Basement Jaxx – Scars

I’ve been a fan of Basement Jaxx since “Rooty” came out in 2001. It caused me to go back and listen to “Remedy” (1999). Over the past five years, they’ve done some excellent collaborations with Missy Elliot, NERD and Justin Timberlake. Needless to say, I was excited when Latham told me that he had just bought their newest album: “Scars”.









Track list:

1. “Scars” featuring Kelis, Meleka & Chipmunk (4:15)
2. “Raindrops” (4:10)
3. “She’s No Good” featuring Eli “Paperboy” Reed (3:26)
4. “Saga” featuring Santigold (2:42)
5. “Feelings Gone” featuring Sam Sparro (3:42)
6. “My Turn” featuring Lightspeed Champion (4:52)
7. “A Possibility” featuring Amp Fiddler (2:45)
8. “Twerk” featuring Yo! Majesty (3:30)
9. “Day of the Sunflowers (We March On) featuring Yoko Ono (5:59)
10. “What’s a Girl Got to Do?” featuring Paloma Faith (4:04)
11. “Stay Close” featuring Lisa Kekaula (3:01)
12. “Distractionz” featuring Jose Hendrix (5:03)
13. “Gimme Somethin’ True” featuring Jose James (5:29)

Opinion: I expected a lot more out of Scars than I received. When I started the album, I was hoping to hear songs a lot like “Red Alert”, “Where’s Your Head At?” and “Get Me Off”. Instead, I was… umm… treated to what sounded like a departure album. You know… those albums where artists try and expand their horizons and almost always fail miserably. This is one of those cases. I heard a few songs I enjoyed – songs that stuck to the traditional upbeat tempo that made them popular in the earlier part of the decade. However, a good majority of the songs were ethereal, melancholy and drab.

Tracks to Gets: “Scars”, “My Turn” and “Twerk”.

Tracks to Skip: “A Possibility”, “Stay Close” and “Distractionz”.

“Notable” Lyrics:

Duh. There really aren’t any – Basement Jaxx is all about the beats.

Score (out of 10):