Basement Jaxx: Rooty

Rooty, Basement Jaxx's second album, takes its name from an underground club that the dance-music duo founded in its none-too-prosperous London district of Brixton. That goes a long way toward explaining the instant appeal of Basement Jaxx's music. Dissatisfied with both the music and the environment around them, Simon Ratcliffe and Felix Buxton recognized that much of dance music's appeal comes from the promise of escape; if the beat is propulsive enough, it's hard to keep troubles in mind. Both here and on its full-length 1999 debut Remedy, Basement Jaxx traffics in some of the most shamelessly insistent and inventive beats around. Steeped in house music and its manifold variations, the duo throws anything into the mix that works, from the salsa guitar of Remedy's "Rendez-Vu" to the space-age funk that dominates Rooty. The funny ape on Rooty's cover provides one indication of the album's intentions to entertain at all costs, deflating any attempts to take it too seriously; the streak of purple to the ape's side provides another. Even apart from its distorted vocals, "SFM" (short for "sexy feline machine") betrays its debt to Prince, even if its machine-gun-rapid, Aphex Twin-like percussion breaks prove that it's no mere throwback. But Prince's horny adventurism informs the entire project, even when it comes accompanied by the weird organ and high-pitched pings of "I Want U," or the twisted rhythms of "All I Know." That anything-goes spirit, and Ratcliffe and Buxton's tendency to pare their tracks down to pop-song length, are bound to make purists flinch. Still, purists rarely create exciting new music. Basement Jaxx makes dance music for everyone else.