shop | mailing lists
musicOMH
music: album reviews
JXL - A Broadcast From... (Roadrunner)
UK release date: 2 June 2003
JXL - A Broadcast From...

buy this title


track listing

1. Intro 3PM
2. Crusher feat. Saffron
3. Don't Wake Up Policeman feat. Peter Tosh
4. Spirits feat. Saffron
5. Angels feat. Gary Numan
6. Between These Walls feat. Anouk
7. Access To The Excess feat. Chuck D.
8. Catch Up To My Step feat. Solomon Burke
9. Never Alone feat. Terri Hall
10. Logos feat. Phill Mills
11. Configuring Audio System
12. Nightmares feat. Infusion
13. Beauty Never Fades feat. Saffron
14. Rivers feat. Shelley Harland
15. Aqua Man feat. Infusion
16. Clouds feat. Grant Nicholas
17. JXL Radio Technical Support
18. Reload feat. Dave Gahan
19. Perfect Blue Sky feat. Robert Smith
20. Tennis (UK Bonus Track)
It would have been easy for Junkie XL (the man behind the Elvis remix A Little Less Conversation) to have released an album of Moby-like tracks - catchy big-beat loops and occasional vocals. But Tom Holkenborg (JXL's real name) has done the opposite, producing an album which is so diverse that its sense of coherence is impressive.

Radio JXL: A Broadcast from the Computer Hell Cabin will gain sales from broad demographic, since it must hold the all-time world record for "feat." tracks. A wide array of artistes perform, many of them old-time, including Dave Gahan (Depeche Mode), Gary Numan, Saffron (Republika), Robert Smith (The Cure), Terry Hall (The Specials), Grant Nicholas (Feeder), and Chuck D (Public Enemy).

The most immediately impressive piece is the single Catch Up To My Step. Solomon Burke's vocal and the heavy bass and guitar riffs make it the most danceable track. Apart from this only Terry Hall's Never Alone and Peter Tosh's Don't Wake Up Policemen reach any level of hip-moving groove, driven by ska and dub four-to-the-floor.

Most other highlights depend on song-writing more than production. Grant Nicholas' Broken has soothing and emotional big beats and is one of the best songs on the album, matched only by Robert Smith's lovely electro/Kraftwerk Perfect Blue Sky. Dave Gahan's Reload takes a darker approach and comes a close second.

Chuck D raps up a storm over vocoders and big hip-hop thuds in Access to the Excess, his flow still sounding good 10 years on. But one flow that hasn't dated as well is Saffron's. Her high-energy self-written tracks fit in to the album (impressive - since their production is so '90s Republika-like), but her punk-like vocal is a little misplaced.

Radio JXL isn't a dance album, although it has some quality dance vibes on it. Neither it it obsessed with cutting-edge production - Holkenborg has the sense to make the focus the songwriting. In the end it's the right production for the right song, and thankfully most of the songs are right themselves. The XLent Junkie has pulled it all into a diverse album that holds together, and which won't bore quickly.

  share: 
Facebook | Digg | del.icio.us | more
Mercury Prize 2009 nominees
FLORENCE AND THE MACHINE SPEECH DEBELLE KASABIAN FRIENDLY FIRES
LA ROUX BAT FOR LASHES THE HORRORS GLASVEGAS
SWEET BILLY PILGRIM THE INVISIBLE LISA HANNIGAN LED BIB




out this week:
tUnE-yArDs - BiRd-BrAiNs Norah Jones - The Fall Will Young - The Hits
Ebony Bones - Bone Of My Bones Mariah Carey - Memoirs Of An Imperfect Angel Them Crooked Vultures - Them Crooked Vultures
coming soon:
Gabby Young And Other Animals - We're All In This Together Rihanna - Rated R Codeine Velvet Club - Codeine Velvet Club
recent releases:
Shirley Bassey - The Performance Martha Wainwright - Sans Fusils, Ni Souliers, a Paris Biffy Clyro - Only Revolutions
Robbie Williams - Reality Killed The Video Star Pascal Babare - Thunderclap Spring Joe Goddard - Harvest Festival
Jamie Cullum - The Pursuit Nirvana - Live At Reading (Deluxe Edition) Nirvana - Bleach (20th Anniversary Edition)
Julian Casablancas - Phrazes For The Young The Hidden Cameras - Origin: Orphan Weezer - Raditude
Cheryl Cole - Three Words Kings Of Convenience - Declaration Of Dependence Portico Quartet - Isla
The Antlers - Hospice Fuck Buttons - Tarot Sport The Flaming Lips - Embryonic
more album reviews
TOP ARTICLES NOW
GIG: Beyoncé brings Sasha Fierce to London

MORE GIGS: Rihanna, Martha Wainwright, Rickie Lee Jones, Steve Martin, Fionn Regan, Hope Sandoval, Muse...

ALBUMS OUT THIS WEEK: tUnE-yArDs, Norah Jones, Will Young, Mariah Carey, Stereophonics

ALBUM: Gabby Young And Other Animals: We're All In This Together

INTERVIEW: Martha Wainwright on her Edith Piaf album Sans Fusils, Ni Souliers, a Paris

ALBUMS: Nirvana: Live At Reading / Bleach

INTERVIEW: Gary Numan on pleasure principles

RELATED ARTICLES
INTERVIEW:
JXL

SINGLE:
JXL - Catch Up To My Step



  more album reviews...



musicOMH
about us
contact
copyright
home
elsewhere
Twitter
Facebook
Last.fm
Soundcloud
MySpace
© 1999-2009 OMH