Undisputably the UK's biggest dance act of the past few years and fresh from selling 800,000 copies of last year's 'Singles' compilation, Felix Buxton and Simon Radcliffe return with their fourth album proper, taking us into the world of 'Crazy Itch Radio'.
As with most records by the Jaxx, there is the usual mixture of collaborators, from regulars such as Vula (she of 'Oh My Gosh' appears on first single 'Hush Boy', a made-for-Radio-1 single-by-numbers that ticks all requisite boxes) to Swedish former-90s pop star Robyn, to the more urban vocals of London grime star Lady Marga, whose 'Run 4 Cover' targets lads who think a bit too much of themselves.
Always seeming the musical equivalent of the Notting Hill Carnival, Buxton and Radcliffe do what they do best here, namely making having a good time the priority. Admittedly sometimes they overdo the cheese, while a couple of the tracks have the air of album filler about them.
When it works though it does so pretty well, with the stand-out track being the banjo-led 'Take Me Back To Your House', surely one of the few times that instrument and the house genre have come face to face. You wouldn't bet against it being a big hit.
Overall, as you would expect from any outfit so many records in, quite a lot of 'Crazy Itch Radio' feels like we've been here before, but when it is good - as it is in patches - we don't mind the walk back down memory lane.
