Record Reviews

Basement Jaxx

Remedy (Astralwerks)

There's no denying that Basement Jaxx have harnessed the awesome power of rump-shaking beatitude. That's a good thing for lovers of pure, funky house music, the likes of which have been overshadowed of late by big beaters Stormin' Norman Cook and jungle gymnasticizers Roni Size et al. For a while there, it looked as if house was going to slink back to the Chi-town from whence it came, but thanks to upstarts like D.C. duo Deep Dish and now the Jaxx, it appears the ongoing summer of love v.9.2 is alive and swell. Granted, what Brixton duo Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe have created here is "punk garage," another house music offshoot in a genre that already requires you carry a clubgoer's thesaurus with you every time you buy a new disc. Tough. Eschewing categories entirely, let's just call this trippy l'il slice of vinyl a masterwork, combining elements of salsa, house, reggae, hip-hop, and ska into one remarkably cohesive whole. Any duo that can base a track around samples from not only KRS-ONE but also the Selector is a pip in my book, and the Jaxx do more than that. From the propulsive, feel-fucked-up joy of club staple "Red Alert" to the mind-and-speaker shredder "Don't Give Up," this is a top beat assemblage to rival any release this year. Remedy: didn't even know you were sick, did you?