Don't Waste Your Tears On Me

This is the album the clandestine Jaxxophobes have been waiting for.

After three masterpieces, including the delirious Kish Kash, Basement Jaxx have released a record that finally sees a halt to their blistering momentum.

On first listen, the disc is underwhelming.

Hush Boy, essentially Oh My Gosh redux, loses the crucial match-up of lead-off tracks (against the flawless Rendez-Vu, Romeo, and Good Luck). And the whole radio leitmotif is a bit silly -- then again Felix and Simon have always been about shameless maximalist dance flourishes and have never relied on subtlety.

So if this album is a disappointment, why can I not stop listening to it?

Hey You is a klezmer-house mashup that manages to out camp Buz Luhrmann -- and it may be the wildest song you hear all year (and the synth line that comes in on the back half of the chorus is simply awesome). Take Me Back To Your House is possibly the biggest surprise, an impossibly catchy country tune refracted through the Jaxx dance machinery.

It may be a grower, but Basement Jaxx always get you in the end.

[ed: this is why I can't do music reviews -- there is an adverb in every sentence]