Justice: Audio, Video, Disco - Album Review

Justice
Audio, Video, Disco
Rating: Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It

Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay, the duo that comprises Justice, obviously have a secret desire to be out and out rock stars. Their debut †, although built on house music foundations, was filtered through a rock sheen, with blaring guitars, head bobbing rhythms, and plenty of swagger. What made † such a fascinating record was that it held so many surprises; its restless energy and go-for-broke attitude made it the coolest record of 2007. From the sing-song sample of ubiquitous single "D.A.N.C.E.," the brutal implied violence of "Stress," and crunchy, proto-industrial "Waters of Nazareth," the album never failed on its promise to entertain and get bodies on the dancefloor. In the interim, Augé and de Rosnay have been experimenting with different side projects and have been keeping a relatively low profile. Now, the follow up Audio, Video, Disco is out and if you are expecting † Part 2, there is a good chance you will be disappointed. Audio, Video, Disco is an ambitious attempt to marry prog rock, hair metal, Italia-disco, classical music, and basically any other genre of 70s/80s rock you can imagine into one concise package. Whether or not you find it successful depends on your love of and or acceptance of very over-the-top styles of music. There is nothing here that can remotely be called minimal or restrained. It is as if Mozart, Georgio Moroder, Queen, Genesis, Supertramp, Def Leppard, Quiet Riot, and any number of other hair metal bands got into a vicious car crash and the doctors had to merge all the disparate body parts together. As such, it is a complete mess stylistically, however, the brevity of the record (comes in a little over 40 minutes) makes it a very compact, easy listen. At first, the lack of any standout singles along the lines of "D.A.N.C.E." or "Stress" made the album very one note for me, but multiple listens, and listening to the album more as a suite of songs, increases the enjoyment factor. There is enough here to boost Justice past the sophomore slump, however, I wished for a little more distinctiveness across the entire album.

First single "Civilization" is about the easiest entry point into the record. Thumping beats over slap bass is taken over by portentous vocals and slowed down paces before building up from a whine of guitars to a catchy, head bobbing chorus:



Title track and second second single "Audio, Video, Disco," is a four to the floor banger with only the title as lyrics, and pumped up piano rolls and whirring synths. It's a silly, in the vein of Daft Punk, song but like all good ear candy, it is hard to get it out of your head.



The rest of the album is split between bizarre instrumental mashups and more song-oriented tracks, of which the song-oriented tracks are the less successful. "Ohio" appears to combine glockenspiel with The Eagles and the drum beat from NIN's "Closer," and is as odd as it sounds.



"On'n'on" is slightly more successful, flowing over a jaunty melody, but still sounding like a combination of Yes, King Crimson, and Peter Gabriel era Genesis:



"Newlands" is likely the most successful "song" on the album, though it does borrow a little too liberally from AC/DC and Queen.

Justice - Newlands by FranklinP

Of the instrumentals, the best by far is the funky, driving "Canon" which perfectly marries crunchy guitar with an almost classical structure.



"Brianvision," on the other hand, takes the classical structure a little too far, and merely sounds like a song pulled directly from the 70s. "Parade" does what it can to make up for this, with its stuttered keyboards, "We Will Rock You" drums, and wailing guitars and chorus of voices.

Justice - Parade by tdoyle

"Helix" brings back the fun and excitement of †, putting together an interesting beat, snippets of vocal samples, and a funky synth vibe. It is truly the one time the album gets into an euphoric groove.



I applaud Justice for not just giving us † redux, however, I would have liked for them to have retained the sense of menace and unpredictability that † had in spades. Audio, Video, Disco is not a complete misstep like MGMT's Congratulations, but it does seem like a step back in way. Overall, the album is successful because the production is amazing and they keep to a recognizable template over the course of the record. I just wish there had been one or two tracks that stuck out as singles. It wouldn't kill them to wow us with another "D.A.N.C.E." now, would it?

Rating Guide:

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and peaks one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.