Justice || Audio, Video, Disco

Justice
Audio, Video, Disco
Label: Ed Banger Records
Released on: October 24th, 2011
Grade: 2 out of 5 meatballs
Reviewed by: Gina Provenzano

Parisian duo Justice are back on the scene after a four-year absence since their breakthrough album Cross. Since that 2007 release, dance music has only gained momentum and is finally seeing some mainstream hits using similar beats and structures to classic electronic dance music, namely with music from Calvin Haris, David Guetta and Benny Benassi. This recent explosion of pop electronica, along with the slick single "Civilization," made the return of Justice even more exciting and could have meant a breakthrough for the group into the mainstream. Unfortunately, their latest album Audio, Video, Disco never fully gets off the ground.

Where Cross borrowed heavily from 70s disco, Audio, Video, Disco ironically borrows more from guitar-driven rock and roll of that period. Many songs begin with arena-style guitar riffs and with the band exploring slower-tempo songs than their previous works. The problem then is that the songs don't stray very far from their exciting beginnings. Instead of buildup and tension, the songs for the most part remain even throughout and often sound like they are missing a layer or need vocals. Audio, Video, Disco sounds more like the first album of a band experimenting and trying to get its footing. If it were a first album it would have more impact and show more promise than as a follow-up to such a solid and modern classic debut. There are a few standouts on the album that have repeat listening value. Those are again "Civilization," "On'n'On," and "Newlands," which all have great hooks, fun vocals and are generally danceable tracks.

I'm still looking forward to their next album, because even though this one is not my cup of tea, the duo is very talented at creating songs from samples and tracks. I just hope that they evolve on to another era or genre of music that is more suited to their dance-roots talent.