Rooty

Concept

The name of the album is taken from Basement Jaxx's regular club event held at a small bar in Brixton. "We've been doing the Rooty nights for a year,' says Felix Buxton. 'It's not geared to one specific vibe. Musically, we made it so that it wasn't just for cokeheads who wanted pounding beats all night. That gave us musical freedom." As the title for the album, it was explained by the duo as "raw" and "soulful," "It's to the root, to the essence. It's about being happy about things that don't fit in. About things that are a bit different. That's why the album's got an albino gorilla on the cover." That's Basement Jaxx and their Rooty pub crew: sticking to the carpet but reaching for the stars.

Composition

Upon expressing admiration for the Basement Jaxx's debut album Remedy, Janet Jackson contacted the duo to collaborate. Jackson was offered to record the Jaxx's single "Get Me Off" for the album, though declined. "She told us she loved our stuff", recalls Buxton, "but she thought we were Zero 7. We wished her every success in hooking up with a British dance duo eventually and said, ‘Cheerio, Celine.'"

Content

The cover art features Snowflake, the world's only known albino gorilla. His popularity was enhanced due to this appearance.

Release

The album's first single, "Romeo", was released on 4 June 2001.

Rooty was released on 25 June 2001. Further singles released from the album were "Jus 1 Kiss", on 24 September, "Where's Your Head At", on 26 November, "Get Me Off", on 17 June 2002, and "Do Your Thing" in Australia only, on 2 December 2003.

Reception

Rooty has been well received by critics. John Bush of AllMusic gave it 5 out of 5 stars, calling it "so raw you can't believe they spent over an hour per track, so perfect you're glad they stopped noodling about long before most producers would, and so poppy they should get picked up by commercial radio in America as well as the rest of the world". David Browne of Entertainment Weekly gave it an A– grade and called the album "where heart and feet meet and lovingly coexist". Robert Christgau of Village Voice gave it the same grade, writing "no catchier collection of jingles has come to my attention since Steve Miller made his mint off jet airliners". Billboard said the album "revels in exploiting rhythms that shouldn't work—but definitely do". PopMatters's Andy Hermann was mixed, calling the album "either a brilliantly innovative record, or an unlistenable mess, depending on your point of view".

Pitchfork's initial opinion on the album, however, was generally negative. While calling band members Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe "two of the weirdest, most innovative and talented house producers on the scene", reviewer Malcolm Seymour III's wrote that "[Basement Jaxx] have taken kitsch too far", noting that the music is "often so tacky that it's impossible to stomach." However, Pitchfork would later name Rooty the 33rd best album of the 2000s.

Q listed Rooty as one of the best 50 albums of 2001. Kludge ranked it at number three on their list of top 10 albums of 2001.

Track listing

All tracks written by Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe, except as indicated.

Personnel