Remedy

Ever been on a shit work night out and stuck in a trendy bar you hate with people you don’t like watching some cunt from another department occasionally stand up and pretend the music is danceable before realising it’s not and sitting down again? The DJ is playing this album. ⭐️⭐️

“Remedy” by Basement Jaxx (1999) Completely unfamiliar with this. Likely to stay that way. This is dancing and drinking music. Electronic ‘sounds’ and four-on-the-floor rhythm machine foundations. Compositionally, this is is an elaborate musical doodle. Some interesting and innovative samples, like “Merengue” on “Bingo Bango”, but I’ve gotta draw a line here: Whose music am I assessing? These sounds (not songs) provide a background for more important things, like looking/smelling good at the club and hoping to get lucky. Lyrics are inconsequential. Two stars for some interesting sonic distractions. Now another shot of Axe and back to cruising for honey. 2/5

In a Rolling Stone interview, one of the members of Basement Jaxx bemoaned the state of dance music, using words like "robotic," "shiny," and "superficial" (among others). I would use all of those words to describe this horribly generic dance album, so I would say that they failed in their quest to transform the genre. They also failed to make house music interesting. Hard pass. Best track: U Can't Stop Me

I’m honestly getting sick of the weird amount of electronica albums I’ve gotten recently. As I listen to each of these, I’ve come to realize why daft punk and fatboy slim have lasted into the 21st century while all of the artists like this one are relics of the 90s at this point. Not as bad as the last album though. Fav song: red alert

I must have my lists mixed up. This is clearly from "1001 albums that will bore you to death befeor you die for real." 1.5/5

I bought this when it came out, at the time house music seemed adventurous and mysterious, but Basement Jaxx gave it a geekier and more accessible edge. I think because Felix wears glasses. There are some duff tracks, but there's just enough intelligence and sophistication here to elevate it above the standard Ibiza floor fillers.

Gay Barf

I can go for a fair amount of EDM but I found this album to be grating and obnoxious. There always seems to be at least one repetitive element in each song that is placed there simply to be so annoying that when they remove it, you get this rush of relief. And the way some things are processed is so over the top it throws off the balance of the mix completely. Absolutely fatiguing. I'd honestly prefer to listen to the more "linear, close minded, shiny, robotic, superficial" electronic music they disparaged in interviews than have to sit through this high contrast carnival ride again.

Just not interesting to listen to. After 30 seconds you know what each song is.

What an album, one of the original acts from what was the birth of the mainstream house scene that we know today. It gives me "Ministry of Sound" vibes well before it was propelled into existence. Best: Rendez-Vu, Stop 4 Love, Worst: N/A Couldn't fault it, a fantastic debut for Basement Jaxx!

I haven't been too thrilled about this one. Progressive house from the late 1990s is far outside my wheelhouse and I've never heard many albums in this style, so it will take a lot of getting used to (and I'm not there yet). I'm struggling to distinguish all the tracks after three listens. That said, it probably didn't help that the first time I heard it was while staying with my parents, punctuated by my mum sweeping in and out and lamenting the noise I'm listening to nowadays. Not too surprisingly, the tracks bearing most of a semblance to songs were the ones that stuck with me- these were generally the singles. "Red Alert" and "Bingo Bango" offer strong hooks, memorable vocals and distinctive sampling- if more of the album had been in this vein, I might have enjoyed it more. Instead there were waves of repetitive four-to-the-floor ("Yo-Yo", "Same Old Show") and a few more daring sonic experiments that seemed like they were designed to show off production technique rather than to inspire a listener to move, or to actually feel something ("Always Be There", "Don't Give Up"). Stretch these two characteristics out over 57 minutes and 12 songs and the overall effect was an album washing over me, moving around me rather than through me. As well as the two highlights mentioned above, I'd also single out the interesting use of acoustic guitar sampling in "Rendez-Vu", along with the smooth melody in "Being With U". I also enjoyed the Latin-influenced percussion in places, brightening up the mellow "Stop 4 Love" and more obviously in "Bingo Bango". Barring that, I really don't think I'll be coming back to this one to listen to without jumping around in a club. I appreciate that if this style of music in general was my bag, I might recognise how it pioneered a movement, everything it influenced, how ahead of its time it may be. But in my very limited view of the genre, "Remedy" does nothing to suggest it's reinventing the wheel or presenting a radical step forward in dance music.

jesus the first half of this is weird. it chills out a bit after that but the first like 5 songs and then a couple afterwards are simultaniously very dated to the late 90s while also being insanely ahead of their time. yo-yo is practically just deconstructed club but with 90s dance. theres ridiculous autotune vocals, sloppy singing about vampires or whatever, and the chorus has some insane glitchy sounds like ?????????? the more normal stuff is super sick too. being with u is super pretty, almost everything here is pretty jammin. the vocals are a little obnoxious on the first track but its mostly good. really cool 90s dance album with a few tracks thatre just kind of insane? Great Music 9/10

I can’t believe this came out in 1999. The distorted vocals on “Rendez-Vu” and “Yo Yo” would be right at home on a hyperpop song today. Way ahead of its time. Mostly house with a little techno. The music is stuffed with manic sampling and beat shifts. It’s got a wild personality but still feels like something that would play on an actual dance floor. Honestly, I would love to hear more crazy stuff like this on dance floors. It’s so inventive and fresh but still has a killer beat. Great album cover too. Highlights: “Rendez-Vu,” “Red Alert”

Remedy I have not thought of Basement Jaxx for a long time. A long time. They were of course really big at the end of the 90s and although I’m by no means a connoisseur of electronic music I never really got into them in the same way as I did with bands like the Chemical Brothers or Daft Punk or even people like Bentley Rhythm Ace or Apollo 440. Rendez-Vu I remember well and is a great bit of, I presume, balearic influenced house music, the spanish guitars giving a nice soft edge. Yo Yo carries on the vocoder vocals but I like the disco/funk bass and the slightly spare groove is great. Jump’n’Shout is a fun bit of ragga house, the synth bass is nice. I really U Can’t Stop Me, the slightly broken rhythm pattern and vague garage feel is pretty cool, again great bass. 4 bangers to start. Never been that keen on Red Alert. Although I can appreciate it’s catchiness, I think it’s the mannerisms of the vocalist that I'm not sure about. Always Be There is fine, if a bit forgettable, it feels like its straining for catchiness but not quite getting there. Same Old Show is good, sampling On My Radio and making a very good slightly dubby house track. Bingo Bango is a bingo banger - always liked this one and is great bit of hook laden house. Stop 4 Love is a nice change of style, a kind of necessary break from some of the four on the floor house, a nice bit of atmospheric electronica. Don’t Give Up is decent, I like the flattened EQ in the more intense sections, but definitely feeling the length of the album now. Being With U I can take or leave, there are some nice little keyboard bits but is a bit underwhelming. I like the disco and funk influence particularly the bass and the overall good time party music vibe, however there is no getting away that it starts to feel a bit samey over the course of the hour, but then I suppose if you are not into guitar based music you could say the same about a lot of albums I like. Having said that they do seem to have front loaded the first half with their better tracks, there is certainly a bit of filler towards the end. Also I do think rhythmic/tempo repetitiveness can start to get a bit samey more quickly than melodic or harmonic repetitiveness, and obviously dance, big beat, house all have broadly similar tempos, so unless its a DJ a mix an hour of sequential dance tracks can drag a bit (as they don’t necessarily lend themselves to the idea of the ‘traditional’ album), even if taken individually many of the tracks are good. Anyway the first half is a great listen and there are some excellent tracks, more than most dance albums have, and also moments throughout, although I’m more likely to pick tracks for a playlist than listen to in its entirety again. Tricky to rate, somewhere between 3 and 4. It’s probably a 3 as an album, but a 4 for them being great at what they do and for making at least 3 or 4 bona fide pop house bangers. I’ll go 4. 💊💊💊💊 Playlist submission: U Can’t Stop Me

Love these guys, so decent and nostalgic too. Straight from first track feels like it's gonna be a 4 or 5 🤙. Red Alert big tune, Bingo Bango too. Halfway through, feels like a 4. Ended up being like a 4.5, some great tunes but just not quite enough for a 5.

Fun album. Some very catchy tunes. Would listen again.

Yo Yo Yo YoYoYoYo Bumtsbumtsbumts. Werd. Repetitive house music isn't my thing but as a 90's kid, the Basement Jaxx were kind of hard to ignore. They were on a lot of the soundtrack of my youth. Though I didn't listen to this specific record, I never liked or disliked them. Listening to this now, it fine. I see it's appeal. But listening to it on a Saturday morning while drinking coffee and playing a game on my cell phone is not exactly the intended venue for this sort of thing. I will say, it gave my sub a workout.

This is the debut album from duo Basement Jaxx, and it was well received critically. This house music album challenged the edm scene at the time by trying different elements in their songs, to break out of the established linear and robotic edm music of the 90's. As a classic house music album, there will be a couple songs for each and everyone to like, but not everyone shares the same tastes for dance music so not all of the songs will be winners. This album may have been overhyped at release, but its music still holds up today as classic house. I enjoyed listening to this album since I would say edm is my favorite genre, and this may be the first house album I've encountered on this list.

Saved Prior: None Off Rip: Rendez-Vu, U Can't Stop Me, Red Alert, Bingo Bango Cutting Edge: None Overall Notes: Good house music. Loved the layers and little sounds that were almost like Easter eggs scattered around the songs. Really rewards multiple listenings. That being said, it's still house music, and comes with all the negatives of that genre. 3.5 rounded down, but still a great example of this kind of music.

Bumpy! Some interesting ideas and benefits from not being super self-conscious and serious. Not a fan of the autotune. Fav track: Same Old Show.

"Hello fellow kids. I heard you like this new music from Skrill-eggs and Dead-Mouse. You should totally check this out!" -Vibes

Music for negotiating premium sex contracts in a Mayfair club is a genre I’ve never followed, but I can respect the craft and hope that this bought some people happiness.

Is this the unreleased album from the guy in 'Peep Show'?

HL: "Rendez-Vu", "U Can't Stop Me", "Stop 4 Love".... maybe "Jump n Shout"? I guess it deserves props for making Daft Punk want to make better music after Homework (Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk proclaimed the album as "better than [theirs]." - Spin Magazine) Inventive and quirky, some of the instrumentals are grating as heck, watched a couple music videos for the singles only to have the strobe-light visuals overwhelm me further. Idk what the take away is, do I need to be on molly to wholeheartedly enjoy this? 2.5 July 11, 2023 (later)

I remember when this album had a moment in culture. Don’t think this was good tho

Almost every song had the same beat. Pretty wild we’ve gotten so many late 90’s electronic albums on here because they all sound so similar which should disqualify them from this list

Reminds me of being 17, but not in a good way - just sounds like everything I had to tolerate on the radio. Could easily be Fatboy Slim or Moby, or any of the other cash-in copyists that followed.

Background music. This kind of album is always hard to review because you're not supposed to be listening to it from the comfort of your home with breakfast in hand. I hated the song with the random moaning woman. What an annoying sample.

Like most EDM-derived music, this album is best judged on the dancefloor instead of my home office. Regardless, the only high point on this album for me was Red Alert, which had a great dirty bass synth and a tremendous beat to drive it. Everything else is really just alright. Nothing terrible, but I don't think I'd ever come back to this album again.

An album and a sound that hasn’t aged well. There are a couple of good tracks on here but it’s far too long, most of it is tedious and the whole album sounds tired and dated now

1.6

The soundtrack to a million pints of Stella in your local All Bar One at the end of the last millennium. Hated it then, but if you offered me the chance to return to 1999, with the condition I had to listen to this shit 1000 more times, I'd bite your hand off. Having to sit through it even once today without any such benefit was borderline impossible. Just dreadful

England, why do you keep hurting me?

Never enjoyed basement jaxx before. This album was some of the worst from them that I've heard. High 1.

When it comes to finding "great" music, I am of the belief that one of two things happens. In scenario A, the album is objectively great and will be great no matter when you encounter it. These are relatively rare and make up the space of canonical classics for each genre. In scenario B, an album crosses your path that is perfect for you at a particular time. These albums are serendipitous gems that resonate with some primed internal condition. I think what separates the two is how the albums hold up across time and repeated listens. And thus, are indistinguishable at first discovery. This album falls into one of the above two categories for me. While it runs a bit long it never feels a chore and is honest fun the whole way through. Production and mixing are top notch throughout. And the variety of sounds keep things nimble and in constant motion. Jump N' Shout is fucking dope. Love the reggatone style vocals mixed with a hopping, endlessly escalating synth line. Just fun as hell and reminds me a bit stylistically of earlier Deadmau5 mixed with Madlib or something. U Can't Stop Me is another fun one. Absolutely loving the R&B vocals and thickness of the bass. Same Old Show is fantastic -- I love the falsetto vocals shining through the rest of the mix. They give it a delightfully off center vibe. Don't Give Up had me fully hooked in. All said, this is a soft 5 for me. I'm not sure if this would always resonate as it did today, but I'm glad I tapped into it when I did.

Remedy is the debut album from Basement Jaxx, which was met with near-universal acclaim. This is a great collection of house tracks - danceable, fun, and inventive songs. House music can be boring, and defaults toward repetitive elements. Basement Jaxx created this work to be a "Remedy" to the linear, robotic norms of early 90s dance music. This album is considered among the best EDM albums ever released. It includes some of the pair's biggest hits, like "Red Alert," and "Rendez-Vu," and a collection of interesting, varied tracks that will get almost anyone up out of their seat.

yall are fucking squares

The bangers are bangers and the fillers are bangers. What an album

I liked this. Chilled out background music or cranked up as dance music. Either way it's brill

Fun, eclectic dance, full with the whoops and whistles, but belying a tuneful soul. I never tire of it.

Classic of electronica...one of my most listened to albums of that era. First half definitely exceeds second, but all a fun listen. 5/5

Cool electronic

Filled to the brim with juicy details, this album fills in the gaps left by many electronic music groups putting way too much faith in thei staying power of their loops. Some groups nail the satisfying loop and create repetitive 5+ minute long songs worth listening to, but Basement Jaxx largely accomplish this satisfaction differently by frequently adding in new elements, and starting off dense to begin with. They're clearly masters of sound production, so many sounds and samples feel so novel. This shit must be so much fun at clubs. Overall, I feel that this has shown me a different approach to club friendly music that retains it's craftsmanship through unique sounds and rewards over a loop rather than a really solid loop. Some songs start off weak here and there, but I felt that all of them build to something with a great, continous, delicious payoff.

Absolutely classic house. I typically prefer more deep house stuff but as far as the more upbeat, dancey side goes this is impeccable. I love the Latin flavor throughout it.

That was so good! I didn’t love every song, but the ones I did were so so groovy! Yea!

Pretty dang cool and exciting house album, def need to revisit

Great album. Brings back memories.

This album is so cunty (positive connotation)

So fun. Just bopping along while working.

First 70-degree day of 2024; working on the chicken coop

Awesome!!

Yeah, this is just end to end fun. Never picked up on The Selecter sample when I was young, just makes me like it even more. It's a 9/10 album, but I'm rounding up cos it makes me smile.

The stuff that came out when you were an adolescent.... that's the purest form of nostalgia. Even if you never actually heard it, it can still put you in that specific emotional world. Everything about 1999 was moody and sexy. IIt must've been a hard time for asexuals, way harder than for gay people. They didn't have marriage yet, but who would want to get married when shit like this was coming out?

All tracks are excellent

one of the coolest ones so far, experimental and interesting and blending of a lot of different sounds

My kinda music.

The rhythm, the tracks, the Basement Jaxx! This album helped get me into electronic music (bought a used CD in 2009 or so and proceeded to wear it out), so I'm biased. But yeah, this whole album is fuckin' popping imho. Particularly Bingo Bango and Rendez-Vu, but every song has its place and its own charm to me. Stop 4 Love, for instance, has an ethereal and experimental quality to it that feels more like something that would've come out a lot closer to the present, or at least come from another artist. The people calling this a generic dance album obviously weren't listening very closely (or quit out of the album early). Anyway, easy 5. It's not Discovery or whatever, but this will always be a classic to me. It's got a couple flaws imo, but I also don't really care about them because I fucking love it. Basement Jaxx have some killer singles that came later, but none of their albums ever beat this one.

Excelente!

I can hear how this influenced Steve Aoki, Guetta, Glitch Mob. This album was a banger. Saved Jump n' Shout, many notable tracks including Red Alert as another stand out. Guess it's a 5!

Top Quality

DANCE

The beats on this are unbelievable. Some of them hit me real hard, and some of them are just so creative, energetic, or out of the left field. Red Alert is an especially great track!

Great to hear this on again!!!

This... is the complete opposite of anything I would typically listen to and yet I was blown away by every second of this album. So raw, so versatile, yet so clean. Exactly what I was aiming for by doing this 1001 Albums thing - to broaden my horizons and this album here did it.

Pacing is perfect in each song and the album. Not even my favourite basement jaxx album, but still pretty great

I like it!

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Nice. I'd only heard most of these songs as remixes from much later. Easy listening house you love to see it.

Banger

Uno de las mejores cosas que he escuchado so far aquí. Para ser del 99 suena al 2022. Glorioso. Un montón de tracks tienen autotune, suena muy actual está bien loco.

Pretty chill electronic album.

First that I have heard of Basement Jaxx. I enjoyed this album! Excellent house dance music for my ears and mood today! I had my first listen last night and I liked it, but didn't love it. Today I listened again and loved it! The tracks kept me dancing and wanting more! Red Alert!!

Stunning

Funky time!

Every single song, doesn't fail to impress me. It's house music but reshaped

I love EDM, so this will be great.

Soul, latin, electronic fusion. Female vocals are highlight. Collection of sampled sci fi noises and vocoder vocals but strangely cohesive. Good for back room late night club. 7/10.

Pretty enjoyable techno / house that does some interesting things. "Yo Yo" in particular sounds a very little bit like "100 Gecs" in the chorus, which is impressive as this came out around 25 years prior. I find 100 Gecs to be a really inspiring and revolutionary current act so I really can't say enough how much this impresses me that it came out so many years before it. I've heard of this act when I was growing up but never really listened much. It's a cool sound, almost even described as addictive? I found myself wanting more when a track was done. Could be that a lot of these songs average out to be around 4 and a half minutes and in this style of music I really like to sit and gel with it for longer. I'm currently having fun in making some electronic music and I'm glad this album is on the list here as I'm very aware of how hard this style is to make now that I'm attempting it (out of my comfort zone) so for transparency that context is probably elevating my rating at the moment. Fun music!

I love this album. I'm not sure it is revolutionary, but it is very fun and consistently good through the entire thing. I have fun listening to it every time that I do. Overall, I feel that 4 star average is probably fair based on it being good but not anything I'd put as a pinnacle of music.

Good album.

Ugh…. Just awesome. A strong 4 stars from me.

Slow start, strong finish.

Remember the hype about this one. Wasn't really convinced at the time. But in retrospect, it's a good electronic album, surprisingly holding up far better than I expected. Some people (me included) grumbled about the hype surrounding this record in 1999, because it apparently pandered to mind-numbing, instant gratification--especially compared to more left-field electronic acts from labels such as Warp or Ninja Tunes (check out Brett DiCrescenzo's scathing yet hilarious review on Pitchfork when the LP came out--where the author fortunately also makes fun of himself and his expectations--to have an example of such grumbling). But to be honest, those complaints feel like moot points today. For better or for worse, *Remedy*'s unhinged sense of fun, inventive spirit, and lack of boundaries, actually pointed towards the *actual* 21st century. Amazing to see that there would actually be no Jaimie xx without this record. And you can even find more "contemporary" reference points. *Remedy*'s vocoder elements, for instance, were not merely a nod to past retrofuturistic disco endeavors (as they were in Daft Punk's music). The loony vocal parts of "Rendez-Vu" and "Yo-Yo", for example, perfectly fit with the current hyperpop "nonsense". It was 100gecs decades before 100gecs existed. No surprise the latter recently collaborated with Basement Jaxx on a remix of "Where Your Head At?", the great hit single from their second album *Rooty* (sampling none other than Gary Numan!). As a whole, *Rooty* didn't age very well, however, because it dug a maximalist trench where UK-Club-indebted cuts featuring a lot of unimaginative female vocalists felt a little too derivative, with too many "manufactured" emotions as a result and not enough real pizzazz. That sophomore album was supposed to be wilder than the debut. But it ironically sounds both tamer and more tiring in retrospect. It's on *Remedy* that the right balance between maximalist and minimalistic tendencies had been reached from the get-go, enhancing the "wild" moments, but also shedding a more favorable light on the more subtle ones. Of course, you have the obvious hits (opener "Rendez-Vu", "Red Alert"...). But the vast majority of the deeper cuts are as interesting as the latter, if not more (minimalistic "Same Old Show" and its obsessive Selectors sample ; maximalist "Don't Give Up" and its fat, epic, expansive synth bassline...). And for both types of tracks, you have quite impressive, multi-layered soundscapes it's rewarding to get immersed in, like those lush and non-linear acoustic guitar flourishes on "Rendez-Vu", or the sly, enticing synthetic layers in the background of a bunch of other tracks. It's thanks to those details that genuine emotions manage to seep in. Of course, some stuff here and there still feels a little "dated". But not more than any deep cut on Daft Punk albums. Thomas Bangalter himself recognized that Basement Jaxx actually made more groundbreaking music than his in 1999. When an act profiting from such massive success in their chosen genre pays their tribute to the underdog, you gotta pay attention. 4/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums. 9 for more general purposes (5 + 4) Number of albums left to review: less than 25 (plus the 80-ish extra LPs listed on this app, included because different past editions of the book have mentioned albums that have since been dropped in subsequent editions). I've temporarily lost count here. Number of albums I'll keep in my own list: half, approximately (including this one) Number of albums I *might* keep: a small quarter, approximately. Number of albums I won't keep: a large quarter

I've never heard this one but boy was it fun. It's a perfect wake up in the morning and get gone album

There’s nothing bad just a few tracks that are filler and could quite easily have been cut. Fortunately there are some absolute bangers to be had that make it worthwhile. Not my usual thing but I enjoyed it.

This would probably be better up really loud and if I was hammered. Not something I would listen to on a regular basis but at the right time….yeah

I wonder if The Junction is still there. Haven’t been that way for at least 20 years. <sigh>

Mostly brilliant but it does tail off

Skemmtilegt hásteknó. Nokkrar góðar stuðneglur. Ætlaði gefa 3 en hlustaði svo á hana meðan ég var að elda og komst í svo gott stuð að ég ætla að gefa henni 4.

Solid, funky house music. A jam to me.

I'm a fuzzy guitar girl, but I'm another life this absolutely could have been my jam

jump n shout muhtteşem şarkı ve genel baya beğendim bn albümü şaşırtıyosun 1001

Big slab of middle-aged middle-class dinner party background music. More Dirty than Dancing. Don't listen with your Mum in the room.

Pretty good stuff, not the usual electro dance music I’d listen to but still cool shit

Loved it

Dam

Remedy is a very upbeat and uptempo album. I usually wouldn't enjoy this type of music, but I like this! I like the Selecter sample on Same Old Show. I'm convinced that the bass, on Always Be There, is sampled, and modified, from King Crimson's Sheltering Sky, even though I don't see this documented anywhere. The "bass" sound is actually produced by Tony Levin's Chapman Stick (a 10- or 12- stringed instrument). Liked Songs Added: - Rendez-Vu

I only knew this band from the memes, but this album was actually pretty decent!!

Something refreshing in a mountain of shit on this list. I was beginning to question if I even like music

Rockin’