Kish Kash

I saw Laura's post today about the new Basement Jaxx album, Kish Kash, and sort of put it off as one of her usually sly ways of saying "of course I already have it, no big deal." I have thought about purchasing Rooty a few times, but while listening to it on my computer, it always got to a point where I never wanted to hear another Basement Jaxx song again. But, as I recommend you do, I pay heed to Laura's recommendations (even the irony-laden ones), and when I saw the album available for download, I went ahead and did it.

When I saw the first track, "Good Luck", also discussed in the Pitchfork singles column today, I knew something was up. I expected it to be another promo that gets leaked, where all the people who don't usually have access to such early releases get really excited and talk up the album and all that crap. ...and then I listened to it.

Holy crap! Mind f*ck!
It's not quite disco or house, it's not quite hip-hop; it's not quite Daft Punk, it's not quite the Neptunes; it's not quite DFA, it's not quite Timbaland. In a world where most innovative popular music and production is coming from only a few producers, even a Neptunes beat is going to sound cliche soon (maybe, maybe not... those two are pretty good at outdoing themselves). But somehow, Basement Jaxx have found a way to sound completely and devestatingly fresh and new, while still sounding like Basement Jaxx. The new record is amazing, but all it took is listening to half of the first track for all of that to go through my mind.

The record is an astounding layering and patterning of sounds, all on top of - you guessed it - house beats. Right now my favorite tracks are "Good Luck", "Lucky Star", with the incomprehensible English stuttering of Dizzee Rascal, and "Plug It In", featuring one JC Chasez. That last one is obviously some kind of response to JT's work with the Neptunes and Timbaland but um... he stands his ground. It's way, way, way hott.

Blah blah blah my next dance party will be soundtracked by Basement Jaxx, and that means a lot. So look for it, I guess.

Also, this guy does a nice job of explaining it.