Simon Ratcliffe and Felix Buxton have mastered the trick of having an instantly identifiable sound, while still being free enough to push boundaries and experiment.
'Kish Kash' is by far their most produced, but still expressively raw, Basement Jaxx outing to date. Around the beats is a huge array of electronically sourced music, with bleeps, noises, vocal snatches and instrumental lines, such as harmonicas, guitars and keyboard squeals, circulating in quadraphonic sound.
Always astonishingly aware of what's going on around them, Simon and Felix have looked backwards as well as forwards for their collaborators. Meshell Ndegeocello first began to get serious plaudits in the early 90s and has since remained a constant, but specialist choice, making her a surprising but welcome collaborator on the Prince P-Funk meets King Britt of 'Right Here's The Spot' and 'Feels Like Home'.
The presence of label mate Dizzee Rascal for the first single, 'Lucky Star', is more expected, although the Asian scales, layered over trademark thunderous house meet garage beats are undeniably fresh and exhilarating. The deafeningly superb 'Supersonic', featuring Totlyn Jackson, is so rammed with effects, samples and incidental instrumentation it almost collapses under its own weight, before stumbling, spitting angrily, towards its end. The equally truculent 'Plug It In' features the unlikely squealing guest appearance of former N*Sync member JC Chasez.
The closest the album comes to the terrace anthem attitude of 'Where's Your Head At' is the deep dub step punk of the Siouxsie Sioux sung 'Cish Cash', which even includes a lyric about the world spinning round - something rarely heard since the 1980s.
'Tonight', which features Phoebe on vocals, is a scarily screwed-up tango, that builds from Spanish guitar to tightly controlled percussive chaos, while 'Hot And Cold' is the kind of thing that makes you wish that all pop music could be this good. It even contains musical jokes. Talking of which, 'Living Room' could almost be Tenpole Tudor. Finally, the opening track, 'Good Luck' featuring Lisa Kekula from LA rock and soul act the Bellrays, must have been a contender for debut single.
Three albums in and Basement Jaxx are still so far ahead of the pack that they're a barely visible dust cloud on the horizon.
by Ben Osborne