Klaxons
Myths Of The Near Future

THE REVIEW

Chronicle of a Disappointment.

A few months ago, in the midst of an important session on the couch, my attention was captured by a rather bad music video—three idiots dancing in front of a psychedelic-technological background—but guys, what a track! These are the Klaxons: rock flair, raucous singing, and keyboards more plastic
than Simona Ventura's nose, my shrunken pelvis starts to move, I spill the barley coffee
staining my flannel shirt and short-circuiting my electric blanket…

With the flannel still dripping, I rush to the computer station and download every single file available
on these guys, unfortunately not much: an EP and a couple of singles… but what tracks! The characteristics are always the same, but it's clear that these guys know what they're doing… even my feet and Porky Pig slippers are possessed by this incessant and damn modern rhythm…

Another video, still bad… and I begin to discover what's happening across the Channel… NME declares the
birth of a new genre, New-Rave, and interesting bands like "Shit Disco" or "We are Wolves" join the bandwagon. I even spent 1.46 euros plus shipping to get hold of the movement's compilation-bible (Digital Penetration, Rough Trade label): my life was turned upside down. The temptation to leave my electric blanket and soccer stickers was strong, I wanted to become a new-raver, but I had a curfew at 11, so I consoled myself with the news of the first Klaxons LP at the end of January.

A month before this event, the first single, Magick, the video is still bad, but you can see they definitely have more money to spend now; the track is dramatic, the keyboards are less plastic, great bass line, but… it's not a bad track, but I don't move anymore… it's missing that freshness, that naivety, that being damn fools of theirs… Second single, Golden Skans, bad video but this time the song is no better, a sci-fi ballad that says absolutely nothing, the choruses are unfortunately perfect, damn, if I wanted something like that I'd listen to the Scissor Sisters… mom, I don't want to be a new-raver anymore, I'm enrolling in university…

And here is finally the album, browsing the tracklist I notice all the tracks that made me fall in love with them, which comforts me quite a bit… but horror! They tuned the guitars, they pitched the voices, they de-plasticized the keyboards! Damn chic frou-frou production, now these tracks can only be danced by the little guy in the pink Playboy shirt and glasses that cost as much as a year's pension for my grandma…
And the other tracks? Brit-Pop with sounds a bit different from the usual, but nothing more, you could say it's commercial stuff, but I don't know how much it could catch on with the so-called pop-public. Forget sticky choruses and degenerate choruses, in short, the healthy fooling around we all deserve…

Doing a bit of simple sociology, there was that subtle and tricky and fundamental shift from being cool to being trendy… I invite everyone to get "Xan Valleys EP" and forget about this very commercial older brother.