Sounds Good to Me

I can't get enough Chester French! Too bad I can't hear their music anywhere but MySpace. Their sound? Well, think Franz Ferdinand meets The Beatles meets The Beach Boys meets Andre 3000. Their inspiration? Think retro sunny melodies and 60s pop with a modern, electronic edge. Their songs? Think refreshingly different and more innovative than any of today's over-produced cookie-cutter pop music and bling-bling rap that won't seem to go away. (This week's Top 40)

And, to top it all off, the unique throwback sound is created by only TWO people! The talented, preppy twosome (D.A. Wallach and Maxwell Drummey) met while attending Harvard and began making music in their dormroom. Eventually, their demo made it into the hands of rapper/singer/producer/superstar-extraordinaire Pharrell Williams, who wasted no time and signed them to his record label Star Trak/Interscope immediately.

In an interview with HipHopDX, the duo was asked, "What does Chester French bring to Hip Hop," they responed:

“If there’s a movement that we stand for, it’s about breaking down barriers. Just by the virtue of the people we--with Kanye, Pharell or any of those people--the value that they see in us is the fact that we don’t make music like them,” says D.A. He goes on to say, "Up until now, people have been making music in boxes. You maybe had some Rock to Pop crossover shit, but for the most part, the same people who listen to Lil’ Boosie aren’t the same people listening to Maroon 5 or Coldplay. I’m not saying that they should be…The way we look at it is, music is music and people are people…for Hip Hop fans we want to turn them on to other stuff, but still be appealing to what they’re used to.”

And, as if I couldn't love these guys any more than I already do, I discovered that Chester French might be my musical soulmate when I read this great quote from the guys' interview with the Boston Globe:

The musical direction of Chester French can be traced to the pair's dissatisfaction with the current state of popular music. Aside from hip-hop, they see little value in Top 40 offerings, and they get downright belligerent when the subject of indie rock is raised.

"Indie rock people don't like us," says Wallach between bites of Caesar salad. "And we don't like them at all."

Mark My Words: These guys are gonna be HUGE!

Check them out: www.myspace.com/chesterfrench

Now, excuse me while I take a dance break...