Basement Jaxx: Rooty (2LP, pink vinyl, blue vinyl) [XL]

Why you'll love it

This 2LP set splits the album across one pink and one blue disc. Rooty reached No. 5 in the UK, went platinum there, and helped Basement Jaxx win Best Dance Act at the 2002 Brit Awards.

This edition

• 2LP set
• Pink vinyl
• Blue vinyl

About the album

Rooty was the name of the duo's club night at a small bar in Brixton, so it makes sense that the album sounds like the best party in south London. Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe had already conquered the house scene with their debut, and here they threw everything into the pot: garage, disco, punk, hip-house, Latin and plain old pop.

Buxton and Ratcliffe wrote, produced and mixed it themselves, and their sampling is as cheeky as it is clever. "Where's Your Head At" is built on a Gary Numan sample and became a rowdy anthem, "Romeo" is a lovesick pop gem, "Jus 1 Kiss" borrows from Chic, and "Breakaway" lifts a little Earth, Wind & Fire. "Get Me Off" was first pitched to Janet Jackson, and "Do Your Thing" grooves on a Kenny Barron sample. "Broken Dreams" even finds room for a Paraguayan folk sample.

AllMusic gave it five stars, Pitchfork later ranked it among the best albums of the 2000s, and the cover features Snowflake, the famous albino gorilla. It remains, as far as we know, the most danceable record ever fronted by a primate.

Also at Kops: more Basement Jaxx on vinyl · browse Electronic

Tracklist

Listen

On XL Recordings (cat# XL 143 LP2), a reissue of the 2001 album.