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REVIEW: Justice Impresses With "Audio, Video, Disco"

Rebecca Obadia |
October 26, 2011 | 5:15 p.m. PDT

Staff Reporter

Album Cover
Album Cover

Fours years after their debut album "†" was released, Justice surprises with "Audio, Video, Disco" releasing an alternative version of their former work on Monday. 

In an interview by Rolling Stone, Xavier de Rosnay, one half of the dance duo, gave an insight into their new album: "Ideally you want the new record to sound like the first record you've ever made." Considered as one of the icons of the French electro movement, Rosnay and his partner Gaspard Auge explored a new way to compose music, showing once again the array of their musical skills.
 
"It's bedroom music and we made it sound like a bedroom record," Rosnay said. Using a very limited range of instruments such as three keyboards, one guitar, and a computer, they were able to demonstrate once again the complex and rich diversity of electronic music.

Many of their songs have a taste of rock n' roll, leading a first-time listener to picture the artist behind the overall album as an actual band performing with a variety of instruments on stage. The video of "Audio, Video, Disco" even shows the two Frenchies playing not only keyboards and synths, but also the drums and the guitar.

However, if "Audio, Video, Disco" shows a refreshed look of the duet's work, Justice did not abandon their one in a kind hard-electro signature.

When they released "Civilization" in May, their new track introduced a new genre of an electric rock version similar to what we would have heard back in the '90s when listening to emerging punk rock bands. "Brainvision" and "Helix" both include a strong electric guitar that recalls that same inspiration.

If a punk electric rock influence comes out of their new album, "Audio, Video, Disco" also impress with the way Justice masters a chiller sound heard in "Ohio" and "On'n'On." Once more, Rosnay and Auge show their ability to jump from one type of rhythm to another without losing their original style. These two songs might be less dance-like but they still amp the volume knob to the right, and the listener appreciates the slight bass and the airy vocals on them. 

"Audio, Video, Disco" proves to Justice's audience that they don't only remain master of a new synthpop genre, but also prove their ability to come up with impressive matching combinations of sounds that do not fit in any particular category. It is refreshing then to listen to a successful revival of an iconic pair of electronic freaks.

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