X-Press 2 - Muzikizum

It would have been so much more rock & roll to just walk away after the success of "Lazy", licensing tracks to every single advertising company willing to pay you and then retire happily bathing in champagne. Instead after releasing a single which only failed to make the top spot due to Pop Idol Gareth Gates and featuring the best vocal David Byrne has done in years....they follow it with an album "Muzikizum" which at its best is entirely forgettable.

But you can't blame X-Press 2, you've got to look at the culture that surrounds them and at the end of the day dance music works much in the same way as pop music. Its all about recreating the moment in one defining tune, the rush of hearing that classic tune in Ibiza or hearing the latest S Club 7 tune is pretty much the same emotional response, and when it comes to the practical realities that idea can't be stretched to a full album. Take Fatboy Slim (X-Press 2's label mates) who delivers classic set perfect essential DJ sets, but when it comes to his own albums his ideas are stretched to the realm of parody.

"Muzikizum" is entirely bereft of a single original idea and with the exception of the aforementioned "Lazy" and possible follow up single "Call That Love" is one of the most forgettable albums of the year. Like Timo Maas, X-Press 2 seem to have the idea that simply because they can DJ or produce one classic tune they have the god given right to release an album. It's records like this that explain exactly why the music industry is on its knees right now.

Alex McCann

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