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Crazy Itch Radio
Smashed up in a jam-packed stew, Basement Jaxx's Crazy Itch Radio is an extravagant lesson in musical jollies. Rippling with R&B, kitchen-sink funk, and a litany of resourceful MCs, it's a concept record with a boy-meets-girl storyline that exists mostly as a prop for Simon Ratcliffe and Felix Burton's manic inventiveness. On Jaxx records like Rooty and even 2003's Kish Kash, house masterminds Masters at Work and Green Velvet were the most often-mentioned reference points, but Radio blows out the kind of easy genre-hopping more associated with Prince, along with a Parliament/Funkadelic-style theatricality. Despite how much is going on, the whole thing sounds impeccably smooth, even when Ratcliffe and Burton decide to toss a banjo into "Take Me Back to Your House," or flirt with ballads on "Lights Go Down" and "Keep Keep On." The record lacks a dance floor jam like their breakthrough "Rendez-Vu" or Rooty's "Where's Your Head At" (though "Everybody" comes close), and the finale "U R On My Mind" wanders aimlessly. But wild ingenuity and the desire to stretch are qualities that threaten to keep Basement Jaxx relevant well into the next decade. --Matthew Cooke
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Tracks| 1 | Intro | | 2 | Hush Boy | | 3 | Zoomalude | | 4 | Take Me Back To Your House | | 5 | Hey U | | 6 | On The Train | | 7 | Run 4 Cover | | 8 | Skillalude | | 9 | Smoke Bubbles | | 10 | Lights Go Down | | 11 | Intro (Reprise) | | 12 | Everybody | | 13 | Keep Keep On | | 14 | U R On My Mind |
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