Kish Kash is the third studio album by English electronic music duo Basement Jaxx, released on 20 October 2003 by XL Recordings and Astralwerks.
After a lengthy tour which caused them exhaustion and homesickness, they settled in their new studio and wanted to develop a fresh new approach, less reliant on grooves and samples and more focused on songwriting.
Returning from their 2001 world tour to promote Rooty with exhaustion and homesickness, Felix and Simon settled into their new Brixton studio.
[7] While making the album, they both stayed away from clubs, preferring to ignore the latest fads in dance culture, wanting to develop a fresh approach, less reliant on grooves and samples and more focused on songwriting, often starting with just a voice and guitar.
"[8] Someone else then said the title was "like a box of chocolates or a Gareth Gates album", so they changed it to Kish Kash before the artwork went to print.
[10] The album opens with "Good Luck", with vocals contributed by Lisa Kekaula, a member of the American rock and roll group The Bellrays.
"[11] "Benjilude" features vocals from Joe Benjamin, a 70-year-old Bermudan man "that walks around Brixton with a Stetson hat, a large stick and a kind of poncho."
"[14] In a 2015 interview with Songwriting Magazine, she recalled the sessions with the duo, stating that they "definitely taught [her] about sonics and sound, and also just the method of singing a lot and letting someone sift through it all and find the phrases which they like.
Basement Jaxx had previously been inspired by their peers in the dance music scene, but by the time of recording Kish Kash this had changed.
"[6] Around this time, the duo listened to artists that had "a less direct influence" on the record including Radiohead, the Neptunes, Timbaland and System of a Down.
"[20] Mark Pytlik from Pitchfork summed up the album's musical genres: "Containing fused-together fragments of disco, electro, acid, bollywood, new wave, and whatever the hell the incredible 'Living Room' is, Kish Kash's gaudy world collage fell by the wayside next to the minimalist sounds of microhouse and grime.
The single featured Mercury Music Prize-winning artist Dizzee Rascal and British Bhangra vocalist Mona Singh on the chorus.
"Good Luck" was re-released in July, due to exposure on the BBC coverage of the Euro 2004 television campaign.
A music video which didn't feature Siouxsie Sioux was also made for "Cish Cash", though it was not released as a single.
Despite being very pleased with the album, the duo expected a critical backlash for its star turns and darker sound.
"[8] Scott Plagenhoef of Pitchfork gave Kish Kash a score of 9.1/10, calling the album "the most propulsive, ferocious music of the year as well as some of the most poignant.
"[33] Stephen Dalton of NME, on the other hand, called Kish Kash "a naggingly problematic record" with "a void at its heart that no amount of cool celebrity mates can conceal.
"[28] Dave Simpson of The Guardian was critical of the album's "recurring sense of enforced jollity" and "lame attempts at introspection", but concluded that "anyone left standing on pop's dancefloor will certainly lap this up".
"[24] Robert Christgau of The Village Voice was more reserved in his praise, giving the album a three-star honorable mention rating and remarking: "Is that blood the big-time vocalists smear on the tracks, or ichor?
[40] It was voted the eighth best album of 2003 in the Pazz & Jop, an annual poll of American critics nationwide, published by The Village Voice.