Basement Jaxx - 'Kish Kash' (XL)
3/5
By: Toby L
Purveying conjurors of the disco-pop-rap-hip-hop-trance-dance-house variety, Basement Jaxx in third LP 'Kish Kash' ditch the fun 'n' theatrics and instead offer up an (almost) sensible blend of the majestic, dramatic and sleazy.
Yes, Brixton duo Felix and Simon can expect some flack for their latest release. After the likes of 'Remedy' and 'Rooty' cementing their names as prime-players in the top-ten, and rivals to the similarly commercial-crossover talents of Fatboy Slim, new affairs are less scattered with gimmicky splodges of (perfectly enjoyable) sporadic beat-pap, and instead ridden with an air of the harder-edge.
After all, that is Siouxsie Sioux guesting on track-ten, 'Cish Cash': a frivolous, fighting stomp of pesky, bleepy, burpy noise and ruffled bass-dissonance. It's a potential single, alright - yet not in the vein of what we've so far perceived the 'Jaxx as, i.e. light-hearted evangelists of the mainstream... No - this is searing, pouting, almost serious stuff.
And then there's the Dizzee Rascal collaboration, where our eighteen-year-old, East End Mercury Award-winner kicks the listener's already shaking ass into a splattering of rapid rhymes and pummelling poetry, backed by a swarm of escalating, rotating rhythms and admirable sound-scapes. If it weren't so complex, you'd wanna do a Daniel Bedingfield and rip this off via crappy recording-equipment in your own bedroom.
Otherwise, it's a wild race through the eclecticism and tireless, E-d up franticness that constitutes so much of the BJ spark and panache; Lisa Kekaula of fearless garage-rockers The BellRays even pops up in the entrance, providing a commanding, hearty vocal to the rousing 'Good Luck'. Coupled with a series of bizarre interludes and additional surprise-visitors along the way, where previous Jaxx LP's could be criticised in part for a lack of the human-touch, 'Kish Kash' is robustly bustling with personal touches and fiery inspiration.
Yet, all that's lacking is the monster-anthem; no signs of this inning's 'Where's Your Head At', or 'Red Alert'. Altogether proof that pastures new may warrant riper fruit, yet at the expense of having to settle down all over again amongst different surroundings... A little time spent getting to know the area, however, and this may well bode a fonder living-experience.
Artists in this article: Basement Jaxx
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