Basement Jaxx
Rooty (Astralwerks)
by Marc Hirsh

originally published in Space City Rock, Fall 2002

I do not profess to know the slightest thing about house music, although I've been desperately trying to learn about it and its many electronic cousins in the past few years. Part of that self-education process involved Basement Jaxx's "Red Alert" (from 1999's Remedy), the ubiquity of which in commercials and such would have deeply engrained it in my psyche whether I wanted it or not. Contented with that song's machine-induced funk, I gravitated towards Rooty as the make-it-or-break-it album for my appreciation for the genre.

And still I wait for something to be made or broken. It's a good thing I liked "Red Alert," because to an untrained ear, Basement Jaxx's latest chucks out a number of variations on it. The main difference, so far as I can tell, is that the appeals to throwdown partying are more typically implicit in the music, with the lyrics tending to favor sex and love (not necessarily in that order). That should be a good sign, and indeed, "Romeo" is mighty propulsive, kicking off an album that'll unquestionably get the joint jumping, while "Get Me Off" is the sound of fucking to a beat with an intensity not heard anywhere near the mainstream since Garbage's "Number One Crush." From the perspective of someone without the background, though, only "Broken Dreams" stands out, partly due to its pop song structure and partly due to its having hooks, not just jabs. I don't mind it in the least when it's on, but Rooty neither draws me into the waiting arms of the kingdom nor sends me back, defeated, from whence I came; instead, it leaves me right where I was, confused but curious.

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