Justice – Audio, Video, Disco - Album Review

Album Rating:

7

Five years later I still find myself singing:

Do the D.A.N.C.E… 1234 fight

Stick to the B.E.A.T… Get ready to ignite

Your are such a P.Y.T… Catching all the lights

Just easy as A.B.C… That’s how you make it right

In my opinion DANCE by Justice is the best dance song to come out in the last decade, but you need to take my opinion with a grain of salt because:

I don’t dance that much
I don’t listen to that much dance music
I’m not as hip as Dancey Del

Now that I have gotten that off my chest and stripped this review of it’s credibility let me explain…

Justice is the Layman’s DJ. Like Daft Punk, they have the ability to crossover genres with listener friendly dance tunes that cause lame and pasty white men to tap their foot. Yet, they still have the ability to remain relevant and fresh.

This is great because I’m not only lame, but I am extremely pasty and I hate most other dance music; aka techno/dubby/electronic shit. I respect the talent and creativity of the artists, but I find the music to be overly repetitive and too glitchy. It makes me want to seize in a paint mixer during an earthquake. This is why you will not find me sweating my balls off in da club while rolling on Ex. That, and also because they don’t have licensed day care providers on staff.

Jutice’s second full length album, Audio, Video, Disco has put me into a manic state; my opinion of it changes with every listen. At first, I was looking for a reason to dislike this album because something about it is a little too cheesy. Rather than pinpoint my disdain with each subsequent listen, my enjoyment has only increased. Ultimately, I really like this album, but I still have some reservations.

An album’s lack of cohesion rarely bothers me, but let me warn you; Audio, Video, Disco is all over the place. I don’t know whether to dance, head-bang, hang a disco ball or cruise the strip in a Dalorean. The head-banging moments are… interesting. They consist of sythed out Dream-Theater-like guitar riffs. Very unexpected. Very odd. Yet, strangely appealing. 80’s pop influences are prevalent, but at times cheapened with corny mid. file drum beats like in the track Helix. However, Justice is able to inject some ‘current’ flavor to the mix, creating a huge skillet of multi-genre French cuisine that you will either love or hate.

Even with the album’s moments of quirkiness, Justice succeeds by making Audio, Video, Disco ‘Tom’ friendly. The songs have great chord progressions, melodies and contain that unmistakable Justice bass synth. They keep a good beat and don’t lose me with unnecessary repetition. The songs on their own are good, but you’ll also get a couple of great ones like On’n’On, Civilization, and my favorite; Newlands.

I could understand how one might hate this album, but it’s worth a listen, or two, or three. And if you are like me, then you’ll end up guilty pleasuring the shit out of it.