8A - The Michigan Daily - Monday, September 18, 2006

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Her shirt says it all.
Jaxx still 'Crazy'
for hit singles

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By Elyssa Pearlstein
Daily Arts Writer
MUSIC REVIEW k t
Imagine a storm of disco,
Latin and techno swirled
together. Add hip hop and jazz
to the mix. Throw in a drop of
classical. Basement Jaxx's latest
album, Crazy Itch Radio, has
the stylings of an upbeat, light-
hearted-yet-sensual dance party
and follows a long list of hit
recordings by the group, includ-
ing 1995's
"Samba
Magic," Basement
and 2001's JaXX
"Where's Crazy Itch Radio
Your Head
At." It's XL
never their
albums that grab attention. Even
five albums and seven years in,
Basement Jaxx runs a simple
game-plan: singles first, album
design second.
On Crazy Itch Radio the
orchestral and techno combo
fit together with surprising
comfort. The party begins with
choral vocals over a solemn
string-heavy intro, followed by
the Bee Gees-influenced "Hush
Boy." The lyrics describe a
date at a Mexican restaurant
- complete with the requisite
fajitas and frozen margari-
tas - as proud, brassy horns
blaze along with well-executed
techno beats. As a theme, the
song is reflective of the rest of
the album: giddy little games of
love dominate Basement Jaxx's
latest effort.
"Hey U" successfully adds
jazz elements to the mix. "On
the Train" is a soulful number
that rides its R&B male vocals:
"City got the best of me, caught
up so tight, there's no air to
breath '/ God, he been testing
me, heat beatin' down, I just

need a cool breeze."
"Run 4 Cover" flows like the
high-energy chants of a British
Gwen Stefani, with its upbeat
grooves. An interlude of laughs
bridges into "Smoke Bub-
bles" with more somber - yet
still grindingly light hearted
- female vocals: "I thought I
was in love with you / thought
together we'd find some true /
never seemed at all logical / but
maybe we were living in smoke
bubbles."
Even for postmodern dance
music, our generation's favor-
ite spot for cyclic drone, there
is noticeable repetition in many
of the songs. Yet it's Basement
Jaxx's manipulation of this rep-
etition - twirling chunks of
Moroccan horns and elephan-
tine kickdrums cycled through
again and again - that keep
them fun.
They find a rich pop vein and
suck it dry.
A mellower track on the
album, "Lights Go Down," is
a chilled-out venture, but the
party erupts again in an abun-
dance of classic high-energy
club music with "Everybody."
In fact, in a sea of one-off
singles bands and trumped up
pop mongers who wither after
one fizzy, fun album, Basement
Jaxx has suddenly become the
grey lady of world-wide pop.
They simply stuff their albums
with club hits, slow-burning
bedroom jams and unexpected
guest spots. Album after album
they make hits and ride off into
the sunset.
Radio's particular combo of
hip hop and house plays better
than some of the music featured
in dance clubs, likely because
the two are created together,
as opposed to dubbed later on.
Surely not everybody who's
said "techno sucks" has heard
Basement Jaxx.

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