New Basement Jaxx is always sometime to get excited about. Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe are back with with their fifth full-length album, Scars, due sometime this summer. It's probably the record I'm most looking forward to over the next few months. "Raindrops," the album's first single, is really good:

There's a lot going on, but all the individual parts work together toward a unified goal, rather than duke it out amongst each other. The song still feels huge, just not the kind of huge that's bursting at the seams, but the kind that emerges when a great melody's given proper room to breathe, something Basement Jaxx, when they're on their game, do better than anyone else. Sure, the lyrics are essentially a vehicle for the Buxton's deliciously dramatic man-diva vocals and that massive chorus, but that's the entire point. "Raindrops" hits in four minutes the sort of emotional sweetspot that most dance acts require (at minimum) eight to find, and that's always been the Jaxx's greatest strength.
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