Basement Jaxx Goads Its Audience Into a Party

Electronic music’s commercial window of opportunity may have come and gone, but artists like Basement Jaxx will always find a niche. At a time when dance music is moving into more specialized subsets, these British house music masters throw out a wide net with their novel ways of upping the party quotient.

At Vynyl on Friday, Simon Ratcliffe and Felix Buxton explored a vast expanse of musical terrain while maintaining a relentless, frenetic groove. That’s not easy.

There are numerous house artists who toss in musical exotica with their beats, but it often results in something gimmicky. Basement Jaxx, on the other hand, masterfully twist double helixes from the DNA that links the thumping euphoria of house and the celebratory vibes of salsa, hip-hop and a range of tropical music. At Vynyl, Buxton and Ratcliffe led the crowd on a guided musical tour that moved seamlessly from the goofy techno-funk to furious dancehall reggae rap.

And Basement Jaxx aren’t exactly your standard-issue British circuit-tweaking malcontents, either. Buxton and Ratcliffe worked their decks like a tag team, taking turns spinning vinyl while the other grabbed a smoke and danced. So infectious was Basement Jaxx’s music mix that a few bold audience members jumped up on stage to provide some visual thump-and-grind for the show’s two-hour duration.