Remedy

And the Music Keeps On Playing
by: bryan ochalla

Sometimes you just want an album full of songs that make you shake your ass.

If that describes your situation, you may as well go out and buy the Basement Jaxx album, Remedy.

While no one will claim Basement Jaxx is of the same deep and heady caliber as fellow dance-oriented artist Moby, the songs on Remedy more than make up for a lack in depth with an adrenaline shot of fun and excitement. Acclaimed as one of the best dance albums of 1999, Remedy succeeds most of all in avoiding the monotony of many dance albums through the use of various guest vocalists, samples and interesting instrumentation.

Each song is unique and of similarly high quality - almost all the tracks could stand out on their own. "Rendez-Vu," the album's opener, is a definite floor thumper, using a computerized voice not unlike that used by Cher and Eiffel 65 in their recent world-wide smash singles. "Yo-Yo" and "Same Old Show" are fun dub-like numbers, with the former utilizing yet another computerized vocal to form it's mind-altering hook and the later featuring what appears to be a call-out to an ancient Donna Summers song with its droning orgasmic moans.

"U Can't Stop Me" is one of the album's few down-tempo tracks, taking on a slinky vocal and jazzy instrumentation. "Jump N' Shout" moves at a lightning quick pace made even more insane by the Jamaican-like chant that winds its way through the tribal background. Other stand outs include "Red Alert" (which reached number one on the dance charts) and "Bingo Bango," with its interesting Latin-flavored production and dub-like sampling.

The only remotely negative aspects of Remedy are the last two or three tracks, which don't seem to live up to the quality shown at the beginning. This may, however, simply be due to the fact that this reviewer was up shaking his booty during the rest of the album and was simply too worn out to fully appreciate the climax at the end.