Together, they re signaling a return to the roots of why dance music got so popular in the first place: it s meant to be danced to. Yet Justice has the upper hand over SMD, here sacrificing minimalism for melodicism and coming out on top. is an album that applies a modern Big Beat aesthetic to an army of 80s keyboards.
Because of this, the album never sounds dated, but always familiar. The blatant pop excursion The Party sounds reminiscent of long-forgotten Brit greats Yazoo: playful keyboards bouncing around guest-vocalist Uffie s playful come-ons, occasionally interspliced with the chorus of Three 6 Mafia s rap-hit Stay Fly (!).
It s a total headspin, but, like fellow dance duo Basement Jaxx, these out-of-place elements are never so obscure that they re alienating: every part feels warranted, their existence bizarrely justified by dance music s self-defined rules of eclecticism (just as how nothing ever looks too Stress opens like a double-time horror movie theme, all stabbing strings and John Carpenter undertones slowly co-existing before transforming into a Halloween party ass-shaker of the highest order. It totally copies the same horror-pop template that Michael Jackson used for Thriller , except here using the sound of drills instead of vocals (which, again, works despite all reason stating otherwise). On the dance-floor, however, none of these appropriations will matter.
You ll be too busy having fun. The near-simultaneous release of Justice and Simian Mobile Disco s records automatically warrants comparison, but perhaps what s most fascinating is how both groups display a near-identical set of influences and admirations. Both groups, for example, can t help but lend praise to The Go!
Team, the cut-n-paste dance collective that use playground chants as the basis for their catchy brand of retro-pop. Simian Mobile Disco loved them so much that they snagged the Go! Team s MC/lead vocalist Ninja to lay some verses down on their hit single It s the Beat .
own Go! Team song with the playful, bouncy single D.A.
N.C.E.
All the motifs are there: the catchy sing-along chorus, the dated instrumentation, and the infectious feel-good vibe. It s not as much total stylistic theft as it is true-to-life homage, with an end result that pays off brilliantly. Justice knows what formulas have worked before, and there s nothing wrong with incorporating other styles into their own irresistible techno-bounce.
Together, they re signaling a return to the roots of why dance music got so popular in the first place: it s meant to be danced to.
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