Justice - Cross

I have never been a fan of the electronica genre, but something made me want to give French duo Justice a listen after reading comparisons to Daft Punk and the fact that they are somewhat controversial because they unabashedly use the Judeo-Christian cross symbol as part of their repertoire. Blender refers to Justice as "an electronica act for people who think electronica sucks"(Issue 64, Nov '07). Daft Punk's Discovery came to mind because that was a cd that unexpectedly blew me away back in 2001. It became part of an L.A. trip soundtrack that same year. Four years later, an acquaintance of mine and I were driving down to Alabama to attend a New Year's Eve party. Five hours into the trip and two more to go we had run out of conversational topics. I put in Discovery and suddenly we were smoking, laughing our asses off at and talking shit. To this day, that album is an instant party reviver, no matter who's in the room.

Anyway, I bought Justice's latest release, Cross (Ed Banger Records), and gave it a listen. Genesis is a fantastic opening track, but as the album progresses I feel like it's trying to be Discovery with a stronger rock influence (incidentally, the band is managed by DP's manager). The Kubrick element could have totally been my gateway into loving the material, but it was a disappointing trip into electronic filler music. I have to give it an Unmoving. -K