Basement Jaxx

Basement Jaxx is a British duo consisting of two producers and DJs – Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe. Due to the unique sound which the critics once called “punk garage” (a combination of reggae, rap, disco and funk), the project became popular both in their home country, England, and outside. The road to success started in far 1994 when Buxton and Ratcliffe were holding illegal parties in Brixton, wishing to revive the genuine spirit of Chicago house music, and later arranged a recording studio Basement Jaxx Records in Ratcliffe’s bedroom where lots of things have been recorded, including the club classics Fly Life and Samba Magic, which later became the anthem of Ibiza. In 1998 the tandem signed a contract with the leading dance label XL Recordings (home to The Prodigy). Later the single Red Alert was released, which was positively accepted by the critics and for a long time have been being aired by different radio stations of the UK and the USA. The following work of the musicians was as successful, as the previous one – the single called Rendez-Vu, released in support of their debut album Remedy (1999), reached number 4 in the UK Chart. Since then Buxton’s and Ratcliffe’s faces could be seen on almost every music and style magazine cover and many experts were naming them as the saviours of dance music.

After the release of b-sides and remixes called Jaxx Unreleased, the musicians recorded Rooty (2001), the sound of which represented a unique and charming whirlpool of genres: classic house is spiced with generous servings of punk, funk, R&B, jazz, hip-hop and 2-step garage. Besides, the disc included Where’s Your Head At? – perhaps, the most famous Basement Jaxx song, which in many respects has brought fame to the duo owing to its inclusion into the Lara Croft: Tomb Raider movie OST. The world’s biggest dance music and clubbing magazine Mixmag has praised the video for the song as the best dance music video ever made. In 2003 a new disc Kish Kash was released, which included contributions from Lisa Kekaula (of The Bellrays), Dizzee Rascal, former ‘N Sync member JC Chasez and the eminent British postpunk figure Siouxsie Sioux (Siouxsie and The Banshees) whose work has had an outstanding influence on the gothic music development. Good Luck, the album’s single, was used as a theme for BBC’s Euro 2004 coverage, and was included into the original soundtracks to Just Married movie and anime cartoon Appleseed. Despite the controversial critical reviews, the album was a commercial success and won Buxton and Ratcliffe the Best Electronic/Dance Album award at the 47th Grammy awards.

Three years later, after the release of Kish Kash, the world saw Crazy Itch Radio – another genre experiment of the DJs. Here you could find voice parts, rap, rock’n’roll, electronic and symphonic music. While listening to the album, you won’t be able to escape the feeling of a radio station broadcasting music of all genres and styles – here you can find disco (Hush Boy), Gipsy motives (Hey You), and house music with banjo and balalaika (Take Me Back To Your House). The latest studio work of the electronic DJs is Scars (2009). As usual, numerous musicians contributed to recording of the disc, one of which was John Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono. The album is yet another dance music outburst, and after its release the artists promised to change their traditional direction – today they work at the new material which will be a peaceful, ambient sound with more of the Pink Floyd musical atmosphere.