Basement Jaxx
Remedy
On Sale Now
For $12.48

What Bob Vila did for "This Old House," the Basement Jaxx are doing for house music with their freshly burned CD, Remedy.

The Brixton DJ/producer duo that has long been popular overseas has now released their first full-length CD stateside. And it will definitely cure your four-on-the-floor boredom. As progressive house, deep house, hard house, and garage continue to define themselves along more explicit lines, the Basement Jaxx are moving into a new house. This sonically rich, fifteen-track bounce along happy, house-y clouds reflects the Jaxx’s ambitious musical ideas and a freshness somewhat lacking in the genre.

The Basement Jaxx, composed of UK club veterans Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliff, will no doubt be compared to the French electronica duo Daft Punk with the release of Remedy. The Jaxx employ filtered, robotic vocals, hard house beats, and a melange of musical styles. Latin-infused jazz answers disco dance floor beats. Reggae-infused hooks match hyperactive salsa grooves. With this sonic layering and musical variety, Remedy keeps the ears as busy as the feet.

"Red Alert," the duo’s big club hit that merited Jaxx-mania, is funky with a strong female voice laying down lyrics reminiscent of the Pet Shop Boys’ "It’s Alright." The tune sounds like Dr. Dre’s P-funked synthesizer waves rolling through a tribal-infused forest of toads chirping along an electronic babbling brook.

"Bingo Bango" is a cyber cha-cha, with jazzy piano lines and synthetic horn accents jamming the tune through a carnival of bubbling and sputtering. I thought Buster Poindexter was going to chime in and tell us how "hot hot hot" the song is.

Indistinguishable dancehall chants drive the third track, "Jump N Shout," through primal beats and ever rising horn toots. Don’t worry, the Jaxx have included a phonetic translation of the reggae vernacular of MC Slarta John in their liner notes, "Di vibes dem hot and di music wicked." The song is frantic but melodic.

The beat of "U Can’t Stop Me" starts and stops in a hip-hop stutter similar to the latest releases from artists like Aaliyah and Missy Elliott, but the electronically altered soulful singing makes the tune the Basement Jaxx’s own. In "Yo-Yo," a track closely resembling Daft Punk’s sound, a fuzzy robotic voice repeats "yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, ya-yeah, yo." The CD’s core tracks are segmented by interludes like "Jaxxalude" and "Sneakalude," which feature vocals from some of the DJs, like DJ Sneak, who were in the studio with the Jaxx.

From the flamenco energy of the first track "Rendez-vu" to the final, gentle, love song, "Being With U," the Basement Jaxx have reached superstar status on Remedy after being busy in the basement making beats and grooves for more than five years.

Diva Blue James hollers in "Red Alert," "Ain’t nothing going on but history/ But it’s alright, don’t panic."

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