So the Jaxx are back, and where their heads are at right now seems to be a somewhat less sunny place than the house-humping bootylicious glories of debut Remedy and the mercury-nominated Rooty.
The Brixton duo’s third album retains their mish-mashing of styles approach to dance music, evidenced by collaborations with the likes of Dizzee Rascal, Siouxsie Sioux and N.Sync’s J.C. Chasez, but there’s nothing on Kish Kash as immediately loveable or attention grabbing as ‘Romeo’ or ‘Where’s Your Head At?’ Instead they’ve added even extra diversity and depth to their sound, forging an album that might not always be easy-listening or ass-shaking but certainly keeps you interested from start to finish.
But have they gotten all serious at the expense of the Brazilizan-carnival style fun of old? The trademark Spanish guitar motifs are still there, though it’s definitely more of a downbeat, urban sound, but there’s still plenty of stuff on here that’ll make you want to dance like a loon.
‘Plug It In’ sounds like a more metallic version of The Neptunes and highlights their edgy pop-nous (an ominous vocoder vocal asking “Ever tried to live without the make-up?”), while ‘Right Here’s The Spot’ motors along in a similar if somewhat groovier vein.
The album opens with a surprising bang on ‘Good Luck’, featuring Lisa from The Bellrays. But rather than the crunching garage rocker we might have expected, it’s a classy, string-driven stomper with a chorus that could take your head off (“Good luck in your new bed son/Enjoy your nightmares”).
There’s the mad New Orleans blues swamp of ‘Supersonic’ (“Give me dance, give me funk, give me fury, give me some more”), and the cool post-rock guitar and mariachi singing of ‘Living Room’. The London garage with Bhangra melodies of ‘Lucky Star’ featuring that man Dizzee might not be as good as one would hope, but still packs plenty of punch, while the production is as brim full of sonic debris as ever, with plenty of big nasty slabs of distorted bass and synths.
‘If I Ever Recover’ and the album’s closer showcase the slower, more emotive side of the album which doesn’t quite hit the mark, but the title track shows that Siouxsie can still show the likes of Peaches a thing or two about how to croon cruelly over an electro-clash backing (“You want it/You take it/You take it/You got it!”).
Having revitalised and redrawn the boundaries of house music with their previous offerings, the schizophrenic “cat amongst the pigeon-holes” stance of Kish Kash will probably have the dance purists scoffing once more, but when the results are this exhilarating, who cares?
It might not reach the giggling, giddy heights of before, but Kish Kash is nonetheless a satisfying head-and-booty shaking challenge, and definitely one of the best dance albums of the year.