Artist: Justice
Title: Woman
Label: Ed Banger
Released: 18th November 2016
Rating: 4/5
Justice return after five years away and sound just like Justice. Which is a good thing.
French duo Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay do not do things by half. Ever since they first burst onto the scene in 2003, everything has been cranked up to 11. Originally chucked in with the electro and ‘maximal’ sound that was doing the rounds in 2006 (and was a staple of Ed Banger releases), Justice have expanded their sound to incorporate prog, disco, and the kitchen sink.
This is still electronic music though, and it still has an eye on the dancefloor, but it is also giving the side-eye to the radio. Woman is 10 tracks of glorious OTT pop music that isn’t afraid of cheese and doesn’t care about looking cool. Which makes it super cool, cos they’re French and that. I mean just look at this photo…
Photo By Simon Fernandez – Flickr: Justice, CC BY 2.0, Link
Could they be any more French and cool and that? Anyway Woman kicks off with the superb lead single Safe And Sound and over the next 54 minutes takes you to the best disco in gay Paris. You’ll find a chap playing with a slap bass in one corner and a gospel choir hogging the bar. There’s also a string section in white flares and by the bogs there’s a guy triggering synths to play arpeggios. Oh Paris never change. I have never been to Paris. Clearly.
Justice have always flirted with heavy metal imagery and on their thrilling debut album †, the music pounded and throttled along with the energy of that scene. Follow up Audio, Video, Disco went full prog (never go full prog, people). And now Woman is a happy compromise of these two proceeding albums, full of escapism, melody and rhythm. And I got through this review without once mentioning Daft Punk.
Related:
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http://thesprout.co.uk/blog/2016/11/30/interview-aaronson-gwdihw/
http://thesprout.co.uk/blog/2016/09/26/diff-spits-a-spotlight-on-cardiff-hiphop-and-grime/
http://thesprout.co.uk/blog/2016/06/13/review-x-festival-bute-park-cardiff/
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