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Track Listings
| 1. Raindrops |
| 2. Twerk |
| 3. Feelings Gone |
| 4. Saga |
| 5. My Turn |
| 6. Scars |
| 7. She's No Good |
| 8. A Possibility |
| 9. Day Of The Sunflowers ( We March On). |
| 10. What's A Girl Got To Do? |
| 11. Gimme Something True |
| 12. D.I.S.tractionz |
Product Description
Review
While these gleeful hits have greatly cheered both clubbers and chart-followers, production pair Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe make plenty of twisted and mischievous music that never reaches radio: Get Me Off, from 2001’s Rooty album, and the oft-overlooked I Live in Camberwell, which features on the bonus disc to their 2005 singles compilation, are as malevolent as they are funky.
As the Brixton-formed duo suggest with this album’s title, Scars inhabits darker territory than 2006’s Crazy Itch Radio and their three preceding long-players. Lead single Raindrops aside, there aren’t many moments of carefree, bubbly abandon. In fact, even Raindrops opens with odd, psychedelic loops, seemingly pinched from School of Seven Bells. Then the tune turns into a crucial, if disorientating, blend of funk, garage and electro-tinged carnival house, almost like it’s been made up on the spot.
Dev Hynes, aka emotive indie stalwart Lightspeed Champion, crops up for some inspired melancholy on My Turn. His yearning lilt and delicate acoustic guitar is accompanied by a formidably dense bassline and percussion which sounds like the nocturnal twitching of agitated crickets. Elsewhere, Twerk sounds like a fierce sister of 1999 single Jump N’ Shout, with Slarta John’s roughneck spitting supplanted by Tampa-based female rap duo Yo! Majesty’s digi-dancehall fury.
Scars is testament, again, to Basement Jaxx’s resolute confidence. From the title track’s harnessing of Kelis and post-Timbaland production to the extraordinary Day of the Sunflowers (We March On), where Yoko Ono sings about “20,000 fishes coming down from the sky,” before simulating sexual excitement, no challenge is shirked. Alas, the fearlessness proves problematic come the final pairing of the underwhelming D.I.S.tractionz and Gimme Somethin’ True, the latter being merely a Carlos Santana-flavoured retread of 1999 hit Rendez-Vu. Pruning the album could have paid dividends.
Thankfully, said lapse can’t ruin what is a frantic, surprising and addictive album. If Basement Jaxx can keep making records of this exceptional standard they’ll rightly be rewarded with another decade of dance success. --Lou Thomas
Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
Product Description
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Customer Reviews
with a new collection is a reason to be cheerful.
Despite one or two exceptional tracks 2006's
'Crazy Itch Radio' felt a bit like the guys
were coasting. A little bit tired and worn down.
'Scars' confirms that they have found their muse
and some infectious energy again.
It is a lively collection full of fresh ideas
and big danceable beats.
The only track I find impossible to like is 'Saga',
which might have been a perfectly jolly experience
had they not entrusted the vocal to Santigold.
My allergy to every sound she emits rages on unabated.
Elsewhere the collaborations are all well realised.
Opening track 'Scars' is a heady cut-and-paste tapestry,
stiching electronic choral snatches and quasi-tribal
rhythms together with Kelis, Meleka and Chipmunk's
entertaining vocal intrusions. Delicious stuff !
I'm loving 'My Turn', featuring Lightspeed Champion
(aka Devonte Hynes), which had the whole Wolf family
and an assorted collection of random rodents dancing
wildly around the first of our Autumn bonfires.
(It's that time of year again in The Home Forest).
The splendid Sam Sparro's soulful contribution to
'Feelings Gone' is another upbeat dancefloor highlight.
The wonderfully itchy 'What's A Girl Gotta Do?' is
elevated to the realms of burlesque splendour by
Paloma Faith's perky and quirky performance.
There's more than one bat in the belfry in this
terrific composition.
Things slow down with 'Stay Close' a texturally intriguing song
brought gracefully alive by Lisa Kekaula, who, unlike the execrable
Ms White, really does have a beautifully expressive voice.
'Distractionz', another cracker, mixes African
and Latin elements into a rich rhythmic stew.
Jose Hendrix Ndelo brings it all vividly alive.
No doubt about it The Jaxx are back on form !
Highly Recommended.
seem to be making music that they like rather than trying to please anyone else. Read more
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