''Junto'' is the seventh album by English

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroa ...

duo Basement Jaxx, released in August 2014 by record labels Atlantic Jaxx and PIAS. It is the duo's first full-length album since '' Zephyr'' in 2009, and was announced on 19 May 2014. The title is taken from the song "Power to the People". The album sees a departure from the dark tone of their previous album '' Zephyr''. The album earned mostly positive reviews upon release, holding an aggregate 71 out of 100 on

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. It reached into the top 30 of the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

, among charting in Australia, Belgium, Ireland, Japan, South Korea and on the United States ''Billboard'' charts. ''Junto'' spawned five singles, which were "Back 2 the Wild", "What a Difference Your Love Makes", "Unicorn", " Never Say Never" and "Galactical", with "Never Say Never" being a topper of the US Hot Dance Club Songs chart.

Composition

Simon Ratcliffe claimed that they were going for a positive, bright, uplifting and "sort of hopeful" feel with ''Junto'', departing from the darker tone they had on their previous record '' Zephyr''. He reasoned that:

Track information

"Power to the People" took two years to make. The track includes backing vocals from audiences at their December 2013 UK Tour. Most of the orchestral instruments were recorded in the beginning of 2014, with the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura, in

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. Basement Jaxx have stated tried also tried doing other types of the song, including a funk version and an

EDM EDM or E-DM may refer to: Music * Electronic dance music * Early Day Miners, American band Science and technology * Electric dipole moment * Electrical discharge machining * Electronic distance measurement *Entry, Descent, and landing demonstrat ...

version. A music video for "What a Difference Your Love Makes", directed by Damian Weilers, was filmed in the township of Alexandra in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Dem ...

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and involves

Pantsula Pantsula is a tradition and also a highly energetic dance form that originated in the black townships of South Africa during the apartheid era. It developed into a form of social commentary for black South Africans and has undergone several trans ...

dancers. It was released on 9 August 2013. "Never Say Never", the fourth track went to number one on the US dance club play chart. The music video, about a twerking robot, was widely received and received over 2 million views in its first week of release. "Buffalo", the eighth song, initially began as a

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track, with

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elements later added. In obtaining a vocalist, he contacted

The Count & Sinden "Beeper" is the debut single by British music duo the Count & Sinden, featuring vocals from American hip hop artist Kid Sister. The song was released via Domino Records in April 2008. Background and release "Beeper" was released on Switch and S ...

member Graeme Sinden two weeks before the album was finished. Sinden had emailed vocal parts by

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for him to use in the song. Basementt Jaxx claimed Blanco was also supposed to send more vocal stuff to them as well, but he never met the group and "disappeared into the desert." "Sneakin' Toronto", the tenth track, came from a two-day session with

DJ Sneak Carlos Sosa (born November 5, 1969), known as DJ Sneak, is a Puerto Rican-born American DJ and record producer raised in Chicago, Illinois, United States. He is noted as being one of the second wave of Chicago house producers, (alongside Derrick ...

. Track twelve, "Mermaid of Salinas" was one of the first songs done for the album. Work on it began circa 2012, when Andrea Terrano, a classical and

flamenco guitar A flamenco guitar is a guitar similar to a classical guitar but with thinner tops and less internal bracing. It usually has nylon strings, like the classical guitar, but it generally possesses a livelier, more gritty sound compared to the clas ...

ist, wrote the melody of the vocal refrain, which he presented to the duo in their old studio. He said that "What he played us was very much like a Latin coffee bar thing" and "decided to give it the Jaxx treatment." When coming up with lyrical themes, they thought of writing them based on a real story: According to Ratcliffe, they used this: "Andrea was in Ibiza on holiday. He had just broken up with someone, and he was feeling a bit blue. He was with Felix and a group of people. He disappeared for a while, and he came back an hour later with this smile on his face. Felix was like, "Where have you been? What have you been up to?" It turned out he had gone paddling in the sea and he got talking to a lady. They were chatting, and they went out further in the sea together. They ended up staying out there and, before they knew it, they were making love in the sea. They came out and said, "Goodbye". That was that! Salinas is a very well-known beach on the island of Ibiza. That's a true story!" ''Junto'' ends with "Love Is At Your Side", a song Ratcliffe wrote for his daughter. He described it as "a song from a father to his daughter" and the vocal melody as "almost country", which singer Sam Brooks "suited it perfectly."

Title

''Junto'' is named after the song "Power to the People". Simon Ratcliffe said the album was titled ''Junto'', because the duo "wanted a title to sum up the spirit of the album, and in English all the words we came up with seemed really kind of dull or insipid." Buxton said that the name "makes people think a bit further and togetherness is about putting yourself 'over there' and seeing how it could be from a different position." Initially, they planned to name the record ''make.believe'', but it was changed after a friend told them that

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professiona ...

was using those same words (and punctuation) to sell electronics. They also planned to use other titles, including ''One'' and ''Unicorn''.

Release

''Junto'' was released on 25 August 2014 by record labels Atlantic Jaxx and PIAS.

Commercial performance

In Europe, ''Junto'' entered the

at number 30, and it became Basement Jaxx's seventh top 40 album in the United Kingdom. It also debuted within the top ten of the country's Dance and Independent Albums charts, at number three and seven respectively. In Ireland, it opened at number 65 on the IRMA

albums chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include re ...

, and ten on the Indie chart. It also reached 72 and 105 on the

Ultratop Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium. Ultratop is a non-profit organization, created on the initiative of the Belgian Entertainment Association (BEA), the Belgian member organization ...

Belgian Flanders and Wallonia chart, respectively. In other continents, ''Junto'' reached number 168 on the United States '' Billboard''

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, as well as five on the

Dance/Electronic Albums Top Dance/Electronic Albums, Dance/Electronic Albums (formerly Top Electronic Albums) is a music chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine which ranks the top-selling electronic music albums in the United States based on sales compiled by ...

chart, 28 on the Independent Albums chart, and four on the

Top Heatseekers Top Heatseekers are "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The Heatseekers Albums and the Heatseekers Songs charts were introduced by ''Billboard'' in 1991 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new an ...

chart. It was Basement Jaxx's fifth top ten Dance/Electronic albums hit, selling 2,000 units in its first week, according to the Nielsen SoundScan. On the Australian

ARIA In music, an aria ( Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompa ...

, it debuted at number 98, becoming the duo's seventh appearance in the top 100 of the chart, and also reached into the top ten of the dance albums chart at number nine. In Japan, it peaked at number 52 on the

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in ...

chart.

Critical reception

Upon release, ''Junto'' earned positive response from music critics. As of September 2014, the album holds an aggregate score of 70 out of 100, indicating "generally favorable reviews", based on 25 critics. In her four-star review for

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

, Heather Phares wrote that "Even if ''Junto'' isn't quite as brilliant as Basement Jaxx's early EPs or nearly flawless first three albums, it doesn't sound irrelevant or like the duo is chasing after past glories either -- instead, it's some of their most exciting music in quite a while." Randell Roberts of ''

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Composition

Track information

Title

Release

Commercial performance

Critical reception

Track listing

Personnel

Charts

References

External links