The constant comparisons to Daft Punk must irk fellow Frenchmen Gaspard Auge and Xavier de Rosnay, aka Justice, aka the newest dance-crossover sensations on the block. For starters, Justice don't wear silly robot costumes or smother their faces in lumps of hard plastic. They don't have an extravagant stage show, nor have they inspired LCD Soundsystem to pen a tune in homage to their party-soundtracking smarts. However, they do share an uncanny number of similarities with their Parisian counterparts, so maybe the lazy correlations do hold water. For example, they both met while at college, they both have connections with Ed Banger records (DP are managed by Busy P, head of the label that Justice have released this album on) and both released debut records that were - and are - seen as cutting edge and ahead of their time. It's perhaps unfair to place such a weight on Justice's shoulders so early, but † is a genuinely exciting debut that is certainly influenced by Daft Punk (what modern dance act isn't, to some extent?), but still manages to retain an originality. Their breakthrough hit, a remix of Simian's 'Never Be Alone' which they transformed and re-packaged as the massive 'We Are Your Friends' smash is omitted here, but it makes scant difference; there are enough original compositions here to keep feet moving all the way through. Genesis and the brilliant Stress have a sinister cinematic gradient, the latter's apocalyptic delirium sounding like an updated soundtrack to Nosferatu; Valentine sounds like a bittersweet love ballad written by ELO and remixed by Satan, Waters of Nazareth is a epic, stonking floorfiller that builds and builds, and Phantom Pt. 2 makes clever work of sampling the theme to horror film Tenebre, sprinkling a healthy dose of bass funk and retro grime on top of it. It's the tracks that use vocals that are the most effective, however; disco mix-up DVNO ups the pace just as the midway slump is in danger of taking hold, and the Uffie-featuring Tthhee Ppaarrtty is one of the few tracks that's easy on the scuzzy synth sound and heavy on melodies. By far, one of the best dance crossover albums you'll hear this year.
