Album Review: Basement Jaxx ‘Junto’

Basement Jaxx are back with their new album ‘Junto’ released on 22nd August 2014, and the London duo certainly don’t disappoint with their latest offering.

The tribal sounding intro excites the listener for what they can expect throughout the rest of the album. The second track on ‘Junto’ is upbeat, carnival beat track ‘Power To The People’ with the title lyrics blasting out triumphantly at the chorus from singer Niara. ‘Unicorn’ has all the sounds of late 90s House with the female vocal singing a high-pitched melody over the solid 4-step beat, as muted synths whomp-whomp beneath – making it a soon-to-be club stomper – despite the slightly dubious lyrics including: “Ride like unicorns, just be free.” However, it’s got that trademark Basement Jaxx humour to it that we’ve all come to know and love. Track four ‘Never Say Never’ again visits a 90s theme of stomping piano chords, but this time male vocals ride throughout the track.

‘We Are Not Alone’ is a cheerful upbeat number with swinging vocals over digital steel pans and waltzing strings, calming things down a bit and moving away from the previous nod to the 90s. The crescendo comes in their signature style as the layers all mount up and loop around and around until the bridge, when everything gets stripped right back before building back up, demonstrating their production prowess.

Standout tracks on the album include the aforementioned ‘We Are Not Alone’, ‘What’s The News’ and Funk jam ‘Summer Dem’ which presents a truly London sound, despite the vocals coming from Scottish rapper Patricia Panther.

Basement Jaxx’s Simon Ratcliffe and Felix Buxton were adamant that ‘Junto’, which means together in Spanish, this album would bring people together and give them something positive and uplifting, and we can solidly say – ‘Junto’ does just that.

By Hannah Shakir

Check out the video for Basement Jaxx’s ‘Never Say Never’, there are twerking robots. No, seriously