Rooty
Since Simon Radcliffe and Felix Burton of Basement Jaxx released the unbelievableRemedyin 1999, house music has experienced a slight identity crisis. But even as trance andFatboy Slim-style big beat saturate the dance floor, the primal, funky soul of true house that the Jaxx duo know and love clearly reverberates beneath it all. WithRooty, Radcliffe and Burton finish the job they started onRemedyby listening to their instincts, stripping away the gloss, taking some creative risks, and coming up with some of the rawest grooves in recent memory. The first track and single "Romeo" doesn't waste any time, parlaying an irresistible hook and a relentlessly up vibe into the most danceable three and a half minutes of 2001.Frankie Knuckles-era Chicago house andWar's deep Latin funk are audible throughout, along with an adventurous production sense; "SFM" packs in a wild kaleidoscope of howls and cross-rhythms while slinking along and rubbing itself on the furniture like a cat in heat. Still, given the level of creative license at work here, the record sometimes misses the mark. Songs like "I Want U" reach for progressive funk, but forget the low bass end that can give a silly, airy song some gravity. But more often that not, the band's decision to eschew beats in favor of dirtier, sexier means of rhythmic expressions pays off. Witness the fat bass line at work in "Get Me Off," as a breathy tease of a lead vocal turns into an outright come-on. Somehow both relentlessly modern and a throwback to simpler, funkier times,Rootyis an effective way to jog the memory should you have forgotten the egg that came before the trance chicken.--Matthew Cooke