In the deliriously vibrant and glittery environment of the actual music, the kitsch and domestic understatement of the album cover and artwork for ‘The Little Ginger Club Kid’ makes for something of an interesting and rebellious choice. Whereas Basement Jaxx comply the full nine-yards with album titles as club friendly as ‘Rooty’ and ‘Remedy’ and artwork as style-conscious to boot, Tim Deluxe roots his debut offering firmly in the ordinary and familiar. The pictures accompanying the release depict an ordinary kid in an ordinary house doing ordinary things on ordinary holidays. What’s he up to? He’s not laying down boundaries; that’s what he’s doing. He’s not drawing a line between his life – your life. And he’s not drawing a line between clublife and homelife. Why not? Because for Tim Deluxe going to a club means getting your best rags on in your bedroom, putting on some vinyl, pulling the ring on a tinny or two and jumping on the bus with your mates to get there. For folks like Tim Deluxe there is no dividing line between the world of laptops, takeaways, taxi-rides and mobile phones and the glamorous mirrorball of fun that is nightlife. Each flows into the other. Past, present and continuous. The Jaxx, on the otherhand, like to keep their worlds distinct. In Jaxxworld you simply open a portal and the world is suddenly glittery, exotic, brash and removed. They’re keeping your world and their world apart. They’re keeping your own two worlds apart.
So what can you say about the non-separatist ‘The Little Ginger Club Kid’? Well for one it’s a very fine album indeed and brimming over with the same funky carnival spirit that made last years summer anthem ‘It Just Won’t Do’ (featuring Sam Obernik) such a delicious and frisky hit and current single ‘Less Talk More Action’ (featuring Terra Deva and NOT Ertha Kitt) such a flirtatious and giggly joy. During the first half of the album, the Latin beats and chill vibes are there in doses, as to are the solid grooves and shape-shifting double-entendres. Second half though, and the tone changes. The dreamy flow and glide of ‘Story Of You and Me’ is pure lounge, and shows a side to Terra Deva that belies the nasal, erotic whine of ‘Less Talk More Action’ – but proves as equally funky and seductive.
Ben Onono with whom Deluxe co-wrote ‘It Just Won’t Do’ turns up again on the Orbital/Beloved inspired house-burner, ‘Choose Something Like A Star’ and the gently eastern ‘Little White Ship’. But it’s the Bollywood and bangra style punch of Shahin Badar’s ‘Mundaya’ that really displays Deluxe’s masterful grasp of his market and his tools. It’s a robust and joyful album from start to finish – and there’s not a bad track on it (even if he throws us with the occasional genre leaping antic – namely, The Streets-esque ‘What A Life (Amsterdam)’)
Just another DJ/Producer trying his hands at being an artist? I think not. And the personalized ‘ginga’ number plate that is the album cover is testament to it.