Surfing The Void

Klaxons

Release Date: 23rd Aug, 2010
Label: Polydor
Genre: Indie

Who are these people, and in which stinking Shoreditch alley have they dumped the soiled, miaow-riddled body of new rave? Three years ago Klaxons were painted as the spurious genre's idiot storm troopers by a music media who made the whole thing up anyway before ditching the band to free up valuable column inches for the altogether more pressing business of reporting Pete Doherty's drug farts. Meanwhile, the trio's nods to 90s rave culture - some bright hoodies and squelchy synths - instantaneously earned them the ire of 'serious' critics who hoped the whole dreadful racket would simply do the decent thing and fall on its own glowstick.

Luckily for Jamie Reynolds, James Righton and Simon Taylor-Davis, they were able to laugh the entire caper off as a private joke that got out of hand, and if their 2007 debut album Myths of the Near Future has worn about as well as the reedy earliest efforts of, say, Depeche Mode and The Prodigy, then Surfing the Void finds them operating nearer those two bands' high water marks: Violator and The Fat of the Land.

The catalyst for this miraculous turnaround appears to be the unlikely figure of producer Ross Robinson, better known for sprinkling his angle grinder's fairy dust on albums by Korn, Limp Bizkit and Slipknot. Earlier sessions with Simian Mobile Disco's James Ford resulted in Polydor supposedly rejecting the first version of the album, but Robinson is an inspired choice, his way with skull-crushing density 'roiding up Klaxons' sound like a muscle mary. There's no smoke without fire, however, and the band still needed to come up with the framework on which Robinson could hang his sonic black holes.

Don't despair space cadets: it's not as if Klaxons have ditched the sort of lyrical nonsense that had Reynolds asking us to "flank my foghorn" on Gravity's Rainbow. Oh no. As Extra Astronomical, Cypherspeed and the title-track all suggest, the same sort of eccentricity that sees Matt Bellamy pegged as a loveable boffin is well intact, but it's the sheer depth of the sound that drags you in like ultimate gravity. Also intact is their underlying pop instinct, common to every band Robinson works with, but he never gets in the way of the basic thrills on stadium-sized single Echoes or the rushing Flashover.

It may stick in the craw of anyone who previously dismissed Klaxons as callow stooges in a record company marketing plan, but against the odds it might be time to sit up and pay them some respect.

Reviewed by Andy Fyfe

About The Artist

Klaxons

Artist Homepage

Klaxons are an indie rock band based in London. The band consists of Jamie Reynolds (bass, vocals), James Righton (keyboards, vocals) and Simon Taylor-Davies (guitar) with drummer Steffan Halperin being officially added in 2007. Reynolds, Righton and Taylor-Davies formed the band in New Cross, London, United Kingdom, in 2005 Their debut single, "Gravity's Rainbow" was released on 29 March 2006 as a 500 copies limited 7-inch vinyl, decorated by the band themselves. Their first first EP, Xan Valleys, was released on 16 October 2006, and contained their first two singles alongside some remixes. Following the release of numerous 7-inch singles on different independent record labels, as well as the success of previous singles "Magick" and "Golden Skans", the band released their debut album, Myths of the Near Future on 29 January 2007. The album won the 2007 Nationwide Mercury Prize. After headlining their first tour (the 2007 NME Indie Rave Tour), as well as playing numerous festivals and headlining tours worldwide, the band started working on their follow-up album in October 2007. HMV describes Klaxons as "acid-rave sci-fi punk-funk", a phrase lifted directly from Tim Chester's Radar feature in NME, while their MySpace page touts 'Psychedelic / Progressive / Pop'. However, they are one of the isolated acts being referred to as 'Nu Rave', a genre term coined by Angular Records founder Joe Daniel, who released the trio's first single. Though the band's sound is decidedly art rock, they draw upon some less common influences - notably the rave culture of the 1990s, which they appropriate and redefine in a post-modern fashion. Their influences are perhaps most represented in their covers of rave hits "The Bouncer" by Kicks Like a Mule and "Not Over Yet" by Grace. Both tracks have since been released by the band, the first as part of a double a-side with "Gravity's Rainbow" in March 2006 and the latter as a single on June 25, 2007 titled "It's Not Over Yet". While the band are consistently hailed as the defining act of the sparsely-populated Nu Rave movement, Klaxons have worked to avoid being typecast as champions of the disputed genre that may or may not exist. Indeed, it is questionable whether or not the style referred to as "New Rave" is even appreciably different from the older genre dance-punk. Even so, Klaxons member Jamie Reynolds expressed no regrets at the dubious honor, saying that "...it's great that it started as an in-joke and became a minor youth subculture" Klaxons recorded a song All Rights Reversed with Chemical Brothers on their album We Are The Night(2007). On New Years Eve Klaxons will play their first DJ set in over a year by headlining the world famous Brixton Academy for 'Get Loaded in the Dark' alongside Simian Mobile Disco, Chase & Status, Annie Mac (BBC Radio 1), Herve and Sub Focus. For more info head to http://www.getloadedinthedark.com

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50 Comments

alvinitaly87 22 Dec 2011

VERY VERY SOLID!
BostonLemonade 26 Oct 2011

takes a few run throughs, but this definitely grew on me. randomly decided to listen to it the other day and it's really damn good.
mutiilator 23 Oct 2011

I am in love with this album. Way better than Myths indeed.
Kzllxr 22 Oct 2011

Magnificent and way better than the first album. [x2]
jt_18 26 Sep 2011

not as exciting as MOTNF, but it has nice melodies, I just hope they don't get any poppier for their third
Daniel_Green 22 Sep 2011

Epic cover art [2]
shayan-x 17 Sep 2011

lacks the chaotic fun of MOTNF
GNR27 13 Sep 2011

Echoes is awesome though!
AndreeiaCris 07 Sep 2011

fail
whohoojam 23 Jul 2011

I <3 that astrocat [3]
unholy13 28 Jun 2011

I <3 that astrocat [2]
Arnold_J_Rimmer 04 May 2011

I don't like this album, gonna wait for another ...
rustedempire 22 Mar 2011

I <3 that astrocat
clinicall 13 Mar 2011

Cover art is a knock off of the band 'Wolfs in a spacesuit', you should be ashamed Klaxons.
Angelight2012 05 Mar 2011

Epic cover art
dinamiteg 22 Feb 2011

Drugs.
acurran 12 Feb 2011

Best cover art ever [3] Album's pretty solid also, but that cat...
PrimeElement 02 Feb 2011

Best cover art ever [2]
blackbook668 25 Jan 2011

Please stop with the lame album comparisons, it's stupid and boring.
Balloons 25 Jan 2011

MotNF is definitely better, but I do like this one too.
No-Exit 16 Jan 2011

Its more like a logical continuation of the first one.
ChristineMorgan 28 Dec 2010

Best cover art ever :D
pop-in-dark 25 Dec 2010

I don't think we must speak about this album as better then first one. It's another.
Mattblackep 24 Dec 2010

Magnificent and way better than the first album.
asiasliwinska 22 Dec 2010

Akromatop, i agree. this album is way better. i like every song on it, seriously : D i could listen to it all the time and i woudn't get bored : )
rvnvalente 08 Dec 2010

HERE COMES THE FLASHOVER (2)
simplygabriel 07 Dec 2010

With a lolcat in the cover, it wouldn't be a bad album *-*
Goatbreath 06 Dec 2010

HERE COMES THE FLASHOVER
neon-heart 28 Nov 2010

This album is my obsession. ♥
rogier96 27 Nov 2010

lol
crazyforninja 21 Nov 2010

Amazing album! Every song is great! [4]
adi51 19 Nov 2010

better than first album [2] a lot better ...
YURBAN_VOLLEY 11 Nov 2010

вышак!))
ivire 08 Nov 2010

I'm Disappointed. :(
fuckthislove 07 Nov 2010

amazing album +1
GreenGrizzly 06 Nov 2010

да,классная песня!
flowerhq 02 Nov 2010

Echoes тащет весь альбом
NandoPolvilho 23 Oct 2010

Fucking awesome !!!
ViNnYsTaR 19 Oct 2010

http://www.indiescutibile.it/2010/10/recensione-klaxons-surfing-the-void/
Por_amour 06 Oct 2010

Amazing album! Every song is great! [3]
Arthurayoflight 06 Oct 2010

better than first album
BrunaGMedeiros 04 Oct 2010

Amazing album! Every song is great! [2]
PsychoKrusher 01 Oct 2010

I love it from the begining to the end.
mutiilator 01 Oct 2010

Definitely digging this. A couple weak songs here and there, but overall a really solid follow up.
globcik 27 Sep 2010

yes, ofc, the first one is better, but this one is great too.
bybeDkid 22 Sep 2010

Echoes <3
JovanaJoxy 21 Sep 2010

Echoes, The Same space, valley of the calm trees, future memories <3 really a great album.
BenzoMay44 19 Sep 2010

I don't get why people are hating this, maybe it's because I've not heard the first album, but this is really cool.
TioDeath 19 Sep 2010

Valley of the Calm Trees <333 Cypherspeed <33 Twin Flames <3
stumble-laugh 18 Sep 2010

The Same Space <3