UK house duo Basement Jaxx return to Dubai on Friday night at Zero Gravity's popular Ritual Friday night party, having last graced the city as this year's NYE headliner at The Palm's Inner City Zoo. The pair land in Dubai fresh from a summer residency at Ibiza's Glitterbox, and almost 20 years since they released their first album, Remedy, on electronic music giant XL Recordings.
The pair emerged at a fascinating time in the UK’s music scene. Following the legal restrictions on the rave scene and illegal parties of the late eighties and early nineties, clubbing seemed to fork off in two different directions, with the mega-clubbing brands like Ministry of Sound and Gatecrasher at one end of the spectrum, and a host of smaller nights and labels providing an eclectic mash up of previously disparate genres at the other.
Basement Jaxx fell firmly into the latter category, both in terms of their debut EP, released on a fledgling Wall of Sound Records in 1994, and their regular club night, also called Basement Jaxx, which toured around the bars and restaurants of South London at the time.
“When we started out we were aiming for that classic US house sound like Masters at Work and Armand Van Helden, but we ended up doing it slightly wrong,” Jaxx’s Simon Ratcliffe reveals. “It was an accident, but that’s how we became who we are. We probably spent about five years just experimenting with sounds and finding out who we were, doing remixes, releasing EPs, growing in confidence. We played with funk, fusion, latin-jazz, rock influences, ambient influences, and then XL signed us.”
The pair’s approach to their regular club events was similarly ramshackle, Ratcliffe adds: “Felix [Buxton, the other half of the duo] started up our first night in the back room of a Mexican restaurant at the end of the night, which isn’t where you’d expect to find a club night, just a little room with one light. I think that was before we were even Basement Jaxx. We were called Underground Oasis originally, but there was this rock band coming through that were tipped to get big, you might have heard of them, so we changed it.”
Ratcliffe admits that he was the quieter of the duo in the early days, happy enough to make music and occasionally DJ at the duo’s events, while his partner was the rabble-rouser: “Felix is more the one that was always out putting on parties, I just love writing music and making music, so I’m the dweeb, but I’d go down and DJ in all these old man’s pubs and weird places in South London, wherever they’d have us that was cheap basically,” he says. “It was a very home-made ethos, kind of a reaction to all those superclubs and big clubbing brands that were in vogue at the time. Most of the little old man’s pubs we used to play in are supermarkets and flats now.”
Ratcliffe admits that there’s a certain irony to the fact that a fairly direct line can be drawn from the underground genres and nights of the late nineties and early 2000s – scenes such as breakbeat, garage and dubstep – to the American mega raves of the current EDM scene, though he’s not one to dwell on it: “It’s funny to think how that all turned out with the whole EDM thing and that, but that’s the way it goes,” he says. “It’s natural that things will mutate. Different styles get mixed up experimentally and achieve some success, then now we end up with this kind of international hip-hop/r’n’b/EDM/Swedish pop/trap fusion sound of corporate tosh.”
Ratcliffe may be critical of current corporate electronic music, but Basement Jaxx hasn’t exactly lacked success themselves, with Glastonbury headline slots and Brit Awards under their belts. Does he feel any sense of contradiction?
“No, no - we’re not elitist,” he insists. “I’m not into underground music because it makes me more special or more clever than anyone else. I just like good music, and we both like good pop music too. Eurythmics, The Smiths, Bob Marley. It doesn’t have to be obscure.”
Indeed, Ratcliffe reveals that, following the success of Basement Jaxx, he is not filled with any yearning desire to return to the world of dingy back rooms and 1,000-unit EP releases: “We toured with Daft Punk around the time we signed to XL, and it became apparent that you could be a dance duo and have huge commercial success,” he says. “It was the producers who were becoming the stars, even though they weren’t necessarily very interesting to look at. That whole French wave of Daft Punk and Cassius, The Chemical Brothers, acts like that who previously would have been locked up in a studio while some pop star fronted the music. So with our first album for XL we were bursting with a hunger to do as much as we could. We knew we’d got the songs and it was just like ‘if those guys can do it….”
Seven albums later, they seem to have made good on their promise, and although it's been four years since their last album, 2014's Junto, Ratcliffe promises the pair will be working on new material soon. Recently, they've been tied up on other projects, Ratcliffe with a side project with a neighbour, and Buxton working with a contemporary dance group in Gothenburg.
The pair has also been working on a rather interesting project together: "We've done all the music for a new animated series on ITV," he says. "It's from the same guys that did Little Princess [director Edward Foster and producer Iain Harvey], which is a really popular British kids show. It's called The Rubbish World of Dave Spud, and is based on life as a kid growing up in Northern England, and he asked us to do everything – title music, incidental music, the lot. It 26 x 10-minute episodes, so that was a really big project and I can't wait to see it on TV."
*Ritual runs from 5pm-3am at Zero Gravity. Entry is free before 9. For further ticket details see www.platinumlist.net
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Read more:
Basement Jaxx, Vengaboys, DJ EZ and Sigma to perform in Dubai this year
Martin Garrix in the UAE: A huge new EDM festival is coming to Dubai
WATCH: Why do people in the UAE love K-Pop so much?
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SPECS
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The biog
From: Upper Egypt
Age: 78
Family: a daughter in Egypt; a son in Dubai and his wife, Nabila
Favourite Abu Dhabi activity: walking near to Emirates Palace
Favourite building in Abu Dhabi: Emirates Palace
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
COMPANY PROFILE
● Company: Bidzi
● Started: 2024
● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid
● Based: Dubai, UAE
● Industry: M&A
● Funding size: Bootstrapped
● No of employees: Nine
Top 10 in the F1 drivers' standings
1. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari 202 points
2. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes-GP 188
3. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes-GP 169
4. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing 117
5. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari 116
6. Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing 67
7. Sergio Perez, Force India 56
8. Esteban Ocon, Force India 45
9. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso 35
10. Nico Hulkenberg, Renault 26
Two products to make at home
Toilet cleaner
1 cup baking soda
1 cup castile soap
10-20 drops of lemon essential oil (or another oil of your choice)
Method:
1. Mix the baking soda and castile soap until you get a nice consistency.
2. Add the essential oil to the mix.
Air Freshener
100ml water
5 drops of the essential oil of your choice (note: lavender is a nice one for this)
Method:
1. Add water and oil to spray bottle to store.
2. Shake well before use.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
One-off T20 International: UAE v Australia
When: Monday, October 22, 2pm start
Where: Abu Dhabi Cricket, Oval 1
Tickets: Admission is free
Australia squad: Aaron Finch (captain), Mitch Marsh, Alex Carey, Ashton Agar, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Chris Lynn, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Ben McDermott, Darcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Mitchell Starc, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa, Peter Siddle
THE SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Power: 110 horsepower
Torque: 147Nm
Price: From Dh59,700
On sale: now
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Mia Man’s tips for fermentation
- Start with a simple recipe such as yogurt or sauerkraut
- Keep your hands and kitchen tools clean. Sanitize knives, cutting boards, tongs and storage jars with boiling water before you start.
- Mold is bad: the colour pink is a sign of mold. If yogurt turns pink as it ferments, you need to discard it and start again. For kraut, if you remove the top leaves and see any sign of mold, you should discard the batch.
- Always use clean, closed, airtight lids and containers such as mason jars when fermenting yogurt and kraut. Keep the lid closed to prevent insects and contaminants from getting in.
Bookshops: A Reader's History by Jorge Carrión (translated from the Spanish by Peter Bush),
Biblioasis
Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
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The specs
Engine 60kwh FWD
Battery Rimac 120kwh Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide (LiNiMnCoO2) chemistry
Power 204hp Torque 360Nm
Price, base / as tested Dh174,500
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Results
United States beat UAE by three wickets
United States beat Scotland by 35 runs
UAE v Scotland – no result
United States beat UAE by 98 runs
Scotland beat United States by four wickets
Fixtures
Sunday, 10am, ICC Academy, Dubai - UAE v Scotland
Admission is free
The Ashes
Results
First Test, Brisbane: Australia won by 10 wickets
Second Test, Adelaide: Australia won by 120 runs
Third Test, Perth: Australia won by an innings and 41 runs
Fourth Test: Melbourne: Drawn
Fifth Test: Australia won by an innings and 123 runs
Banned items
Dubai Police has also issued a list of banned items at the ground on Sunday. These include:
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Political flags or banners
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Bikes, skateboards or scooters
