Calgary Herald (10.24.03)

CD of the week

Basement Jaxx

Kish Kash (XL)

Rating: 2 1/2 out of four

Remedy (1999) and Rooty (2001) were released in a climate when dance music was sliding down a slippery slope from its apex, yet Basement Jaxx still managed to rip up dance floors everywhere.

Kish Kash comes at a time when dance has gone the way of disco and, while the duo of Simon Ratcliffe and Felix Buxton haven't changed their fusion formula much, there's some decent tracks here.

Good Luck with Lisa Kekaula from the Bellrays is a cool house, funk-electro track reminiscent of Bran Van 3000's Astounded with Curtis Mayfield. And Supersonic with Totlyn Jackson has an uplifting, rubber-band horn loop that is infectious from first play.

Elsewhere, 'N Sync's JC Chasez lends his vocals to the boring Plug It In and Siouxsie Sioux sings on the electropunk Cish Cash, where she rhymes it with "mish-mash," "kish-kash," and "spish-splash," but, unfortunately not Montgomery Burns' "pish-pash."

-- Nick Lewis