"Basement Jaxx" brings more than hype to Saturday gig

Believe the hype. Basement Jaxx aren't a construction of savvy music journalists and sly record industry insiders. They are the new sound of dance music: a diverse and inventive transcendence of traditional genre constraints.

Their recently-released debut album, "Remedy," just may cure mainstream America's ill feelings towards creative dance music. The songs aren't pompous or pretentious. The sound isn't alien or inhuman. And above all, they don't cater to the lowest common denominator of intelligence.

Important music publications in America and Britain began proclaiming Basement Jaxx's genius as early as March 1999, long before "Remedy" even hit the streets. The Jaxx - Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe - were the talk of the Winter Music Conference and managed to grace the cover of not one but three British electronic music magazines in the month of April. To call their debut album highly anticipated would be an understatement.

When Basement Jaxx bring their unique DJ show to Motor Detroit, Detroit's trendiest club for electronic music hipsters, for this Saturday's 9 p.m. gig, the South London pair promises to dismiss the excessive hype and prove why they've been hailed as the new sound of dance music.

So why all the hype, and what exactly is the new sound of dance music?

Actually, the best way to define the new dance sound of Basement Jaxx is to talk about what it isn't. Their music can't be summed up as simply house, techno, electro, garage, rock, salsa, disco, trip-hop or electronica even though every single one of these sounds make it onto their album.

Yet even with such an eclectic grouping of sounds and styles, Basement Jaxx's music possesses a unique signature sound. Rooted and influenced by American house music, the sound of the Jaxx refuses to conform to the traditional formula for house music - essentially a high-tech, modernized version of disco.

Instead, Basement Jaxx retain the essential qualities of house music: a celebratory tone, accelerated pacing, thumping basslines and a heavy sampling of acoustic instrumentation. Then they discard all the tired qualities that have characterized the genre as stagnant such as simple structure, samples of wailing divas, overused sounds and monotony.

This is the foundation of their house, onto which they build thick walls of sampled instruments, strange electronic sounds and an almost non-stop barrage of human vocals. The songs last no longer than five or six minutes and continually fluctuate their structure and pacing, never straying far from their booty shaking ideals.

Basement Jaxx have received so much attention and support from the electronic music world because they're the first artists to re-engineer the most mind-numbingly danceable form of dance music. Not since the early 1980's when a few DJs in Chicago began hot-rodding disco with their drum machines, synthesizers and samplers - eventually pioneering what was soon to be known as house music - has anyone transcended the genre's traditional sound.

While it is true that Daft Punk and Armand Van Helden have produced some massively popular, quality house music in the past few years, none of them have done much in the way of innovation. Basement Jaxx's "Remedy" pushes the boundaries of house, much like Goldie's "Timeless" redefined jungle and Plastikman's "Sheet One" changed the sound of techno.

Not simply a collection of club tracks assembled over the years, "Remedy" functions as an album in the tradition of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" or "Dark Side of the Moon." No two songs sound alike yet each share a consistent motif or theme found within not only the music but also the lyrics.

And speaking of lyrics, this could possibly be the first electronic music album to actually warrant a lyric sheet. This one transcribes the catchy verses and choruses sung by an ensemble chorus of various men and women, ranging in style from ragga-reggae to seductive vamp. The lyrics remain positive throughout, focusing on themes of love, celebration and a deep passion for music.

For example, "Same Old Show" features a sampled call-and-response rapper chanting "Let me hear you say uptown!," followed by an orgasmic female moan in response. The funk revival dance floor scorcher "Red Alert" centers around the soulful diva chorus: "The music keeps on playing on and on."

A seductive femme fatale murmurs "I am happy/ I am sad/ I can be most anything/ I'm a sexy motherfucker" throughout "U Can't Stop Me" while yet another feminine companion appears every so often to whisper the chorus and whimper an occasional "I want it all." As these women strut their egos over a fat grooving bass beat, a husky male voice exclaims a James Brown-like "Ya!" over and over in the distance.

The magnificent ambition of the fifteen songs on "Remedy" may transport the sound of Basement Jaxx into the bedrooms and car stereos of America, but before they became dance culture darlings their legendary club residence in South London earned them their first fame several years ago. An eclectic crowd assembled there regularly for the equally diverse blend of sounds spun by the Jaxx.

What differentiated Basement Jaxx from their numerous peers was their desire to break away from traditional DJ techniques. Instead of mixing the latest records with recognized classics, they dropped forgotten anthems onto their turntables along with a heavy amount of their own exclusive records. These acetates - personally produced and manufactured records - gave them a sound no DJ could emulate.

Eventually Buxton and Ratcliffe founded their own personal record label, Atlantic Jaxx Records, and began releasing their own music to a public hungry for their sound. The first release was "Basement Jaxx EP 1," followed by several others. Soon the Basement Jaxx records began getting a lot of attention, eventually becoming huge club anthems around the world.

Two tracks in particular, "Samba Magic" and "Fly Life," became successful enough that a few record labels began pursuing the sounds of Basement Jaxx. Eventually, the Jaxx decided to sign with XL in Britain (home of Prodigy and Roni Size) and Astralwerks in America (home of Chemical Brothers and Fatboy Slim).

Earlier this year, after much speculation and promise, the first songs from their album-in-progress leaked to the media: "Red Alert," "Yo-Yo," "Rendez-Vu" and "Jump 'n Shout." The mob of music publications then had a field day trying to describe the sound of Basement Jaxx with silly terms such as "punk garage" and "The Genre Formerly Known as House."

It was at this time that respected music journalist Simon Reynolds wrote in "The Village Voice" that "Remedy" "looks set to do for house what Reprazent's 'New Forms' did for jungle in '97 - explode the genre's parameters, and grab the ear of the wider world beyond."

Other publications then followed Reynolds' lead, with "Muzik" proclaiming them "The band about to change the face of British dance music with the best house album ever" and "The Face" writing that "They've made the most universally acceptable, innovative album of the year, turning 'dance' into soul."

Now that "Remedy" has hit the streets of America, the public doesn't have to take the media's advice and can experience the new sound of dance music for themselves. And then for those who still don't believe the hype, this Saturday's special performance at Motor Detroit promises to not only destroy your perception of house music but also your perception of how it's spun by a DJ.

See JAXX, Page 16B

09-23-99