[3] They first rose to popularity in the underground house scene of the mid-1990s,[4] but would go on to find international chart success and win Best Dance Act at both the 2002 and 2004 BRIT Awards.
In 1992, Simon Ratcliffe began releasing white label records, gaining him the attention of several music producers including LTJ Bukem and Goldie.
The success of these releases enabled him to buy a few electronic musical instruments and set up a basic studio in a friend's mother's basement.
[19] They released their first extended play called EP1 via the British independent record label Wall of Sound, with the help of its founder Mark Jones.
[22] An important milestone for Basement Jaxx's career was their role as the opening act for successful French dance group Daft Punk's Daftendirektour.
Following the success of "Fly Life", the duo signed a record deal with XL, with whom they released their subsequent six albums.
"[19] In 2003, Basement Jaxx released their third full-length album, Kish Kash, which included contributions from Siouxsie Sioux, Lisa Kekaula (of the Bellrays), Me'shell Ndegeocello, Dizzee Rascal, Totlyn Jackson, JC Chasez and Phoebe.
The track "Good Luck" was re-released in 2004, after exposure from being the theme to BBC's Euro 2004 coverage, and was also featured in the soundtrack of Just Married and Appleseed, an anime film released in 2004.
Basement Jaxx's manager, Andrew Mansi, says Astralwerks chose not to renew its U.S. licensing contract with the duo.
The duo appeared as a headline act on the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury Festival in 2005 when Kylie Minogue was forced to pull out after being diagnosed with cancer.
[28][failed verification] Their fourth studio album, Crazy Itch Radio, was released on 4 September 2006 in the UK, simultaneously with its first single, "Hush Boy".
In 2009, Buxton revealed in a BBC Radio 1 broadcast that Basement Jaxx's forthcoming album Scars was completed and being mastered.
Buxton stated that the tracks include guest appearances by Yoko Ono, Santigold, Lightspeed Champion, and Yo!
[34] In November 2011, Simon revealed the pair were working on a new album – hinting that some tracks were already appearing in their DJ sets.
[35] At their first live show for several years at Chiswick House Festival in July 2012, the band performed some new material from their forthcoming album including the song "Diamonds".
The music video, directed by Saman Kesh,[44] is about the development of a "twerking" robot that is intended to save humanity from a world without dancing and features the robotic prototype simulation of human buttocks "Shiri" developed by the Japanese scientist Nobuhiro Takahashi.
[46] Sophie Ellis-Bextor, as well as The Botz and Garold Marks, have stated they are fans and would like to collaborate with Basement Jaxx in the future.
[50] In 2007, their track "Close Your Eyes", sung by Linda Lewis, was featured in the Japanese CGI anime movie Vexille.
Felix Buxton appeared on Never Mind the Buzzcocks on 23 September 2013 – the opening episode of Series 27, on Noel Fielding's team.
[51] In 2019, the duo composed the music for the CITV animated series The Rubbish World of Dave Spud.
"I used to listen to Choice FM where the legends of the scene could be heard and went to Blackmarket Records in London’s Soho to try and find the sounds I was looking for.