Justice — †

Living up to the hype, French future house duo Justice have concocted the most impressive dance album of 2007 with †. Exploding and imploding with funked up beats and truckloads of complex rhythmic cymbal crashes, their debut walks a line only Daft Punk treaded as skillfully before them, and that's the line between pop genius and noisy, electro-punk experimentation. The inspired children's choir/disco single "D.A.N.C.E." mixes playfully with the buzzing, chopped up "New Jack," leading the eager listener gently into the album's glittering, more intense songs. Seventies disco strings and '80s retro keyboards are played up, but never to the point of kitsch. They even make Uffie sound good on drunken anthem "Tthhee Ppaarrttyy." † is an electrifying album with fresh ideas, risky compositions and dance floor-ready beats, and it unflinchingly adheres to the Good Pop Music rule book.

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