Basement Jaxx
Basement Jaxx |
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Basement Jaxx are a critically acclaimed UK electronica duo, comprising Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe, that rose to popularity in the late 1990s.
History
Basement Jaxx started in Brixton, South London in 1994, where they held a regular club night called Rooty, the namesake of their second artist album.
In 1999, the group released their first full length album, Remedy to wide acclaim. Remedy includes the single "Red Alert", which was featured in the film Bend It Like Beckham and commercials including Nickelodeon and Coca-Cola. Other singles on this album were "Jump N' Shout", "Bingo Bango" and "Rendez Vu", which is Basement Jaxx's highest UK chart entry to date at number 4.[1] Basement Jaxx also released Jaxx Unreleased, a compilation of b-sides, remixes and other assorted material, in 1999.
Their next full length album, 2001's Rooty included singles "Romeo", "Jus 1 Kiss", "Where's Your Head At?", "Do Your Thing" and "Get Me Off". The music video for album opener "Romeo" is a parody of the Bollywood film style. "Where's Your Head At?" became a huge international hit in 2002, due in large part to its inclusion on the Tomb Raider soundtrack, and is perhaps Basement Jaxx's best known song, with a video praised by Mixmag as the best dance music video ever made. Xxtra Cutz was released shortly after Rooty, containing b-sides from this album's singles.
2003 brought Basement Jaxx's third full length album, Kish Kash, which included contributions from Lisa Kekaula (of the Bellrays), Me'shell Ndegeocello, grime MC Dizzee Rascal, Totlyn Jackson, JC Chasez, Siouxsie Sioux (of Siouxsie & the Banshees), and Phoebe. From this album, the tracks "Lucky Star", "Good Luck", and "Plug It In" were released as singles. The track "Good Luck" was re-released in 2004, after exposure from being the theme to BBC's Euro 2004 coverage, and was also featured in the soundtrack of Just Married and Appleseed, an anime film released in 2004. Kish Kash was recognized the following year at the 47th Grammy awards, winning Buxton and Ratcliffe the inaugural Best Electronic/Dance Album award.
In 2005, the duo released the #1 compilation The Singles along with a video collection on DVD, comprising of all the singles from their previous three albums, some earlier releases (featured on Atlantic Jaxx Recordings: A Compilation), and two new tracks, "Oh My Gosh" and "U Don't Know Me", which were both released as singles. The video for "U Don't Know Me" featured a drunken, carousing and violent Queen Elizabeth II lookalike and was banned from daytime rotation on MTV. The Singles (Special Edition) was also released, which contained the original compilation along with a bonus disc entitled Bonus Traxx, containing many previously-unreleased tracks, as well as remixes of existing Basement Jaxx songs. The duo appeared as a headline act on the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury Festival in 2005 when Kylie Minogue was forced to pull out after being diagnosed with cancer. Basement Jaxx played with a live band made up of artists who recorded the album. Drumtech trained Nathan 'Tugg' Curran was on drums for Glastonbury and the tour (2005 to Present).
Their fourth studio album, Crazy Itch Radio, was released on September 4, 2006 in the UK, simultaneously with its first single, "Hush Boy". The album features guest vocals by Martina Bang, Johnny Blaze, Lily Allen on "Lights Go Down", and Robyn. After the release of "Hey U" as a single in March 2007, they will begin work on their fifth album, which may be released on Atlantic Jaxx Recordings.
In addition to their own work, Basement Jaxx have become in-demand remixers. Their more prominent work includes "4 My People" by Missy Elliott, "Like I Love You" by Justin Timberlake and "She Wants to Move" by N.E.R.D.
Sophie Ellis-Bextor has stated she is a fan and would like to collaborate with Basement Jaxx in the future. [2]
The band has shown great interest in getting Grace Jones to add vocals to the new album. They have also recently been in the studio with Cyndi Lauper and Yoko Ono.
The duo were invited to write an exclusive piece of music to accompany a work of art they admired in London's Tate Modern museum. Karel Appel's "Hip, Hip, Hoorah!" ended up being the inspiring work. The work is not available for sale but can be listened to in the gallery or its official site[3].
Discography
Main releases
- Remedy (May 10, 1999)
- Rooty (June 25, 2001)
- Kish Kash (October 20, 2003)
- Crazy Itch Radio (September 4, 2006)
Compilation albums
- Atlantic Jaxx Recordings: A Compilation (November 10, 1997)
- Jaxx Unreleased (February 2, 2000)
- Xxtra Cutz (December 19, 2001)
- Basement Jaxx: The Singles (March 21, 2005)
- Atlantic Jaxx Recordings: A Compilation Vol. 2 (February 27, 2006)
EPs
- EP 1 (1995)
- EP 2 (1995)
- Summer Daze EP (1995)
- EP 3 (1996)
- Sleazycheeks EP (1996)
- Urban Haze (1997)
- Span Thang EP (2001)
- Junction EP (2002)
- Unreleased Mixes (2005)
DVDs
- Basement Jaxx: The Videos (2005)
Official singles
| Year | Single | Chart peak positions | Album | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK | IRL | U.S. Dance [4] | AUS [5] | NL [6] | FIN [7] | NZ[8] | |||||||
| 1994 | "Star/Buddy" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Single only | ||||
| 1996 | "Samba Magic" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Atlantic Jaxx Recordings: A Compilation | ||||
| 1997 | "Fly Life" | 19 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||
| 1999 | "Red Alert" | 5 | 22 | 1 | — | 41 | — | — | Remedy | ||||
| "Rendez-Vu" | 4 | 21 | 1 | — | 61 | — | — | ||||||
| "Jump N' Shout" | 12 | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
| 2000 | "Bingo Bango" | 13 | — | 1 | — | 99 | — | — | |||||
| "Romeo" | 6 | 17 | 5 | — | 82 | — | 9 | Rooty | |||||
| 2001 | "Jus 1 Kiss" | 23 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||
| "Where's Your Head At?" | 9 | 19 | 3 | 16 | 63 | — | 38 | ||||||
| 2002 | "Get Me Off" | 22 | — | — | 43 | — | — | — | |||||
| "Do Your Thing" | 32 | — | — | 33 | — | — | — | ||||||
| 2003 | "Lucky Star" | 23 | — | 3 | — | — | — | — | Kish Kash | ||||
| "Good Luck" (feat. Lisa Kekaula) | 12 | 28 | 2 | 22 | 43 | — | — | ||||||
| 2004 | "Plug It In" (feat. JC Chasez) | 22 | — | — | 43 | — | — | — | |||||
| 2005 | "Oh My Gosh" | 8 | 23 | — | 5 | 91 | 4 | — | Basement Jaxx: The Singles | ||||
| 2006 | "U Don't Know Me" (feat. Lisa Kekaula) | 26 | — | — | 4 | — | 12 | — | |||||
| "Hush Boy" | 27 | — | — | 39 | — | — | — | Crazy Itch Radio | |||||
| "Take Me Back To Your House" | 42 | — | — | — | 99 | 10 | — | ||||||
| 2007 | "Hey U" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart. | |||||||||||||
Remixes
- 1995 4th Measure Men - "The Need"
- 1996 Kim English - "Nite Life"
- 1996 The Hope Xperience - "Tree Frog"
- 1996 Lil Mo' Yin Yang - "Reach"
- 1996 Raven Maize - "Forever Together"
- 1996 Transatlantic Soul - "Release Yo'Self"
- 1996 Nikita Warren - "I Need You"
- 1997 Adonis - "Rocking Down the House"
- 1997 Shola Ama - "You Might Need Somebody"
- 1997 B-Crew - "Partay Feeling"
- 1997 Cooly's Hot Box - "We Don't Have to Be Alone"
- 1997 Roy Davis Jr. - "Gabriel"
- 1997 INXS - "Everything"
- 1997 The Heartists - "Belo Horizonti"
- 1997 Da Mob - "Fun"
- 1997 The Narcotic Squad - "Starz"
- 1997 Pet Shop Boys - "A Red Letter Day"
- 1997 Ronnie Richards - "Missing You"
- 1997 Roni Size / Reprazent - "Heroes"
- 2002 Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott - "4 My People"
- 2002 DJ Sneak - "Fix My Sink"
- 2002 Justin Timberlake - "Like I Love You"
- 2002 Afrofiesta - "Venga Chica"
- 2003 Daft Punk - "Phoenix"
- 2003 Monday Michiru - "Cruel to Be Kind"
- 2004 N*E*R*D - "She Wants to Move"
- 2004 Ono - "Everyman... Everywoman..."
- 2005 Daft Punk - "Technologic"
- 2005 Lady Sovereign - "Hoodie"
- 2005 Snake Skin - "Touch on Your Leather"
- 2006 Roy Ayers - "I am Your Mind"
- 2008 Adele - "Cold Shoulder"
See also
- List of Number 1 Dance Hits (United States)
- List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart
External links
- Basement Jaxx on Discogs
- Official website
- Basement Jaxx's Myspace
- Basement Jaxx discography at MusicBrainz
- Basement Jaxx Forums
- Much Ado About Basement Jaxx Interview by Andrez Bergen, 2007
References
- ^ everyHit.com - UK Top 40 Chart Archive, British Singles & Album Charts
- ^ Tv Maniacs Interview met Jose Gonzalez
- ^ Tate | Tate Tracks
- ^ http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/retrieve_chart_history.do?model.vnuArtistId=141849&model.vnuAlbumId=791605
- ^ http://australian-charts.com/search.asp?search=basement+jaxx&cat=s
- ^ http://dutchcharts.nl/search.asp?search=basement+jaxx&cat=s
- ^ http://finnishcharts.com/search.asp?search=basement+jaxx&cat=s
- ^ http://charts.org.nz/search.asp?search=basement+jaxx&cat=s