Tom Tom Club: Downtown Rockers

TOM TOM CLUB: DOWNTOWN ROCKERS (2012)

1) Downtown Rockers; 2) Wonʼt Give You Up; 3) You Make Me Rock And Roll; 4) Kissinʼ Antonio; 5) Sweets To The Sweet; 6) Love Tape*.

General verdict: One last and (appropriately) brief nostalgic wave to a long-gone clubbing culture.

Well, it happens to us all sooner or later, but even Tom Tom Club eventually grows old, and at this point, it makes no sense to complain that Tom Tom Club, of all people, should have quite specifically burned out than faded away — these days, we have numerous examples of the most childish acts, the most juvenile rockʼnʼrollers freezing or even forcefully rewinding their minds to adolescent states at the ripe ages of 60-70, and it is not always a bad thing even for those who listen to the music, let alone those who create it.

In the case of Tina and Chris, «aging» refers to the following three details about this record: (a) it is actually a mini-album, formally an EP, with just five properly new songs, meaning they had not the energy or the desire to put out a full-blown artistic statement; (b) it sounds, for the first time ever, almost or completely devoid of specifically modern production techniques and arrangement strategies; (c) some of the songs have a distinctly nostalgic flair — particularly the title track, which, once again, uses their trademark gimmick of invoking the spirits of their idols ("JAMES BROWN!"), but this time, all of the «idols» are proto-punk, punk, and New Wave acts from their youth, from the Velvet Underground and Patti Smith right down to Talking Heads themselves at the very end.

Nevertheless, the five songs in question are actually decent, fun songs. Nothing startlingly original, just good-natured funky grooves with a pinch of darkness. The title track is the only one that adheres to a more strictly rocking format, true to its title, with a straightforward beat and a simple, thick, distorted riff that makes it easily the heaviest track Tom Tom Club have ever recorded — which is still not too heavy at all — and while the obligatory band name countdown on the verses is obligatorily annoying, the kiddie chorus of "na na na na, downtown rockers, I remember you" is both catchy and somewhat sympathetic.

The other four tunes are all completely in line with Tom Tom Clubʼs traditional artistry — sweet and naïve love / lust declarations under the intoxicating influence of a clubbing environment — and although they hardly deserve any detailed analysis, it is hard not to toe-tap along their rhythmic curves or feel just a bit of sexy giddiness at Tinaʼs catchy choruses. It also helps that the tunes are quite musically distinct: ʽWonʼt Give You Upʼ has more of a reggae feel, ʽYou Make Me Rock And Rollʼ swings to a ska-like pattern, ʽKissinʼ Antonioʼ is ʽEvil Waysʼ-style Santana, and only ʽSweets To The Sweetʼ is pure pop. The arrangements are also all over the place, with synths, organs, electric pianos, saxes, wah-wah guitars, and just about everything to bring back that Seventiesʼ atmosphere.

It might actually be a good thing, though, that there is nothing else: another five songs like these and even despite all the musical diversity the proceedings would begin to feel repetitive and boring. An attempt was made to pass the whole thing for a full-length album by putting out several full-length CD editions that doubled the running length by including instrumental remixes (or simply instrumental versions) of all or most of the tracks — because, of course, no Tom Tom Club fan would ever achieve happiness without being given a chance to sing karaoke to his or her favorite bandʼs latest creations — but this is really an action that would deserve the epithet of «pathetic», were anybody in the world to actually give a damn.

The only extra new track, found on the Japanese edition, is a cover of ʽLove Tapeʼ, by the Spanish alt-pop band The Pinker Tones: strange enough, the original here sounded more like the Tom Tom Club of Downtown Rockers, being a pop-rocker very much in the style of classic-rock era R&B — whereas the Tom Tom Club rearrangement awards it a straightahead techno beat, as if in a last ditch attempt to show that the band is not that much out of step with the times... but, for some reason, to show it only to their Japanese fans? Whatever.

In any case, if you care about Tom Tom Club at all, there is no reason to ignore this record just because it is so short or because it feels so absurd to think of Tom Tom Club as a concept capable of making it past the 60-year age barrier. It is short, and the thought is absurd, but neither of the two should bar you from twenty more minutes of sexy fun that are not altogether devoid of creativity, humor, and old-school class. The future may not hold anything else in store for the project — but Downtown Rockers is as good a laconic swan song for it as could ever be warranted by its flimsy, superficial, and ironically humble nature in the first place.