Down the house road

(Morning Star, Friday 08 September 2006)

ALBUM: Basement Jaxx - Crazy Itch Radio
(XL)

THE Jaxx - if I may - are a funny one. A dance band who burst onto the scene with a raft of exciting, illuminating tracks. Red Alert, Rendez-Vu, Romeo - all dancefloor fillers, but all with a little soul, a little heart and, yes, a little pop.

How disappointing to learn, then, that curiously handsome Felix and that other one have gone down a house music route with no return.

Fans of Kish Kash will probably be delighted to find more of the same sort of thing, but, sadly, that amounts to pretty soulless, pretty dire dance puff with not a lot of bright spots.

Single Hush Boy has a catchiness to it that repetitive beats beget, taking its rhythmic cue from Earth, Wind and Fire et al, with all the horror that entails.

Hey You melds disco with Mexicana, while On The Train lifts Hit The Road, Jack and makes it a little bit banal.

Their past has proven that Basement Jaxx have a vision of dance music. It was fun and listenable and, crucially, unique to them.

Unfortunately, Crazy Itch Radio portrays a couple of lads who've lost the plot, producing the same old, same old as all others of their ilk.

There's more than this to the world of dance, but the Jaxx have clearly forgotten the steps.

Healing balm for the world

(Morning Star, Friday 08 September 2006)

ALBUM: Peter, Bjorn and John - Writer's Block
(Wichita)

IF the summer seemed frighteningly brief and the autumn rains have set in all too soon, this record will make it all better.

Putting Writer's Block onto your stereo will make you younger, the sound of sunshine that spills forth from your speakers proof enough that there is such things as light and love and, truthfully, that the world is better and more interesting than awarding the Mercury Music Prize to the Arctic Monkeys.

From the opening title track onwards, Peter, Bjorn and John explore a world of youth, heartbreak and hope, creating a soundtrack for young people in flared trousers moving to the music as in an episode of Ulysses 31.

Single Young Folks has the aural appeal of an afternoon spent chilling out with Felicity Kendal, all wholesome harmonies and an irresistible chorus, the like of which Air would be proud.

Amsterdam is a fine example of relaxed, folky pop and Let's Call It Off is a harmony-heavy delight with a chorus that stays with you as you enter the real world once again, refusing to be brought down by the dull and vexatious.

Buy this record and make it a family heirloom. Music like Peter, Bjorn and John play is the road map for world peace and it's destined to make everything better.

Another corker

(Morning Star, Friday 01 September 2006)

ALBUM: Outkast - Idlewild
(RCA)

OUTKAST have plundered through their musical career, confounding critics with their intelligent soul-tinged rap and rap-tinged soul on a wave of publicity from famous relationships and acting careers.

So it is quite surprising that they have managed to turn out, once again, a fair corker of a record.

Sadly, Outkast's sound is less individual nowadays and the prevalence of trumpets which once set it apart from the pop landscape in 2002 are now de rigueur for a band with pretensions of soul.ut, from the Outkast-by-numbers funk of Mighty O, the bluesy Idlewild Blue (Don'tchu Worry 'Bout Me) is a breath of fresh bluegrass, a modern take on a musical tradition which swaggers with their unmistakable sound.

Elsewhere, Morris Brown takes in a strong gospel influence and The Train exhibits anthemic positivity, while PJ and Rooster trundles in sounding like Star Wars's own Max Rebo Band, all indefinable but enjoyable noises.

Outkast are a classic band in the making, with all the heart of pop, the soul of Motown and, now, the inspiration of a bluegrass twang. They're an international treasure and their place in music history is cemented.

New York disco-rock groove

(Morning Star, Friday 01 September 2006)

ALBUM: The Rapture - Pieces of The People We Love
(Mercury)

NEW YORK band The Rapture make music that is an aquired taste. It's a sound that everyone should make acquiring their top priority.

Three years after their debut burst onto the impossibly cool disco-rock scene, the quartet are back to basics with this confident document to life as an established act.

From opener Don Gon Do It, it's clear that the winning template that they carved out in 2003 has been dusted off for this new journey into stereophonic sound. Without wanting to paint a vulgar picture, it's balls-out funky-assed pop-rock in the most strenuous sense.

Title track Pieces of the People We Love is a melodious meander with its roots in a drum beat enthused with the spirit of My Sharona, all tight and twitchy and teasing dance moves out of the lifeless limbs of passers-by.

Get Myself Into It is like a disco groove as belted out by Robert Smith and standout track Whoo! Alright, Yeah, Uh Huh is more jerky disco rock with a delightful call-and-response refrain.

There's a gear change in softer songs such as Calling Me, proving that hi-energy is not their only setting and, the maturity of the vocal on The Sound gives the lie to doubters of the band's breakout pop-funk smash House of Jealous Lovers.

The party line is that The Rapture are having way too much fun to care whether or not they're cool.

Listening to the hip sounds on this record, it's hard to believe that it's a by-product of the in-studio hilarity that their press speaks of.

But it's not important. They are cool and when their music is this much fun, who cares if it's studied?