Basement Jaxx's Simon Ratcliffe and Felix Burton have long used Atlantic Jaxx to release material that's too club-focused, instrumental, or experimental to fit onto their radio-leaning albums. As official Basement Jaxx releases have grown slicker in their attempts at perfect pop pastiche, the side projects and outtakes issued on the duo's label have come to seem even wilder. With no guest singers and zero hooks, Ratcliffe's new solo EP is another chance for these one-time house barbarians to remind people why their unconventional spirit once made dance classicists turn up their noses.
Dorus Rijkers unleashes live-sounding rhythms that twist, turn, and feel like they don't want to do what their producer tells them to do. Opener "Tightrope" sounds like Ratcliffe tried to lay down a fat, funky, straightforward breakbeat, but then his cheekiness got the better of him, with the boom-bap quickly mutating into a loony jazz-metal hybrid. On much of the EP, the squealing synths and ultra-bright electro riffs aren't too far off from the kind of arcade-game mania and tortured g-funk beloved by Zomby, Rustie, and their peers. In fact, the frenetic, densely layered "Mindset" makes the post-dubstep crew sound almost staid, while its fried fuzz-bass and general noisy mayhem shame the Ed Banger crew and similarly brutal French house producers.
The second half of the EP is calmer, but just as surprising. "Flying by the Sun" essentially applies the methodology of disco edits to an old electric jazz record, compressing a half-hour of free-flowing improvisation into a deranged four-and-a-half-minute jukebox single. But even in shortened form, this kind of knotty jazz-funk isn't for everyone. Neither is Dorus Rijkers as a whole, even at just four tracks, which is probably the perfect length to avoid burning out on music this dense and convoluted. If you think that Basement Jaxx have been too buttoned up lately, then you'll probably appreciate the way Dorus Rijkers sounds like a man unleashing a lot of fuck-you intensity. Throw it on looking for the glossy roller-boogie bounce or Euro-pop sheen of Crazy Itch Radio or Scars, though, and the drums alone will slap the expectations right out of you.
