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Basement Jaxx

 
Artist: Basement Jaxx
See Basement Jaxx Lyrics
  • Formed: 1994, London, England
  • Genres: Electronica
  • Representative Albums: "Remedy," "Rooty," "The Singles"
  • Representative Songs: "Romeo," "Red Alert," "Where's Your Head At"

Biography

The production duo of Simon Ratcliffe and Felix Buxton released several of Britain's most respected and enjoyable progressive house anthems of the '90s and early 2000s from their base in South London. Before they met (at a Thames riverboat party organized by Buxton), Ratcliffe grooved to the deep Latin funk of War and George Duke while Buxton was turned on to Chicago house. The pair formed Atlantic Jaxx Records in 1994 and was undoubtedly honored to count among fans of their first release none other than DJ legend and Basement Jaxx influence Tony Humphries, who played "Da Underground" from the EP on his New York mix show consistently during 1994-1995. For their second release, Ratcliffe and Buxton recruited vocalist Corrina Josephs, who later became practically a member of the team herself.

The 1995 single "Samba Magic" was picked up for distribution by Virgin, and in time, Basement Jaxx was drawing praise from all corners of the American and British house community as one of the top house production units. The pair spent much of 1996 working on remixes (for the Pet Shop Boys, Roger Sanchez, and Lil' Mo' Yin Yang among others), then released a third Basement Jaxx EP. One track from the EP, "Flylife," became a Top 20 hit in England after being re-released by Multiply in mid-1997, and the single proved one of the most popular anthems of the year on the worldwide club scene. Late that year, Ratcliffe and Buxton released a compilation of their most crucial Atlantic Jaxx sides.

After being courted by several major labels, Basement Jaxx signed to the independent XL Recordings (also home to the Prodigy) and readied their debut full-length, Remedy, for a 1999 release. Second album Rooty followed two years later, an outgrowth of the duo's similarly named club night. 2003's Kish Kash and 2006's Crazy Itch Radio followed, while Singles was a well-timed stopgap release between the two albums. The duo's fifth album, Scars, was released in 2009. While virtually everything they released was rooted in house, Ratcliffe and Buxton mutated several styles (R&B, U.K. garage, ragga, Latin jazz, ambient techno) with an unmatched restlessness. They constantly shuffled the deck, all the while collaborating with an endless array of vocalists both known -- from Biz Markie to Siouxsie Sioux -- and unknown. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
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Wikipedia: Basement Jaxx
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Basement Jaxx
File:Basement+Jaxx+BaseJaxx.png
Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe of Basement Jaxx
Background information
Origin London, England
Genres Electronic music
House
Deep house
Tech house
Years active 1994–present
Labels XL Recordings, Astralwerks
Website http://www.basementjaxx.co.uk
Members
Simon Ratcliffe
Felix Buxton
Vocalists: Vula Malinga, Sam Sparro

Basement Jaxx are a UK house music duo. The duo consists of Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe. They first rose to popularity in the late 1990s.

Contents

History

Basement Jaxx started in Brixton, South London in 1994, where they held a regular night club 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 an homage to the Bollywood film style. "Where's Your Head At?" became a huge international hit in 2002, also known for 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 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.[citation needed] 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 Dragonette frontwoman Martina Sorbara (credited as "Martina Bang"), Lily Allen 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 2006 Basement Jaxx were also one of the support acts for Robbie Williams on his 'Close Encounters' tour

In addition to their own work, Basement Jaxx have become in-demand remixers. Their more prominent work includes "4 My People" by Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott, "Like I Love You" by Justin Timberlake and "She Wants to Move" by N*E*R*D. Sophie Ellis-Bextor, as well as Garold Marks, have stated they are fans and would like to collaborate with Basement Jaxx in the future.[2]

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]. In 2007, their track "Close Your Eyes" was featured in the Japanese CGI anime movie, Vexille.

On spring 2009, Buxton revealed in a BBC Radio 1 broadcast that Basement Jaxx's forthcoming album Scars was completed and being mastered. Buxton stated that the tracks include guest appearances by Yoko Ono, Santigold, Lightspeed Champion and Yo! Majesty.[4] The band was also interested in getting Grace Jones to add vocals to the new album.[5] The album was released in September 2009.[6] The first single "Raindrops" preceded in June 2009. According to Portvaleonline, Basement Jaxx are behind a bid to invest in Port Vale Football Club.

Discography

Studio albums

Compilation albums

See also

References

External links


 
 

 

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