To be quite honest, I wanted to hate this album with a passion. Everything that it's associated with roughly falls into the same exact bullshit I think independent music and online magazines need to stray away from entirely. Christ, there's even a ridiculous genre name cropping up to describe this sound, along with all the other rejects from the Ed Banger label who wish they could sound as precise and well done as Justice (Blog House?). Whenever a sound gets hot, be it from a particular region or developed from a particular style, there will always be a handful of artists who take that sound and mold it into something that is in a league of its own. With Dubstep, we had Burial, who's loose-yet-locked approach to the genre really captivated what people liked about the area of music, while still bringing in a sense of innovation. The assortment of problems with this phenomenon is that even though these artists may have a fairly decent handle on what they are doing and can produce interesting work, it's barely as innovative or groundbreaking as hype creators like to claim. Dubstep was a hot genre last year;  there is no denying it. Everyone went mad for it, despite the fact that probably 90% of it isn't even that good at all. Yet after one good, competent artist comes along and creates a competent album, an onslaught of ridiculous press claims and bandwagon jumpers follows. It's unnecessary and overblown, but that is how it works.

I think Justice is to 'French House' as Burial was to Dubstep. All I hear anyone talk about lately is the Ed Banger label and this supposed 'house' scene that is taking over the electronic world with it's gritty synthesizers run through Guitar Rig and compressed percussion. Like Dubstep, I find that most of this stuff is a total bore at best; the rest either offends me or has nothing special at all going for it, not nearly enough to warrant the amount of acclaim it is receiving. And to take the peg of Justice's new CD down a notch, there is nothing on this release that you can't hear spread throughout other areas of music. Cross is ripe with Daft Punk influence (though I find it a bit unfair to call it a rip off), typical elements of uninteresting Ed Banger material, and it is not as innovative as people will begin to claim. Yet, the album eliminates the worst possible parts of its reference points, opts to extract the best possible parts  instead, and creates something that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Cross' ridiculously compressed style somewhat reminds me of Chris Clark, as if he ditched melancholic IDM and field recordings, and replaced them with house and disco strings. The use of melodic instances, while not at all groundbreaking, is still well done within the scope of what it's trying to accomplish. Though far more consistent than I thought it would be, there are still a few moments on this CD I could do without. The biggest flaw on this album to me is "The Party." It takes too long to get into and the lyrics, sung by Ed Banger princess Uffie, are bad, even if (or especially if) they are ironic. I must confess I'm not really a huge fan of "Waters of Nazareth" either, though it isn't too bad. The worst elements of this CD are still a shot above the rest. Highlights for me include the short but massive "Newjack," with it’s precise and heavy vocal cut ups that propel it along, in addition to "Phantom" with its slow funky groove that glides along until it distorts itself into chaos.

Years ago, I was asked to make an electronic mix CD for a friend who was not too familiar with electronic music. Her taste was not bad by any means, but she did not know where to look to find a decent electronic record. Being well involved in the scene and it's many, many variations, I was certain I could help her out. But a funny thing happened; I could not find enough material that was technically proficient, yet had broad appeal. Even with my extensive mp3 library, filled with my favorites from House, IDM, Ambient, Drone, Jungle, Detroit, and countless other genres, I had a really hard time even coming up with an hours worth of material for the uninitiated. I didn't want to give her a bunch of convoluted minimalist bullshit that would alienate her, yet I wanted to avoid over the top displays of cheese or extensive, chaotic beat programming.

This album as a whole, despite some setbacks, is one of the few albums I would recommend to her without much hesitation. There are not many albums I would give the same treatment, and because of this I have to appreciate what Justice had done here. Not only does it speak to me, but I have a feeling it will speak to many others, and that is hard for me or anyone else to come by these days.

-Eric Common