Monsieur Job - Chow Chow eyyy Pow Pow
“Chow Chow
eyyy Pow Pow” is a revelatory single from Latin and urban pop masters in the
making Monsieur Job, a four piece unit fronted for this effort by the vocal
talents of No Mercy lead singer Martin Citron. This union of talents has
produced one of the most notable cross-genre blends in recent years and
Monsieur Job has paired the single with a “B-side” remix that will appeal to
many as well. They’ve definitely captured a thoroughly modern sound while never
betraying the fundamentals that make songs great in any genre – in this case,
the performance never forsakes a live aesthetic that, despite the electronic
nature of the music, suggests anything can happen in this song and unexpected
twists will come. It definitely isn’t a paint by numbers EDM track in either
incarnation – instead, songwriters Toby Holguin and Stan Kolev have crafted a
winning formula for Monsieur Jobs’ music that’s full of color, physicality, and
imagination.
Kolev’s remix
is a blistering, punchy EDM track with Citron’s vocal chopped up in a very
staccato, percussive way. It’s much more streamlined and to the point than the
quite direct radio edit and works like a clenched fist compared to the more
expansive, relaxed attitude of the radio edit. It’s ideally suited for a club
setting. The radio edit, on the other hand, falls into more traditional
territory despite its glaring modernity. It opens with varied percussion that
the song adds to as it progresses deeper into the track and the prominent bass
and other instrumentation key themselves around the song’s drumming. There’s an
impressive mix of sounds surrounding the percussion. Some of it is quite
conclusively pre-programmed in origin while other drumming sounds strike me as
much more natural, if not entirely live. It speaks to the backgrounds of the
band members – to a man, Monsieur Job is well versed in both electronic and
live, traditional music performance and their ability to unite those two
aesthetics in “Chow Chow eyyy Pow Pow” is one of their more notable
achievements.
Martin
Citron’s vocal in the radio edit is Spanish language from first word to last,
but exclusively English speakers will pick up on the emotion and spirit he
infuses into the lyric and enjoy it despite not quite understanding the
content. They will, likewise, respond to the confidence he conveys with his
performance and appreciate his efforts to tailor the vocal to the musical needs
of the song. The coupling of Toby Holguin and Stan Kolev’s songwriting with his
experienced singing are the primary ingredients making “Chow Chow eyyy Pow Pow”
one of the more memorable singles from the Latino and EDM genres in quite some
time. Monsieur Job are poised to be one of the powerhouses in this scene for
years to come and we may soon point back to this track as the moment their
musical journey first traveled into the stratosphere of public notice.
Raymond
Burris
