Rating: NNNNN
Named after the Brixton duo’s roving Rooty sound system, Basement Jaxx’s sophomore disc sounds like the kind of slamming club record that was road-tested for maximum thump before being committed to tape. More straight-ahead than their Remedy debut — with the emphasis on neck-snapping rather than memorable songs — Rooty is dance-floor fluff of the most sophisticated kind, ramming everything from house and two-step to steel drums and riff rock into the tight grooves. Hands-in-the-air cuts like Romeo and Jus 1 Kiss are built around steamroller grooves and are the polar opposite of delightfully messed-up tracks like the herky-jerky Breakaway and Do Your Thing, driven by a Tijuana Brass-style swing. The effect is the same for both, though. The most blatant, good-time summer record you could ask for.
