Damn you, Basement Jaxx.

'where's your head at' came on the radio and for a full five seconds i thought it was 'makin like a rug' by eleventh dream day

that was weird

'Raindrops' pretty much sucks. This is why I didn't revive the classic 'new Jaxx' thread. :[

wow it...really does suck. a lot more than i expected :/

Okay I've been defending the Jaxx for a while now but this is just stupid and bad

I'm beginning to think pop is just broken this year.

o no

dare i

I like this!

It reminds me of stuff like "Take Me With You" and "The Terrace" (and, um, pertinently, "Romeo"), how can that be a bad thing.

As per their recent EP, they seem to be getting more rather than less kitchen-sink-ish. I can see how this could get to the point of actually grating on people's nerves (reminds me of SR's notion of "zone of fruitless intensification") but I don't think I can ever resent it really.

I like this too.

i dunno it's Felix singing right? he just sounds a lot worse than on previous less mental efforts (If I Ever Recover, Being With U). a better vocal and i wouldn't mind it quite as much altho the numerous bells and whistles do still feel much clunkier and way more un-necessary than usual. there's a decent tune in there somewhere but i find it smothered by all these bad qualities.

It really sounds like basement jaxx doing a massive summer anthem and I kind of love it for its lack of sutlety.

I agree with Tim F really, it's way better than almost everything off the last album. Would be miles better with a female vocalist mind, as it stands it's enjoyable if not mindblowing.

The 'chorus of chattering gremlin voices' style of production is starting to grate a bit though, but then they've been doing that since Rooty. It's kind of their thing. Actually Raindrops sounds more like a Rooty-era track than anything else - Romeo in the stiff clunky bass, but also Jus' 1 Kiss in a big way as well. It's not the carnivalesque funky-influenced comeback I was hoping for though :(

It's reminiscent of "Romeo" sitting on a humongous pile of manure.

I tried to listen to this for a short while and I didn't like it. Sorry.

I read a recent interview where they mentioned listening to a lot of minimal (!) but no mention of UK funky. Their namechecking Berlin is a tad ironic - Tom's (very good) review of this explicitly contrasts their style against minimal, correctly I think. Though "Raindrops" could be DJ Koze trying to make a chart hit I guess.

Agree this would be better with a "proper" (preferably female) vocalist.

heard it once, thought it was actually really good!

Haha actually the very first thing that came to mind (ie within the first few seconds of the song) was Beautiful Life by Gui Boratto, like they were trying to ape it in a Basement Jaxx style. That soon disappeared as the song kicked in and I'm not quite sure they'd be able to do it even if they tried.

On the other hand, they did make If I Ever Recover...

Actually this has just prompted me to dig out Kish Kash again, which has led me to the old thread where everyone is just 'OMG OMG OMG OMG!!!!' for about 500 posts, and I miss the days when ILM would really just go completely insane for something all at once. Also, Raindrops ain't all that in the grander scheme of things.

But mostly, I'm listening to Lucky Star right now and the sad/weird thing is that in today's climate it would be UK #1 with a bullet, as opposed to slipping in somewhere in the mid-20s like it did in 2003.

WTF, "Raindrops" is a total monster! Vocals remind me of MGMT a bit.

Yeah, if nothing else I think they've judged the broader climate correctly (though if they ignore UK funky completely then they've missed a trick) - a dance music equiv. of MGMT is a very clever direction to go in I suspect.

It makes sense that I wouldn't like this then, since the little bits of MGMT I've heard have made me want to destroy all music so that no one could ever abuse it again.

it sounds ploddy and unfinished, you people who like this are nuts. nothing happens in it! one really boring synth line, it's so boring it barely qualifies as a hook, over and over again and all the way through you're just like "...and? well?"

and the way it acts as though it's got these huge builds and releases when there's NOTHING THERE

this song is great.

ha ha lex you fucking fruitcake!

i'll be very pleased to see this at number one. great song, however it's mixed. good to see them back on form.

it's bad

I think the hook and the song are pretty good (not mindblowing or anything) but the production feels very clunky, it's that exact same clunkiness that bothers me about MGMT so this single will probably be massive.

what bothers me about mgmt is the guy's voice - puts me right off/gives me a headache (that post-jack white stridency which is very unattractive). musically they're fine.

as long as it's not bev bevan on drums i'm fine with clunkiness in pop!