Basement Jaxx - Kish Kash

YOURZ

Basement Jaxx is responsible for one of the creepiest, freakist music videos I've ever seen for the song Where's Your Head At from the album Rooty.  If you've not seen this, check it out here.  Its guaranteed to make you squirm.  Up until this track, I'd not really paid them much attention.  Mine, however, was a confirmed fan of their smart dance music.

Kish Kash, their third album, changed my view of them.  The single Good Luck, featuring the voice of Lisa Kekaula from The Bellrays, is an awesome slice of edgy soul/dance wrapped around a fantastic string arrangement and a huge beat.  The song makes me want to dance which is rare indeed.  And Lisa's voice is superb.

The album also features guest appearances from Meshell Ndegeocello, Dizzee Rascal, former N'Sync star JC Chasez and Siouxsie Sioux (from Siouxsie & The Banshees).  As much as I don't want to say it, the track Plug It In, featuring the former boyband member, is actually a great piece, coming off sounding every bit as good as anything fellow N'Sync Justin Timberlake has ever done.

Siouxsie Sioux's appearance on the track Cish Cash lends a punk authenticity to the grimy, driving beat, bringing her punk aesthetic firmly into the digital age and proving old punks don't mellow, they just give less of a shit.  But the real stars of Kish Kash are the Jaxx themselves, who weave a tight blend of melody and thumping beats together to create infinitely listenable, intelligent music.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

MINE

The Jaxx.  Big Day Out, twice.  First in 2000 (when I went with a very young boy I was using for, um, entertainment and who annoyed me no end by being impatient when the Jaxx took forever to get sorted and started) and then again in 2002.  That time I sat next to a friend-of-a-friend who I'd never spent a lot of time talking to and had a really great conversation.  Lost both of them when I went off to the dance stage.  Married him later that year.

The Jaxx are terrific to see live, which can't be said of all dance acts, but has to be a prerequisite for the really great ones, like Prodigy and Chemical Brothers and Groove Armada.  Kish Kash, coming as it did in 2003 and after my marriage, hasn't spent as much time on the CD player as it's worth.  What it needs to do, is to go onto the gymPod and get a real workout.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

For more information: http://www.basementjaxx.net/

In our collection we also have Remedy and Rooty

Athlete - Vehicles & Animals

MINE

Oooh, ooh Athlete!  Such a good album and we don't play it enough (YourZ sez: although we played it lots and lots when we first got it).  The rollicking opener, El Salvador, is such a sing-a-long number it's now surfacing on my lips at odd moments - in the lift, making a cuppa...

In that way they're pretty typical of a good British pop band, because they tend to demand a bit of sing-a-long-ness in the UK.  Something to do with pubs and jukeboxes, I gather.  And just to share with you my recipe for a sure-fire pop hit - make sure you include some la-la-las and at least one Baby.  You're welcome.

Vehicles & Animals earned the band a Mercury prize nomination (they lost to Dizzee Rascal) and their next album, Tourist, was the one that shot them to fame. But not in THIS house, because it was this CD that got some serious heavy play when it first came home, and continues to jump out of the set of drawers we use as storage on a regular basis.  Although not so much recently.  Let's change that. 

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

YOURZ

Oh, what a wonderful album this is, full of smart, well-humoured songs, great musicianship and bright production.  This is British pop elevated to another level, beyond those of the usual suspects (Coldplay, for instance).  I still don't understand that phenomenon when bands such as this are streets ahead, as far as I'm concerned.

Admittedly, we haven't heard anything beyond Vehicles & Animals, their debut.  But as Mine points out, their follow up Tourist won them high critical praise and commercial success, so it must be at least as good as this.  As she also points out, these songs have a way of staying with you well after listening to them, which is only a good thing.

These tracks aren't just put together.  There has been a lot of thought gone into the arrangements, which included bits of electronica, scratches, blips and other noises, all adding to the overall listening pleasure.  At the same time, they know when to strict back instrumentation and let the vocals carry the song.  It really is a well-rounded listeners delight and does make me wonder why it's languished in our collection for so long without a listen.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP oh, this is beautiful - I've got to soak it up, got to soak it up

For more information: http://www.athlete.mu/