Basement Jaxx - "Rooty" XL RecordingsReview
| Basement Jaxx "Rooty" (XL Recordings) |
| Even people with only the slightest interest in dance music cant have failed to hear something of this band over the last year. How the popularity of house music has blossomed since its birth in the eighties. Those people who headed the scene a decade ago probably only ever reached the fame status of a backroom indie band. The main players in the dance scene of 2001 are minor celebrities, their faces gracing the pages of numerous magazines whilst they gain the sort of coverage thats only ever enjoyed by naff popstars. At last, some recognition for the people who deserve it -people like Basement Jaxx. Rooty demonstrates admirably just what makes Basement Jaxx stand out from so many of their contemporaries and why consistently larger numbers of the population are warming to the sound of decent dance music. It demonstrates the fundamental need for any musical genre to experiment and diversify. With Rooty you get to hear a heavy rock vocal next to a soft ragga vocal and a flamenco break ("SFM"), a Film 2001 jazz shuffle mixed together with a funky dance beat ("Do Your Thing") and Caribbean steel drums backing up a warbled Caucasian vocal on the stand out single "Jus 1 Kiss". They keep the beats and the tempo up whilst managing to never loose sight of the fact that breaking new ground does not necessarily mean making inaccessible tunes. All of their music has a certain kind of appeal, a quirky coolness that makes you smile. There is just one point of contention however. The idea of printing the lyrics on the sleeve. Dance lyrics arent exactly noted for their profundities and reading "Jus one kiss will make it better, jus one kiss and we will be alright, jus one kiss will make it better, jus one kiss and well be flying high" proves quite succinctly that, music they may be good at, aspiring Bob Dylans they definitely aint. But, seeing as though music is for listening to and not looking at, perhaps we can let them off this little shortfall. More music of this calibre in the charts means less "Steps" and "SClub7". It definitely cant be a bad thing. |
 |  |
