Basement Jaxx

This follow-up to Remedy from this Brixton duo has more in common with music of Missy Elliot than any of Basement Jaxx's house peers. The duo of Simon Ratcliffe and Felix Buxton are one of the few to truly put the freaky back into their genre's funk. Rooty shows them taking the beat hybrid nature and sound system vocals of Remedy into crazier domains. The tempo is predominantly house, but the attitude is an absolute mayhem of sounds: growling bass, distorted vocals and the duo's characteristically cheap, synth-shrieking keyboard solos. Studio chaos is nothing new for the duo, except that the lyrics here suggest that the tension is more sexual than musical. The grinding anxieties of "Get Me Off" soundtrack many a bathroom rendezvous, while the electro-funk obsessions of "Crazy Girl" backs Buxton's vocals in one of the best tributes to Dirty Mind-era Prince. For all the playful hedonism of Rooty, the album could still use some of the more soulful moments of Remedy. "Jus 1 Kiss" is about as close as we get, but like most of the other tracks, its form shows the Jaxx getting more and more into a pop style of songwriting, which is not to say that they're any less experimental. The short and snappy tracks may clock the disc under 45 minutes, but it cooks some of the sharpest edits this side of Timbaland.