Paul MacInnes 

Basement Jaxx: Junto review – dance-pop innovators’s decent return

Junto shows small hints of the Jaxx's skill as producers, but a desire to show range has a diluting effect, writes Paul MacInnes
  
  

Basement Jaxx
No standout track … Basement Jaxx Photograph: .

The 90s are back and so are Basement Jaxx, whose Brixton parties in the latter half of that decade showcased a fusion of house and carnival music that injected a bit of sunshine and pop sensibility into dance culture. Nowadays shiny, poppy house music is in almost permanent residence at the top of the charts, and with their first album in five years Jaxx are reminding Duke Dumont, Clean Bandit et al what they brought to the table. There may not be a standout track here – a Romeo or a Red Alert – and the desire to show their range (almost every track fuses a different style, from dancehall to trap or tropicalia) dilutes the effect of the whole. In each song, though, there'll be a small detail that hints at the skill of Simon Ratcliffe and Felix Buxton as producers. From the submerged Chicago-house keys of Sneakin' Toronto to the Daft Punk-ish hook of Summer Dem (featuring the wonderful Scottish brogue of MC Patricia Panther), there's still a party going on in this Basement.

 

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