UK "indie rave" merchants Klaxons are back, three years on from their hyperbolic entry into the blogosphere (via slavish UK press coverage) with their Mercury Award Winning debut
Myths of the Near Future. According to the machine, the bands new album
Surfing the Void has been completed under the gaze of producer Ross Robinson (Sepultura, At The Drive In, The Cure), after previous sessions with a series of producers (Tony Visconti, Bernard "Focus..." Edwards, Jr, James Ford) failed to satisfy all concerned. The result cited in the press release as "a brilliantly diverse and engaging alternative rock record, mashing the best bits of Blur, Muse & The KLF, yet still making a record that sounds uniquely, fabulously, Klaxons."
Blur, Muse and KLF hey? Perhaps that's why the first taste of the record in 'Echoes' sounds (and looks) a little...dated?
Klaxons - 'Echoes'
Which seems a shame considering that after the band turned their original
Myths... follow up in to their label Polydor early last year, they were told it wasn't up to scratch. And to return to the studio. To fix it.
Band member Jamie Reynolds told the
NME then:
"Yes [we were asked to re-record part of the album], Because we've made a really dense, psychedelic record. We've made a really heavy record and it isn't the right thing for us, I understand and know that. First and foremost we're a pop band. I haven't thought about that for a long time, and now it's in the forefront of my mind."
Mmm. Klaxons found themselves at the pointy end of the zeitgeist with
Myths of the Near Future because they had the presence of mind to marry the then faddish shapeless haze of synth riffery and dance energy with hooky indie guitar rock songs. So last year they (Animal Collective) attempt to return with a "really dense, psychedelic record" (Tame Impala) and they're told that (MGMT) it's a
bad idea? THAT'LL NEVER WORK.
In any case, such a backlog should make for plenty of live cuts to choose from. Something the band will demonstrate in September this year when they arrive in Australia to play just two shows, one each in
Darwin and Hobart Melbourne and Sydney.
KLAXONS - 'SURFING THE VOID' AUSTRALIAN TOUR 2010
Thu Sept 2 - ENMORE THEATRE, SYDNEY
Fri Sept 3 - PALACE THEATRE, MELBOURNE
Tickets go on sale Thursday July 29 from
ticketek.com.au