New Basement Jaxx

colourful, intricately carved characters - some grotesque, but all mesmerising - performing against a garish but ultimately flat, 2D landscape. the puppets are the vocalists, the backdrop is...well, everything else

i've been living with the CD for a week now, giving it due priority. It still hasn't possessed me tho', the initial thrill hasn't transformed into love. Even now, i can only recall how four or five of the tracks go. I mentioned upthread that i thought the mastering had gone wrong. I actually think it's the production itself that's at fault. The sound is muffled, no brightness at all to the treble, the beats are all sustain and no attack, the bass rumbles somewhere underground. To some extent, that's the jaxx sound ("rendez-vous" on 'remedy' for example also has those soft beats) but here I think it's fatal to the cause. If you're going to have a 'busy' sound (as Tom puts it) - not to mince words, if you're going to give us prog-house - then the details need to be crystal clear. And they're not. There's just this mass of sound in a single plane, standing about two feet behind the vocals. I'm not saying the sound is too cluttered, every note that's there should be there, but you just can't locate it spatially.

(i'm now wondering if the analog version on vinyl might do the music more justice. I'm seriously considering trading up. anyone want my CD copy? That said, i expect it won't make too much difference, the instruments were no doubt recorded digitally)

what saves the album are the - very analog - vocals. These sound just fine and what performances they are, from everyone: it's not Me'Shell who 'owns' her songs, as Dan put it, all the singers, inc. Felix, do the same with theirs, severing their puppeteer's strings in the process, and taking over the show...

i would be interested to know if anyone's playing it in clubs (these versions, i mean, not remixes - if such exist)

i gave copies of this album to my favorite local DJs months ago. they were excited to get have the album and i imagine they listen to it but they haven't shown any interest in playing it out. one of them played dizzee's track the night i gave it to him but the club was basically empty.

i would be caning 'right here's the spot' if i was DJing regularly right now, also 'Supersonic', 'Cish Cash' - i mean ffs what's better to dance to than this stuff?

But my living room is where I play all my super-fast sports car racing games

(hi fans!)

what does this tell us about internet 'piracy' and dance-fans ?

How does this compare to the performance of the last two, though?

'Remedy' and 'Rooty' were both Top 10 albums i think.

That's for sure.

TEMPTED

Hey Steve, if you're not tempted enough, Zongamin and others are live at the ICA that night. If you wanna hit Brighton, I'm up for it...

Zongamin tho, NOW THERE is an idea

I bought that Nikita Warren Jaxx 12" but haven't heard it yet, and I spotted the Cooly's Hot Box one too. Will I be happy with 'em?

It's for listening to! Does anyone actually think "I wish to ride a horse, perhaps some jeff mills, then home for sherry and groove armada".

Ronan's otm.

(sorry)

'N Sync's JC Chasez will kick off a brief club tour Dec. 3 in San Diego to build anticipation for his debut solo album, "Schizophrenic," due Jan. 27 via Jive.

The album's first single "Some Girls (Dance With Women)" featuring Dirt McGirt will be serviced to U.S. radio outlets Dec. 1 for airplay consideration. Chasez's other cohorts on "Schizophrenic" include producers Alex Greggs and Brad Daymond, Robb Boldt, Rockwilder, Basement Jaxx and BT.

The big draw for Jaxx fans here is whether or not they'll give him something more in line with Kish Kash or the relatively unsuprising remixes they did while making the album. A recent article did hint at a more nu-Jaxx style, though it may hve been talking about 'Plug It In' instead.

Any idea whether Basement Jaxx plan to release a bsides/remix compilation for Kish Kash after all the singles have been released - like they did for Rooty and Remedy - it's one of the many things I love the Jaxx for.