Rooty: Basement Jaxx: Amazon.ca: Music

1. Romeo

2. Breakaway

3. SFM

4. Kissalude

5. Jus 1 Kiss

6. Broken Dreams

7. I Want U

8. Get Me Off

9. Where's Your Head At

10. Freakalude

11. Crazy Girl

12. Do Your Thing

13. All I Know

Product Description

From Amazon.com

Since Simon Radcliffe and Felix Burton of Basement Jaxx released the unbelievable Remedy in 1999, house music has experienced a slight identity crisis. But even as trance and Fatboy Slim-style big beat saturate the dance floor, the primal, funky soul of true house that the Jaxx duo know and love clearly reverberates beneath it all. With Rooty, Radcliffe and Burton finish the job they started on Remedy by listening to their instincts, stripping away the gloss, taking some creative risks, and coming up with some of the rawest grooves in recent memory. The first track and single "Romeo" doesn't waste any time, parlaying an irresistible hook and a relentlessly up vibe into the most danceable three and a half minutes of 2001. Frankie Knuckles-era Chicago house and War's deep Latin funk are audible throughout, along with an adventurous production sense; "SFM" packs in a wild kaleidoscope of howls and cross-rhythms while slinking along and rubbing itself on the furniture like a cat in heat. Still, given the level of creative license at work here, the record sometimes misses the mark. Songs like "I Want U" reach for progressive funk, but forget the low bass end that can give a silly, airy song some gravity. But more often that not, the band's decision to eschew beats in favor of dirtier, sexier means of rhythmic expressions pays off. Witness the fat bass line at work in "Get Me Off," as a breathy tease of a lead vocal turns into an outright come-on. Somehow both relentlessly modern and a throwback to simpler, funkier times, Rooty is an effective way to jog the memory should you have forgotten the egg that came before the trance chicken. --Matthew Cooke

Album Description

Japan only strictly limited edition 2 CD set of the 'Jaxx second full length record includes a bonus 2 track CD consisting of two exclusive remixes of their first single 'Romeo', (Tokyo Garage Mix by Shinichi Osawa/Mondo Grosso)' & (Tokyo Garage Radio Mix by Shinichi Osawa/Mondo Grosso). 15 tracks in all.

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Customer Reviews

90 Reviews

5 star:		(43)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(6)

Average Customer Review

4.1 out of 5 stars (90 customer reviews)

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Most helpful customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars they do their thing better than many, July 15 2004

By

B (houston, tx) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rooty (Audio CD)

I saw a song from Remedy in a coke commercial a few years ago and ever since then I've been exploring all the possibilities in electronic music, from Daft Punk to Autechre to Roni Size to whatever. Basement Jaxx always amazes me because they manage to pull so much totally bizarre wackiness into a generally tight and cohesive whole. I mean come on, there are moans and screams and random spoken vocal bits and sirens and funky guitar riffs and it all works. How (...) do they do that? Remedy was cool, just because it was barely more creative than anything else at the time, but Rooty defies expectations by delivering a sound that's not just a skewed take on techno but a totally developed sound in itself.

Most of the songs are good, but like the Amazon review said, sometimes they forget the low end and end up with stuff that sounds weird but doesn't make you want to move your feet. The album races through a LOT of variety, especially with the south of the border flair of broken dreams, the gospel energy and the mind altering spasms of SFM and Crazy Girl. The songs are a lot shorter than they were on Remedy, leaving the album pretty short but massively effective. The only remotely weak link would be I Want U, but it is not bad enough to skip most of the time. (Oh yeah, I must be the only Basement Jaxx fan in the entire world who finds Where's Your Head At pretty annoying). Even the chilled closer, All I Know, is well done.

Besides being assertively unique and having unprecedented diversity, Rooty is one of the most accessible innovations of its kind. If you look at much of the material from a musician's point of view, there is still a lot going on from the aspect of chords and rhythms and integrity to the plethora of genres. Most marginal or good dance producers have only a rudimentary understanding of music, but Basement Jaxx does more than dress up crapy material in wild studio sheen. This is good stuff, even though it can get so silly that it's actually corny.

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3.0 out of 5 stars It doesn't quite "Get Me Off"., July 5 2004

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H3@+h "Over 1500 reviews!" (thanks for the helpful review votes) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Rooty (Audio CD)

To be honest, after all I heard about "Rooty", I expected a bit more. It's not bad, just not excellent. "Romeo" is a good start. "Where's Your Head At" is definitely the high point of the disc, and also the most aggressive track. I actually was hoping the rest of it would be more like that. The other tracks are more dance/pop, and most lack a driving beat. It's not that I wanted something like "Lords Of Acid" or "Ministry", but something similar to "Junior Senior" or "Daft Punk", which this may be, but not as good. So again, it's decent, just not that exciting.

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5.0 out of 5 stars The Ultimate Dance Album, Jun 12 2004

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Melting_Pot (Shreveport, LA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rooty (Audio CD)

Now, the only reason I even heard of this album was because I saw the absolutely HILARIOUS music video for 'Where's Your'e Head At' with the monkeys, and I really dug the song, so I found this album. It is the ultimate album of its genre, far superior than any other dance album I have ever heard. My favorite song is 'Whre's Your Head At', but that's just me. If you are planning a party, get this and play it loud. People will thank you.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Prince on acid =).
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5.0 out of 5 stars So much fun!
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Published on Oct 22 2003 by Douglas King