BONUS TRACKS: Justice, "D.A.N.C.E."
An electro-disco gem that conjures Michael Jackson by way of Daft Punk
Bonus Tracks is for songs that might not get a full essay and so otherwise wouldn’t be written about. These shorter write-ups will post on Tuesdays, while the main essays run on Fridays.
Hey you know that French electronic duo from the 2000s that fused rock, disco, and techno to craft catchy as hell dance-pop singles that rose them to prominence and allowed them to do film scores and worldwide tours? Who? No, not Daft Punk, although yes, they do kind of fit that description, I guess. No, the other duo from France, the one that had a huge debut album and then maybe didn’t deliver on that promise although they have developed a cult following in the years since. Who? No, not Air! I mean, c’mon, how many French electronic duos are there, anyway? I’m talking about Justice!
If you missed Justice, I can’t blame you. Back in 2007, they were kind of a blog-house* staple thanks to their debut album Cross (though you will sometimes see written only as the symbol you see below on the cover in an obvious Prince homage) which took expected cues from their fellow Frenchmen and extrapolated them into some kind of “opera-disco” (to use their term) concept record that runs those influences through a filter that sounds like a trash compactor from a 70s sci-fi movie. Good stuff, right?
*I will not be explaining the term “blog-house” any further. Just peruse this listicle if you must know.
Justice are Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay, who started out remixing other group’s records, most notably the Simian track “Never Be Alone.”* They worked on remixes for dozens of tracks from French electronic groups to Fatboy Slim to Britney Spears. Personally, I tend to be pretty lukewarm on the whole remix thing, but it can be fun to hear how someone with a distinctive sound like Justice puts their own take on another artist’s song. (Check out the original version of “Never Be Alone” to see just how radically different a remix can be.)
*The “Never Be Alone” remix has kind of a complicated history, because if you missed it in 2004, you might have heard it in 2006 when it was given a proper release under the name “We Are Your Friends,” which also lends its name to the 2015 movie where Zac Efron is a DJ. And if all of this sounds completely foreign and made up to you, congratulations, you are a normal person with normal interests.
When Cross was released in 2007, comparisons to Daft Punk were inevitable. But Justice are every bit as influenced by hard rock as they are dance music, despite today’s song literally being called “D.A.N.C.E.”In a Best New Music Pitchfork review, Jesse Harvell wrote that Justice had been “filtering hard rock (never a French strong suit) through disco until it sounded more Judas Priest circa 1983 than Stardust circa 1998.”* Cross landed at #107 on their list of the 200 Best Albums of the 2000s, and “D.A.N.C.E.” ranked #91 on the Best Songs list. The record is full of sounds that seem like mistakes: excessive digital distortion, fuzzy tones played way too loudly, 16-bit nonsense barely pretending to sound like a guitar. And yet turning all of that into a catchy, accessible dance song is no small feat.
*Stardust was a one-off side project from Daft Punk member Thomas Bangalter and Alan Braxe, whose lone song, “Music Sounds Better with You,” is one of the most note-for-note perfect pop songs of the 90s.
To be fair, there’s nothing particularly hard rock about “D.A.N.C.E.” For that you’ll need to listen to the rest of the album, like lead single “Waters of Nazareth” that will make you think you’ve blown your laptop speakers. Or the proto-dubstep album opener “Genesis,” which supposedly features samples from the likes of 50 Cent, Prince, and Slipknot. Or my personal favorite, the one-two punch of “Phantom,” which, taken together, sounds like a computer farm started a rock band and wrote the score to a horror video game.
For “D.A.N.C.E.,” Justice leaned more into their “disco” side than they would anywhere else at this point in their young career. For the vocals, they worked with the Foundation for Young Musicians choir in London, which gives the song a playful, schoolyard feel that provides some important levity into the album. Speaking with Attack Magazine, de Rosnay praised the kids for the way their youth and naivety came through, and they said the kids were so good they had to intentionally nudge the recording to get them slightly out of tune. The whole thing feels loose and effortless, despite how meticulous it was to create.
And it’s not all naive: it still has an absolutely filthy bass line that sometimes sounds like it’s threatening to rattle the entire song of its foundation, but this is balanced by the light, bouncy disco synths that give the song its throwback charm. The whole thing is simultaneously retro and thoroughly modern, which only adds to its quirky place in 2000s pop.
The song is also primarily an ode to Michael Jackson, and shamelessly steals from his music and lyrics to show that. There are references to everything from “ABC” to “Black or White,” but maybe the most prominent lift is the reference to “P.Y.T.,” which we all know stands for “Pretty Young Thing” and one of Thriller’s most bubblegum moments (although it also has a similarly meaty bass to make sure you know it still has an edge to it). It also has some robot vocals and a harder edge in the back half that honestly also wouldn’t sound out of place on a Justice record, so I always thought the ode to Michael was well founded.
Aside from a live album documenting the Cross tour, I confess I haven’t kept up much with Justice, who are still very much active and apparently have a new album coming at some point this year. I may check it out, because even though I’m not a huge dance/electronic music guy, Justice do a lot of the things I find myself gravitating to when I do want to put on something that sounds like it was made by robots who enjoy dancing. I don’t know if they have anything in them as fun as “D.A.N.C.E.,” but I’ll give them a chance to surprise me again. They’ve earned it.