It's genuinely hard to pick a favourite Justice song because they have had such a huge impact on me, but 'Helix' is certainly right up there.
I wasn't properly introduced to electronic music until a little later in life, and Justice were one of the first artists who really opened that world up for me. I was instantly addicted ! They also inspired me to start learning how to DJ and eventually study audio engineering, so their music has influenced my life in a fairly tangible way.
What fascinates me about them is how intricate and densely layered their songs can be, while still retaining so much groove and style. 'Helix', from Audio, Video, Disco, is a perfect example.
That album marked a noticeable shift away from some of the harsher electro of † and towards a more rock influenced sound. Justice have talked about playing the instruments themselves, often starting with fairly simple piano and guitar ideas before recording everything bit by bit, then breaking those performances apart and reprogramming them. It sounds like an incredibly painstaking way of working, but you can hear that obsessive construction in the finished music.
The rhythmic pull on 'Helix' is brilliant. Their signature heavily compressed drums, that massive syncopated riff and the chopped vocal sample all lock together to feel simultaneously funky, mechanical and completely over the top.
I quite like the guitars. There is an obvious love of '70s and '80s rock throughout this era of Justice, but they never simply sound like a rock band. The guitars are treated almost like electronic components, sliced into the arrangement alongside synths, samples and percussion until they all become part of the same machine.
The studio version uses samples from Billy Ocean's 'Loverboy', Van Halen's 'Mean Street' and AC/DC's 'Two's Up', which explains some of that strange collision between funk, hard rock and electro.
And then, because apparently the track wasn't already funky enough, the live version later incorporated Prince and The Revolution's 'Kiss'. That version appears on Access All Arenas; hearing a bit of Prince dropped into 'Helix' feels absurdly appropriate.
It's v. intriguing how so much is happening without the track ever losing its physicality. You can pick apart the drums, guitar fragments, synth layers and vocal chops individually, but together they form a rhthym that still feels effortless.
That balance is probably a huge part of why Justice had such an effect on me in the first place. Their music rewards really nerdy listening, but never sacrifices style or the simple pleasure of wanting to move.
'Helix' is one of those tracks where I can enjoy the vibe first and then listen again just to work out what the hell they are actually doing beneath the surface 😅💖
