New Basement Jaxx

thereby beating the rockists at their own game
Buh buh buh they wouldn't buy the record in the first place! I don't care much for the record apart from a track or two. Esp Plug It In is quite nice. I don't like the Dizzee Rascal/ Lucky Star track at all, his voice just doesn't fit with the rest (as opposed to JC on Plug It In which is gonna be a radio-hit, god damn it).

Ronan, Pharell already plotted his own downfall by constructing a conveyerbelt which poops out a dozen wishy washy songs/remixes per minute.

the minute "plug it in" becomes a single it's my favorite of the year.

this record has the hardest drums i've ever heard on a pop-electronic-dance record.

I also love the fact they made the chorus rock out just because they could. I know Larcole was a touch peeved by me playing out the Justin hate a touch more above, but in this specific case it also really has a lot to with the fact that Basement Jaxx are just much more interesting producers/creators to my ears than the Neptunes as well, regardless of how stretched thin Pharell might or might not be (and actually, seeing as how I really love the Chad-produced Kenna album, I'm beginning to think that it IS all about Pharell's limitations in the end...).

chad's made all the best beats anyway < /contentious unarguable statement>

god it's so decadent...they don't let even a measure go by without doing SOMETHING ELSE.

and thanks stevem!! nobel prize for you.

Yeah Steve I owe you many pints.

Another thought, anyone agree it doesn't sound like them in the traditional sense. You know it's them because noone else could be this manic but alot of the trademark sounds are gone I feel. Not a value judgement

haha i need to stop giving away my review notes here, but:

basement jaxx have finally succeeded in what they were always trying to do: they have become their own genre.

nathalie otm on dizzee and jc

you are nuts! The Dizzee track is absolutely off the scale, GYPSYTECH

dizzee sounds much worse than the normal with the jaxx backing

I was walking home from a trip to the CD store about a half hour ago and about 30 seconds after "If I Ever Recover" kicked in a sleek black '80s Lotus Esprit Turbo (replete with golden Eurostile-font graphics on the sides) glided past quietly down the street. That's some fuckin' convergence right there.

the most Jaxxy sound on the album (imho): the ascending blip squeals on "plug it in".

every 15 seconds you don't just get a new sound, you get a suggestion of a whole other direction the song could've been taken in: those collapsing sighs on "plug it in" could well have been made to service a "gone"-style ballad, a foregrounding of the guitar(?)-plinking towards the end of "cish cash" would've make the most absurdly delicate ice sculpture of an electroclash track ever, etc. etc.

the redemption of prog :)

"Haha! You're onto something there, has anyone made that comparison before?"

Not as far as I know, Ned, but it makes sense. The best of that scene and the old 'shibuya-kei' stuff, ie Cornelius, P5 and Plus-Tech Squeeze Box, sounds like you're freefalling through time and space. The denseness/layering of the Jaxx and Richard X rekkids, as well as the attention to crazy details like stereo panning and mixing sounds in and out and sample melding is getting closer and closer to the likes of Fantasma in this regard and best of all, they've always been kindred spirits in messing up the pop world and spreading joy.

Also, good points on the Neptunes, ones I'm inclined to agree with based on a recent interview.

Ronan said everything I'd say about 'Lucky Star', aside from the disco dreams :-).

I've never really a Jaxx fan apart from the odd brilliant single, but after ten listens, I have to admit this one is their best album yet. It's obvious that fans of the previous albums will love it, they've used the same approach: a handful of dense funk tracks, a track with mc'ing, a trad house tune, some 'scary' punkish electro, everything crammed to the brim with wierd sounds (parallels with goa/psytrance?).

The obvious single "Lucky Star" is phenomenal, "Plug It In" "If I Recover" and "Cish Cash" are good, "Good Luck", "Hot 'n Cold" and "Right Here's The Spot" are OK, but "Supersonic", "Tonight", "Living Room" and "Feels Like Home" are fairly pointless at the end of the day. It's too bad that the track sequencing means that there's a massive drop in quality after track 10. The tracks have enormous potential for remixing, so I'm very interested in what the singles will bring.

The Neptunes-like sound in some tracks appears to be their marketing pitch "hiphop/r&b producers for hire" (BJ following in the footsteps of Adam F, Mirwais et al in "european dance producers showing off that they're way ahead of the game"?).

Much props to Steve M.! But...
Listening to this is like sitting and trying to read a book in the park but you can't, because everything around you -- the birds, grass, trees, sun, the f*ckin' bench you're sitting on - is hopping, leaping, twittering at the same time. You're in Toon Town and you have to get the hell out.
I wish the Jaxx would regain their sense of space, because after a couple of listens I've had enough. Just too much.
And I'm not getting the Prince comparisons. "SFM" on ROOTY was waay Princier than anything on this joint.
Going back to listen to "Hey Ya" and sulk.

though Track 7 is kinda hot...

track 7 - 'plug it in' - is scorching..

Friday afternoon - download 'Kish Kash' album from Toby...

Sunday afternoon - burn 'Kish kash' to CD, go to XFM studios, hand CD to James Hyman and Eddy Temple-Morris who haven't got it yet and order them to play Track 04 - 'Lucky Star' subsequently blasted out on radio for an extremely naughty exclusive (actually it wasn't cos Pete Tong got there first Friday night on Radio 1 but still, internet power in effect)

tim, if you don't wanna wait the week drop me a line: will land mail it for tomorrow!

before i listened to this, i was thinking of how bland it is that everyone always gives album of year to basement jaxx, because it is so easy to do for most rock critics instead of actually, ya know, listening to a lot of techno albums before making the choice.

i am listening to it now and i feel like an idiot for ever doubting!!!
"feels like home" is very beautiful... this album is making me feel excited in the same way that techno originally did years ago. i think this is a good time to be alive!

i got my copy from mr strongo... thanks!

the 'Lucky Star' video MUST be directed by Dawn Shadforth and feature Dizzee and horde of zombies in semi-pastiche of 'Thriller'

i dont hear this record as being overly complex or dense as compared to the other records... they always have little tricks buried in there... remember the snarling cat in "rendez-vous?"

it needs to be said again. strongo and stevem, when you guys dip yourselves in chrome, i'll be there cheering.

more likely encased in carbonite...

i am gutted that Tong got to play it on radio first, i was really hoping we had a coup there

reasons to love 'Lucky Star' no. 6478: the prominent use of the 'round and round and round we go' line - classic hip-hop standard self-reference done great, and subtler reference to 'fix up look sharp' with the 'look up look down!' bit

but that 'Right Here's The Spot' chorus is REALLY doing it for me now also. and 'Supersonic' is a lovely bouncy house track with a great feelgood vibe - doesn't sound pointless to me, and no less worthy than 'Plug It In' which is the only track i've heard so far that i felt may be over-long

OK, so I'm downloading select tracks from the venerable Mr Stevem (for it is He) using a rather shaky 56k connection. I've got "Lucky Star" (initial response: "Waaaaah") and I'm getting the Chasez track, but the lack of speed in getting the others and the two months I have to wait for the album leads me to worry that I'll wear out the tracks I've downloaded. I must have played "Lucky Star" 10 times since last night.

stevem that was you !

i was listening + i thought - u know what ? i bet that's
an ILX type who's resposible. very well done. sounded great
coming through the tv off the SKY dish.

you would've heard my voice on there at some point after as well, unless i wasn't talking loud enough into the mic (how do these trumpet things work then? oh i see - PAAAAARP) - i was asked on-air what i thought of Busta's 'Light Your Ass On Fire' and my response was a solemn but dignified 'definitely..absolute..killer'

I managed to download the album - thanks Stevem you're a god! - and it is indeed pretty great. I'm not sure whether it's definitely *better* than their former albums though. What I'm missing at the moment is the swoonworthy stuff like "Romeo" or "All I Know" (cf. brainmelting over-the-top density) although that will probably come with time.

First thought on hearing "Lucky Star" - this is the direction the Stanton Warriors should have gone in.

Second thought on hearing "Lucky Star" - hey! This sounds like 808 State circa "Ex:El"!

:(

yeah i would have to agree with tim (and ned way way back) here. it's odd that while (unlike the other two) there isn't a single BAD track here, none of it's as catchy as "romeo" or "where's your head at" or "red alert".

oh yeah and i gotta disagree about w/ the idea that the album gets boring halfway through. aside from "right here's the spot" i think i like the second half better - "if i ever recover" has got to be their most beautiful moment ever, even better than "stop 4 love" or "always be there".

By "swoonworthy" I mean "vaguely heartbreaking" actually (one of the things I like about "Romeo" is that it's like the pop version of Kitchens of Distinction's "Third Time We Opened The Capsule" ie. it attempts to equate sonic overload with emotional overload). I was hoping that their stuff was going to continue to get more explicitly emotional as time went on. And there is emotional stuff on Kish Kash but it tends to be on the ballad/indie tracks.

But yeah I'd probably agree that there's no single track on there as good as "Romeo". Of course, early days! I've had the album for less than 24 hours! Should not comment!

my initial feeling is that 'Kish Kash' is better than 'Rooty' - it's like its younger brother, often getting dismissed as just aping the style of its older sibling but really its more creative, wilder and deranged.

Have a look:

http://static3.state51.co.uk/25/60/2790054_TR6f/191x191.jpeg

And there you have it.

Gosh that's almost as ugly as the last cover!

Did they stick their logo on top of the sky from the 'Setting Sun' cover? It flips between classic and dud.

That cover is fucking awesome. You are both mentalists.

I'm not keen - it's quite cool as a splash page design or cheap poster but not as an album cover

it looks like a dodgy cigarette package

Matt, I haven't opined on the cover yet, you nutter.

i was thinking it looked like that missy elliot jewellry ad

This whole album is the music burbling in my head committed to disc and sent out to the whole world. I completely agree that "Right Here's The Spot" out-Princes anything on _Rooty_. Also, I disagree that there are no immediately engaging tracks, especially with "Right Here's The Spot", "Cish Cash", and "Plug It In" bouncing all up and down my brain.

"Good Luck" sounds like a k-single to me.

The last few tracks where they slow it down are all gorgeous, too. If anything it's the 'overstuffed' middle that's the weakest stretch.

with vocals from nowboy dizzee and the benefit of first single momentum to help it through the learning stage, i think "lucky star" was the right choice (politically) for first single.

that said, "right here's the spot", "cish cash", "plug it in" and (especially!) "good luck" are possibly all more immediate

"Plug It In" "Plug It In" "Plug It In"