Customer Reviews

Cross (for US release)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The MP3 download version of this album contains an incorrect file for "One Minute To Midnight". The correct "One Minute To Midnight" is found here, on the "Toxic" compilation: http://www.amazon.com/One-Minute-To-Midnight-Justice/dp/B0026EECJS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1283974012&sr=8-2

This album is a lot of fun. I'm a guy with eclectic tastes ranging from alternative country to ambient breaks and I dig this album because 1. it defies categorization. 2. it's orginal. Sure, maybe the sound has been "done before", but it still sounds fresh to my ears. It's the kind of album you can listen to a long time and find a new layer to entertain you. 3. The music manages to combine a sense of humor and fun with a hard/dark edge which I love and few acts do well these days. Think Daft Punk meets Chromeo meets Hexstatic. The first track is awesome, like 2 DJs doing Darth Vader's March vs. a Joy Division cover while on laughing gas. It could be the soundtrack of a classic Kung Fu movie meets MJ's Thriller video remake. The rest of the album is great too, only a couple tracks that I haven't really liked so far (D.A.N.C.E. among them, but it grew on me.) If you're a musical purist, and complain about how it's not really this or that genre/style, or too derivative of Daft Punk or anything else, don't get it. If you like smiling and listening and grooving at the same time, buy it. You won't regret it.

Cross is Justice's first album. They have since become very influential in the electronic music scene, taking influence from Daft Punk. Although Daft Punk may have influenced them, I personally feel that this album transcends the emotional impact that Daft Punk's albums have had on me. Justice takes gritty beats and makes them not only enjoyable to listen to but very fun to dance to. Many contemporary electronic artists have a specific type of listener they try and target (as their unique music requires a certain type of person to enjoy, such as Nintendocore). This is not the case with Justice. They are a band that takes musicality and rhythmic precision very seriously. Not only are the songs musically sound and very technical, but also almost all of them induce urges within me to get up and dance.

The first song on their album is called "Genesis". The song itself has a loud introduction, which sets the tone for the rest of the album, as most of the songs are very energetic and fast-paced. The timpani rolls provide a dark yet epic introduction, also foreshadowing the style of most songs on the album. After the introduction of the song, a sinister melody is played. Besides this melody, the faint sound of a girl saying "yeah" can be heard in the background. The subtleties in this song excited me as I started to appreciate the amount of work that must have gone into making details like that sound good while still fitting with the song. At this point, I started to have high hopes for the album and listened intently for more intricacies.

The second song on the album is titled "Let There be Light." Before discussing this song, something that should be noted about dancing in a party or night club setting (where Justice's songs are primarily played) is that people are just trying to have fun and are normally not worried about the technicalities of their moves. The flexible nature of some songs on this album mimics this approach, allowing the lenient and lack-of-restrictions mentality that people have when dancing at parties or nightclubs. "Let There be Light" is a perfect example of this. In this song, Justice is able to make gritty sounds enjoyable to listen and dance to. The beat is very precise, yet the loose, wavering sound in the background gives the song a feeling of freedom. All the distinct melodies come together very nicely as a testament to Justice's musical precision. When all these elements come together, it creates a great recipe for dancing.

The third song on the album is named "D.A.N.C.E". Using children to sing the vocals gives this song a very playful feeling. The introduction has children telling the listener to dance, giving the song a very innocent tone. Despite this innocence, once the beat kicks in it's hard to resist the urge to dance like there's no tomorrow. There is a lot of bass guitar here, which gave the song an aura of funk. This contributes towards the urge to dance. There is a nice integration of both piano and electronically generated sounds that would make both Schaeffer and Stockhausen proud.

The fifth song on the album is called "Phantom." This song is a perfect example of how Justice is able to blend musical elements from disco, techno and rock. There are many distinct sounds that can be heard in this song. The introduction uses a keyboard and some sounds that are electronically generated. It gives the song a sinister feel, which is further supported by the beat that starts later on. The bass line also helps contribute to the ominous tone of the song, but also gives it the funky texture to constitute this as a song to dance along with.

Not every song on this album evoked an urge to dance from me. Justice stays true to the other traditional use of music, which is for pure listening entertainment. The seventh song "Valentine" is the first song to stray from this album's dance theme. It starts off yet again with the ominous tone, but I see this more as a transition from the sixth song, which had a dark feel to it. Once "Valentine's" base melody started, I realized this was more of an easy-listening song. The beat is slowed by a considerable amount and the melody is more playful than the earlier songs. The pitches of the notes are also higher and this gives the song a bouncy and blissful feeling. I thought this song was a nice change of pace from the fast-paced, sinister sounding songs that evoked feelings of excitement from me. I'm guessing that Justice wanted the entire album to be played continuously (because of their perfect transitions between songs) and that "Valentine" is meant to serve as a break from the energized first half of the album.

But Justice's talents do not lie purely in their musicianship. The eighth song on the album is called "Tthhee Pparrttyy" and is a good example of Justice's lyricism. The beginning of the song has a synthesizer playing chords very slowly while a hi-hat plays on the offbeat to keep the rhythm. The simplicity of the music made me focus on the lyrics which were very well crafted and although the overall tone of the song seemed very relaxed, the lyrics made me want to go and party. I felt that this was intentional because during the middle of the song, the familiar beat and sinister bass line started up again, meaning that it is time to dance.

The best thing about this album is that the transitions between songs are seamless, yet each song played independently still sounds great. This makes listening to the entire album in one sitting an amazing experience. This album elevates the listening experience, as well as electronic music, to a whole new level.

The small French dance duo, Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay, became notable to many others in the United Kingdom with "Never Be Alone". This "Never Be Alone" totally makes you dance. Soon after that all the remix offers followed. Then the group was soon deconstructing and re-pumping tracks from Franz Ferdinand and Britney Spears. The burgeoning direction of Justice's dance vision that they just released their own record (the superb Attack Decay Sustain Release) admired many artists, all while riding on a wave of UK club hits. So it's not surprising that Justice's debut disc, Cross, emerged shortly after. Together, they're signaling a return to the roots of why dance music got so popular in the first place.
It's refreshingly light in approach. Justice obviously doesn't take themselves too seriously as one can tell by tracks like "D.A.N.C.E.". However, that doesn't mean they lack substance. Although one can never be sure, it doesn't seem like the work of a one-hit wonder. For one thing, there are a number of strong tracks on the album. Most importantly they have an original take on the electro-glam sound, which is so popular these days.
Yet some other critics have mentioned some negative thoughts on this French duo. A lot of reviews compare this to Daft Punk, but I truly believe that those comparisons have more to do with the fact that these groups are both French duos working in the same genre. It is possible that, maybe, there are more similarities than that. Yet Justice is not nearly as repetitive as Daft Punk tends to be. Moreover, in my opinion, the songs of the Justice are more gritty and dirty. Above all, people have to resist this temptation to pre-judge them based on the feelings about Daft Punk. Listeners should hear them as their own group. Some might say that Justice is a mere copycat, however this should not be the case.
It was extremely enjoyable to hear how they mix repetitive noise and dissonance with such catchy melodies and pop hooks. "Let There Be Light" is brutal, but compelling. By all means, it will definitely be appealing on your ears. It will make you just want to dance. While the rhythm is tight, there is this fantastic feeling of looseness as if the instrumental parts were not entirely quantized on a grid. Because it is not quantized, the overall feeling of the sounds is not heavy at all. In my opinion, I think this feeling is extremely awesome and important part that all techno-sonic music should have. The lack of rigidity seems to be one of the key factors in the very danceable nature of this disc.
This album, Justice's Cross, has mixed the best parts of the all time music. The beautiful sounds of orchestral strings from 70s with the robotic sounds of synthesizers from 80s were brought toghether. In addition to that, the exciting beats from the early 90s were mixed with the bass of the late 90s. This mixing of all genres turned this into a masterpiece. Even though that sounds from 70s and 80s might be out of fashion, the Justice did an awesome job. They managed to clean it up and extracted out the best out of it. The whole thing will leave you electronically satisfied, for sure.

This album was the first Electronica I heard. ever. I had been raised in the really classical-loving family, and just never got into any of this. well. too late, for now I make my own Electro. this album is great. it's really dark, beat heavy, bass heavy, and just so much fun to listen to. my least favorite track is newjack. just doesn't do it for me. but pretty much all the other ones are amazing. I love the way Genesis floods into Let There Be Light. and I really love Valentine. Definitely worth the money. it's a unique and beautiful piece of music, and one for the history books.

I enjoyed this album. Ive been listening to them for about two or three years now. I like that the album has a kind of rock edge to it while at the same time I am able to dance to it.

Was it good? Sure, it was fine, almost fun to listen to (the first time, at least).

Was it worth the price? No. If this was 4 or 5 dollars, I would recommend it, but it is dangerously close to that 9.99$ threshold, which it simply isn't worth.

Many of the songs seem to blend together, but I doubt that this was intentional on their part. Yes, it has that trade mark "Daft Punk type sound", but it is *not* as creative or energetic as Daft Punk.

I would be hard pressed to say that any song on this album did not consist of the following: Start with a catchy beat, repeat for 1/2 verses, alter slightly for one verse, alternate to original for next verse, alter slightly for next verse, etc.

The two songs that did have actual singing in them ("Tthhee Ppaarrttyy" and "Dvno") were completely shallow and crude, both intellectually and rhythmically.

It really hurts me to rate such a promising band so poorly; I really *did* want to enjoy this more, but the creative energy just is NOT there.

All in all, this album is worth hearing if a friend owns a copy and lets you borrow it, but it is not worth the trouble of paying for.