klaxons-mythsofthenearfuture music reviews Virgin Media
Groucho Marx once stated "I don't want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member". For supposed "new rave movement" founders and next big thing of the moment Klaxons, this much-anticipated debut album should provide their resignation from a club they have quickly outgrown.
What's more, such pigeon-holing is unfair on a three-piece which has only been going around a year. However, there's no doubt Jamie Reynolds, Simon Taylor and James Righton have put the hours in. The rapid rise has come thanks to a ton of riotous gigs attended by glo-stick wielding nutters going mental to the band's mix of scattergun drums, frenzied basslines, anthemic choruses - oh, and the odd rave siren.
Consolidating such live credentials have been four excellent singles, all featured here: the paranoid dance-punk lunacy of Atlantic to Interzone, Gravity's Rainbow and Magick, as well as recent top 10 hit, the gloriously poppy Golden Skans. Fortunately, the rest of Myths… is just as exciting. Setting Klaxons a cut above is a knack for melody and rhythmic lyrics packed with literary references (even the album title is a J G Ballard book), and a breathtaking grasp of dynamics. Sure, rave is referenced in a cataclysmic cover of dance favourite "It's Not Over Yet" by Grace. By the same turn, the quality of songwriting of the aforementioned Golden Skans and the post-metal Muse-like apocalyptic lunacy of album closer Four Horsemen of 2012 demonstrate that Klaxons have much more up their sleeve then merely making dance music with guitars.
Whether Klaxons like it or not, membership to the indie superstars club alongside Franz and Razorlight is imminent. Myths... is that good - good enough for people to be, ahem, raving about for years.
