Kish Kash

Who else can spot the phenomenal vocal oomph of The Bellrays' Lisa Kekaula and transpose them onto a twenty-first century orchestro-disco tub-thumper? Who else can tempt Goth figurehead Siouxsie Sioux out of her lair and into the bleached-white spotlight of 'Cish Cash', the stroppy drama queen sista to 'Where's Your Head At'? Basement Jaxx can and Basement Jaxx do.

Subtitled 'Soul Punx Unite' the Jaxxsters new 'Kish Kash' set continues the hair-raising pace set by 2001's 'Rooty' but, whilst the last album arc-welded carnivalia onto P-funk squelches, 'Kish Kash' is all about the kind of electro-funk workouts that sound like George Clinton playing Space Invaders with Rufus whilst Grace Jones flicks through the Athena catalogue. And if that sounds complicated, that's not the half of it. Take for example, 'Lucky Star', the set's first single and one that features none other than Dizzee Rascal. Dizzee is given room to run rings around a hard-driving backbeat that's woven with Kashmiri markets vibes and an unhinged-sounding female vocal. Let's face it, life don't get much better than this and, with Basement Jaxx in full effect, that's exactly the way it should be.