New Music from the Gordys!

**marv2** · 04-14-2011, 05:31 PM

LMFAO, the electro-hop duo whose addictive party rock sound is nearly impossible to get out of your head once you've heard their tunes, zips into Meadow Brook tonight to play a quick set with Girl Talk.

If you doubt the duo's commitment to party rock, consider this: Its 2009 album was called "Party Rock," its current single "Party Rock Anthem," its upcoming album "Sorry for Party Rocking." The members even sport and push a DayGlo-styled wardrobe called -- you guessed it -- Party Rock Clothing.

That makes LMFAO a perfect match for the mash-up dance music of co-headliner Girl Talk. If you ask LMFAO's Redfoo, the tour "was probably aligned by the party gods ... just to make some kind of dynamic, crazy party," he says.

Although the music is sourced purely from synthesizers, LMFAO is shot through with Motown DNA. The duo is made up of Redfoo [[Stefan Gordy, Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr.'s son) and Sky Blu [[Skyler Gordy, Berry's grandson and Stefan's nephew). The party rock sound is formulaic yet strangely hypnotic: 128 beats per minute, melody-rich and loaded with sing-song rap. We caught up with Redfoo to talk about the upcoming album, the Motown influence and more.

QUESTION: What's going on with the album?

ANSWER: It's coming out June 14. The label is screaming at us right now, saying, "Finish the album!" It's a work in progress and we're on the road so much, we're so busy from performing -- once you're in performance mode, creative mode, those are kind of different modes. We've been working on songs back on the bus.

Q: Growing up, how connected were you to Motown?

A: Most of the family that I know from the Gordy side is out here in California. I grew up with my mother and she started the video department at Motown, but that was in the '80s. Rick James and the Commodores in the '80s, and Marvin Gaye and Teena Marie and stuff like that, I was really exposed to.

I used to work for my dad doing some DVD work and I watched a lot of the old footage and studied a lot of the Jackson 5 cartoons and I read his book. His book, "To Be Loved," is pretty explicit. You can really imagine what was going on. So hearing the stories live from him, and then reading the book, and then seeing the footage, I have a pretty good idea how it was ... even though I wasn't there during that time.

Q: Your videos are very elaborate, with strong narratives and high production values. Do you think your fans can get the music without the videos?

A: I think you can. ... I think our music is interactive. The video helps, but the song itself has so much energy ... that's how it is kind of like Motown, because Motown made dance songs. They're known for their upbeat music, but they would talk about heavy subjects sometimes. "Do you love me, now that I can dance?" That wasn't just a dance song, it was a relationship song.

My dad told me about how he wrote some of the songs and we apply that to the music. I'm using a Berry Gordy formula when I'm writing these songs. They're like mini-stories. He always said a song is a three-minute movie. Even though the sounds are different, the concepts, I feel, like the structure of the songs, are kind of similar.

Q: You and Sky Blu have a pretty specific look. How did you arrive at it?

A: I could model that from Motown as well. You know, the Temps, the Tops, they dressed in suits. The Supremes had their sparkly dresses. Everything music and fashion are one and the same. We dressed how the music made us feel. We were influenced by Eddie Murphy, when he would wear these leather suits during a stand-up [[gig).

Q: How does the feel of the music translate to the clothes?

A: When you wear the Party Rock clothing, you put it on and you're wearing zebra or leopard or something tight-fitting and you feel different. You feel like dancing. ... You walk out of the house and you turn it on, because you feel you're going to get a lot of attention wearing tight, zebra pants. It makes life more fun. It's like life is a party. The party doesn't happen just at night or just when you're celebrating or just at the pool. I dress this way going to the grocery store.

LMFAO is made up of Redfoo [[Stefan Gordy), left, and Sky Blu [[Skyler Gordy).

**copley** · 04-14-2011, 06:34 PM

OMG!!!! This crappy song is set to be #1 in the UK on Sun. I had no idea there was a Motown connection and wish that I had remained in blissful ignorance

**marv2** · 04-14-2011, 06:44 PM

Originally Posted by copley

OMG!!!! This crappy song is set to be #1 in the UK on Sun. I had no idea there was a Motown connection and wish that I had remained in blissful ignorance

Copley, hehehehehehehe........!