POP MUSIC REVIEW : JUICY DOESN’T MAKE A SPLASH

Juicy is a group with sweet-tempered enthusiasm and drive, but in its show at the Roxy on Monday, the young funk sextet lacked the road-tested experience to fully deliver the goods.

Fronted by the brother-sister team of Jerry and Katrice Barnes, Juicy has a lot more work to do in the area of showmanship, and songs like the lightweight “Bad Boy” (not the Miami Sound Machine hit) don’t really help the group’s efforts to look like a serious funk contender. Juicy tries hard, but at this point the group’s name is a lot more provocative than its sound.

Second-billed Tease proved you don’t have to visit Minneapolis to find a kicking, biracial band. Fronted by the affable Kipper Jones, this six-man, L.A.-based unit is primed and stylish--not unlike that defunct Minneapolis band the Time, with only the hotly choreographed dance steps absent.

The group has already developed a following, judging by the number of similarly attired, wanna-be Teasers in the audience. For a while, in fact, it looked as if the group’s GQ-ish wardrobe might be slicker than its musical hooks. But by the time it tossed off a get-on-the-good-foot rendition of James Brown’s “Body Heat,” it was obvious that Tease isn’t averse to getting its fancy duds sweaty and wrinkled in the name of old-fashioned funksmanship.