Cross

• JUSTICE CROSS

Justice’s monster beats, massive hooks, thunderous drums, and near-religious determination to demolish dance floors cast them in a light no contemporary can catch. The group’s US debut single, “Waters Of Nazareth” arrived in 2006 and solidified their sound: huge slabs of beats, brutal strings, and cathartic release. That record sets the stage for this, their debut full-length, boasting the already ubiquitous disco pop anthem “D.A.N.C.E.”, which features the best English children’s choir since “Another Brick In The Wall Pt. 2″.Justice is the moniker of the Paris-based production duo Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay. Their approach to crazy-quilt dance-pop hybridism is infectious, if a tad off-putting here and there. The duo rose to fame due to an MP3 single and super smart video for the excellent, kiddy-chorused house-pop number “D.A.N.C.E.” in 2007, and they soon thereafter signed to the suitably named label Banger. They manage to make really silly and fun music in a way that frequently comes off in a pretentious manner. It’s ridiculous to name your album after a symbol, especially if it’s †. This is not meant derogatorily. Really. Justice does appear to be that rare breed of dance artist equally capable of stimulating the body and the mind, though neither Richard James nor the Basement Jaxx need fear this act. After just one listen to “Waters of Nazareth,” it’s very difficult to avoid wondering “how the hell did they mix and match noise and pop so beautifully” while also dancing furiously. –Mike McGonigalRarely does a European DJ/dance album hit the U.S. with as full a head of steam as this one, but after the twin jabs of the singles “Never Be Alone” and “Waters of Nazareth,” French duo Justice was poised and ready to follow with Cross. As a strong contender for the dance album of 2007, this 12-track debut shows Xavier de Rosnay and Gaspard Augé flexing more musical elasticity than the “dance” or “house” tags can possibly convey on their own, never mind the “French Touch” movement with which the pair is loosely and rather reductively associated. Having remixed tracks from artists as dissimilar as Britney Spears and Franz Ferdinand, the pair seems to have been building its chops for exactly this kind of resolutely defiant masterwork. From the relentless, gritty electro-bounce of opener “Genesis” and the stuttering, four-on-the-floor propulsion of “Let There Be Light,” to the children’s chorus of “D.A.N.C.E.” and the rock-indebted “DVNO,” Cross starts with a palette of house and disco beats and then throws the kitchen sink at it. The resulting amalgam boasts a tectonic range of reference without ever sacrificing de Rosnay and Augé’s slavish devotion to the fine art of the party album. –Jason Kirk

List Price: $ 13.98

Price: $ 7.28

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