Eulorhythmics is the joint effort of Chicago artists Kenny Keys and MC Adad. I hadn’t heard either of these two before this album, but from my first listen, I was intrigued. They seemed playful and inventive, dropping some interesting beats and heavy bass. There was definitely some West Coast influence here, maybe some Pharcyde or Aceyalone. I dug the beginning of this album and wondered if I could add them to my list of new favorites for 2010.

“Leavin’” has some summer jam potential, and I think that song has staying power. It has a catchy hook about leaving a girlfriend, accompanied by a funky jazzy beat and tasty vibraphone samples. It’s all pretty solid through the instrumental jam “Doos,” which features some nice keyboard grooves.

When we get halfway through the album to “Hot N Nasty,” the album begins to lose steam. The lyrics are pretty trite, bordering on juvenile and gross. Proh Mic R&B-styled singing just makes it cheesier, and it definitely doesn’t hold up to repeat listens. They never really recover from there.

The production starts to sound cheaper, noticeably around “Never Knew,” which has some unpleasant, corny keyboard sounds. The lyrics get worse, too. The production drops, and the hooks become annoying.

“Green St. & Avers,” redeems the second half of the album briefly, as we get some introspective rhymes about growing up in Chicago while we get a decent early ‘90s West Coast groove going. As soon as I start to get back into it, though, the rug is taken out from under me as the outro revives this beat and gives way to some soft jazz soloing on a keyboard that has an absolutely terrible piano sound, which also sounds like it was recorded by someone holding a mic near the speaker. It’s quite an off-putting way to end an album.

What really disappoints me is that if they cut this album down and released it as an EP, I’d be excited about some new hip hop coming out of Chicago. As it is, I’m lukewarm on Eulorhythmics, and hope they can build on the good parts of this album for their next release.