KLAXONS
Myths of the Near Future
Geffen/Polydor
· Believe the hype or buy into the backlash, the Klaxons could still surprise you.
As far as made up genres that don’t actually describe what the music sounds like go, "new rave" fits in somewhere between "acid jazz" and "emo rap." Klaxons are not at all new wave, not really rave (outside of that ubiquitous air raid siren on the second single "Atlantis to Interzone") and, heck, not even anything new. What they are is actually mind-numbingly simple, once you strip away the glow-stick toting fans, neo-neon psychedelic album art and NME bollocks. They’re a fun, fairly catchy and very British pop band, with a gimmick that, though they’ve admitted was an in-joke to begin with, they are still taking all the way to the bank.
Another thing the three-piece has done well is to integrate some of the most successful qualities of other U.K. hype groups – the frenetic percussion of Bloc Party, the jagged guitars of Franz Ferdinand, even some Damon Albarn-esque vocals – with their own abnormal electro sheen and oddly literary lyrical twists. Sure, not every song works (the Aleister Crowley-referencing "Magick" is straight-up annoying, and "Totem on the Timeline" might as well be an Arctic Monkeys reject), but tracks like the previously mentioned batshit crazy "Atlantis," Pynchon-pinching "Gravity’s Rainbow" and undeniably hooky "Golden Skans" are all party-starters ready for a fist pump (or invisible orb spin – whatever floats your boat).
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