We got the opportunity to speak to one half of Basement Jaxx, Simon Ratcliffe, who is celebrating the release of their seventh studio album Junto. The UK based master of dance and veteran of the industry shed some light on the making of the new album, the ‘Jaxx Collective’, side projects, and plans for the rest of the year.

Side projects…

 

Well we took a bit of a break following the release of 6 albums and a decade of tours, we decided it was time to take some time off which was really healthy for us. It was a perfect time to work on a few side projects, we did some work on film scores, we had a classical orchestral project where a 70 piece orchestra did interpretations of our music [This included working with the Metropole Orkest, who’s classical interpretation of Basement Jaxx tracks are like you’ve never heard it – sweeping orchestral versions of hits including ‘Red Alert’, ‘Where’s Your Head At’, ‘Good Luck’ and ‘Raindrops’. Check it out " target="_blank">here]. 

I did a little solo ‘side project’ called Dorus Rijkers, which I would describe as ‘a Weather Report-esque cross George Duke-ey fusion mixed with Flying Lotus’, basically just doing some self indulgent stuff which I love doing. Then next question on everyone’s minds was was are going to do another album? People around us were saying if you are going to do another album now is a good time to do it.

The new Album…

 

There’s a lot of variety on the new album, we’ve always had a lot of variety on our albums from the first thing we’ve ever released and I guess that’s just us trying to express the different parts of music that we’re into. We have obviously used a lot of different singers as well, we like to see ourselves as on by ‘collective’, trying to present a Basement Jaxx world where there are many hidden styles but it all comes out under our Basement Jaxx banner.

We started the album two years ago and have been testing it out at a lot of our live shows, road testing stuff here and there, so really they are reincarnations of some songs that were completely different to how they are now, but yeah it just felt like a good time. We felt good, we were enjoying the music, we were positive about the world and the possibilities so we thought hey, lets do something bright, up and positive. Not only this but we noticed the musical landscape had shifted slightly towards music that we are most associated with, with a whole new breed of house producers. Yeah it was good timing.

Working as a duo…

 

We both work in the studio together. We actually moved studios a couple of years ago because for more than ten years we had been in this ‘glorified bedroom studio’. The roof was leaking, it was damp, it was smelly, there were no windows. We thought at this stage of our career s we really should be somewhere a bit more smart. We found a new place, now we have three rooms! We work separately in different rooms, play each others ideas and edit each others ideas. We’ve always approached music from slightly different angles, we listen to different aspects of the music. Felix (Buxton) will play me something and I will be like ‘you’re missing something in this, you need to change that’ and vice versa for my ideas.

Tips for new producers…

 

Well, It’s okay to emulate stuff, it’s good, if you’re in awe of a producer and want to do something similar, but then at the end of the day you have to ask yourself ‘what can I bring to it, what can I do that those people would never do?’ Especially nowadays its relatively easy to do something that sounds really good, thanks to the software available the production standards are really high nowadays. But whats going to make it jump out? You need to be brave and bold. If it feels and sounds crazy, take a chance and get it out there. Just say fuck it!

Are Basement Jaxx coming to Aus any time soon?

 

We normally do an Australia, Japan and maybe Indonesia tour. It’s looking like early next year however i havent got an actuall date set… but we’ll definitely be there! Australia’s always been a really good place for us, we’ve always had a really good time there and a good reaction.

Where is your head at?

 

(chuckles… and cringes) About to jet off on a plane, but apart from that I’m really looking forward to a tour of UK and playing at the O2 Arena to round off the year.

Cool man, thank you!

The brand new Basement Jaxx album, Junto, is available now through iTunes.