Posted by Budgie at June 27, 2005 05:29 PM

Flashbaxx...

I've never been to the Glastonbury Festival, so my exposure to it over the years has always been via the radio and television.

Normally Glasto weekend is set aside and I become the ultimate couch potato flipping between the radio and the BBC coverage. Its always thrown up some great musical highlights for me, Underworld's 20 minute rollercoaster performance of "Born Slippy" from many years ago and Moloko's mental take on "Sing It Back" from a couple of years ago - complete with Roisin Murphy dressed in a superman style cape - being 2 such genuine musical wonders.

Alas, this year I was in Orkney and didn't get much of a chance to see or hear anything. Last night was the only chance to see any of it and other than the clips of highlights from many of the acts sets, the only band I got to see most of were the Basement Jaxx.

Last years set by them was great, but this one cranked it up several notches.

The thing I love about Basement Jaxx is that they always adapt and are constantly keeping their fingers on the pulse. The best moments of their sets is the sense of spontaneity when it's just Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe going crazy with decks and effects. They mash up and incorporate all sorts of genres and well known songs whilst the singers are off stage getting changed. Last night's rework of Motorhead's "Ace Of Spades" with Lil Louis' "Blackout" was one such highlight. Other highlights were provided by the cover version of Gwen Stefani's current single and the Carnival style finale with them performing a brief latin american cover of Nitro Deluxe's early house hit, "This Brutal House". It was so good Senor Coconut would be proud!

I've been a fan of the Basement Jaxx for nearly 10 years now. From the moment I heard "Flylife", I was hooked. So when I got up this morning I dug out some of my old Basement Jaxx 12"'s and gave them another listen. So, I have picked out 2 of my favourite old Jaxx classics for you...

Track : BASEMENT JAXX - "GET DOWN GET HORNY"

This one had passed me by when it was released as part of their "Sleazycheeks EP" back in 1996. It wasn't until a good few years later that I was blown away by this track when it appeared as part of Derrick May's "Mayday Mix" (I highly recommend it - a breakneck and blistering mix by one of the original Detroit Techno innnovators).

"Get Down Get Horny" wasn't the main track on the EP, it was hiding on the B-side from "Eu Nao" alongside their Ibizan chill out classic, "Stanley". The track starts off simply enough with just a beat and a tiny bit of Corrina Joseph's vocal, but no sooner has it started, it breaks down... Then after a firework sound effect explodes it all kicks off with the beats and some great and dirty funky drums, basslines, plenty of squeeling keyboard noises and some great chimes and strings. It's a hidden gem in the Basement Jaxx back catalogue.

Track : CORRINA JOSEPH - "LONELY"

As much as I love them, the recent Basement Jaxx albums, for me, have been a bit hit and miss. Don't get me wrong, I think they are a great singles band and I recommend their recent CD which rounds up these, but there is one album of theirs that I'd recommend over all their albums and that would be "Atlantic Jaxx".

"Atlantic Jaxx - A Compilation" was an early release compiling the best of their output from their own Atlantic Jaxx record label. You have all the early Basement Jaxx classics on there, like "Flylife", "Samba Magic" and their well known latin house classic "Belo Horizonti" under their guise, The Heartists. But the highlights on the album were the work they produced for artists like Ronnie Richards and Corrina Joseph - who appears on the album with 2 tracks, "Live Your Life With Me" and the track above, "Lonely".

Don't be fooled by the atmospheric start to "Lonely" with Corrina's heartfelt vocals. This track soon blasts out the speakers with broken beats (pre-dating that scene by a good 3 to 4 years) and some killer sub-bass. Even though the song seems at odds with the wild backing, they both compliment each other beautifully. And just listen to that dense Jaxx production. Excellent stuff.

Go Visit : Basement Jaxx

Go Buy : Atlantic Jaxx Recordings - A Compilation
Go Buy : Basement Jaxx - The Singles

Feel free to leave a comment about these tracks in The Pipe section of the forum

Ta,
Budgie