — Thu, 5 Jun 2008 15:04:38 -0400

Analog Giant pointed me towards a group called Chin Chin!, the newest group from Definitive Jux. This label has brought you some of the best hip hop in the last few years, artists like Aesop Rock, Murs, RJD2, Mr. Lif and many, many more. Apparently even Del the Funky Homosapien has joined their ranks.

And yet Chin Chin is very, very far from hip hop. They describe their music as a combination of funk and disco house.

It’s a tough concept to grasp, but one that seems to be working for them. Plus, their website has to be one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever seen. You definitely need to check it out.

I’m actually a big fan of these guys these days. It’s an upbeat, fresh little approach. Maybe not all that serious in terms of deep meaning or anything, but stupid amounts of fun to party to. Check out Appetite, a song from their debut album.