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Klaxons’ No Rave Scene
By Cam Lindsay
Forget what you’ve heard or read about Klaxons because chances are it wasn’t accurate. This “new rave” business that the British press have smeared on any band with a danceable rhythm section does not apply here. “We’re not a rave band and we’re not trying to be perceived as a rave band,” confesses irked guitarist/vocalist Simon Taylor. “We’re a pop band playing pop songs. People show up with glow sticks and whistles dressed in neon expecting to rave, but we’re not playing to that.”
Ever since the band and a friend jokingly coined the term as a foolish sub-genre that had yet to exist, it’s managed to follow them around like an evil curse. “We did invent it but it didn’t have anything to do with us. It doesn’t have any synergy with what the three of us do.”
What the three of them have done is reach an entire new generation in the UK with their frenetic gigs and arguably the year’s most rousing debut full-length in Myths of the Near Future. Clearly lacking rave’s distinguishing features (unless you count one blaring siren on “Atlantis to Interzone”), instead the album is simply a perfectly constructed head-trip. “The idea was to not use electronics, but replicate them organically with the bass and guitar and with a keyboard. It wasn’t to use beats, because it’s not really a dance record. You can probably shimmy to it a little.”
But raving is another story. It’s come to a point where Taylor’s asking a journalist for advice on how to cope. “I think we should just succumb to it,” he admits, half joking, half defeated. “Perhaps we should start dressing in neon and tracksuit bottoms, blowing whistles with sly faces. We did a photo shoot once wearing some funny capes and then everyone said it was this ‘new rave’ thing, which has stuck like shit! It’s funny how nothing else has stuck.”
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Great Lake Swimmers Dive In
 Like Neil Diamond and Johnny Cash before him, Tony Dekker was once a solitary man. His band, Great Lake Swimmers, personified loneliness with their weightless arrangements, canyons of space between acoustic guitar chords, and Dekker’s lost choirboy vocals that sounded almost smothering in their empa...Read More
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The Locust Mellow Out
 “Anyone can scream. It seems really immature,” says Justin Pearson. “We’ve screamed as loud as we can and as hard as we can, and there’s really no need to do that. We can still be as artistic and abstract and evil and political without screaming full-throttle.” As the bassist and vocalist of San Die...Read More
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El-P’s Insomnia
 While most artists struggle their whole career to find their voice, Brooklyn, NY rapper-producer El-Producto has pushed the boundaries of hip-hop since co-founding Company Flow in 1992 with Bigg Jus and Mr Len. Even then, the sound of this seminal “independent as fuck” trio was unique, and when Rawk...Read More
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The Continuing Journey of Autorickshaw
 The cultural presence of Canada’s South Asian population has given rise to a wave of Indo-Canadian fusion bands; Tandava in Vancouver, Tasa in Toronto and Galitcha in Ottawa each have different takes on fusing Indian traditions with other musical impulses. Based in Toronto, Autorickshaw is the busie...Read More
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Tinariwen’s Rebel Music
 The Sahara desert home of Touareg blues rock shamen Tinariwen breeds a special kind of high lonesome sound. Finding a proper recording environment, however, is a challenge. The band travelled 1,200 miles to reach the studio in Bamako, Mali, but principal member Abdallah describes the experience as ...Read More
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Check out the hottest new releases in the country this week, including: David Bowie David Bowie: Deluxe, Fear Factory Mechanize, Hot Chip One Life Stand, Watson Twins Talking to You, Talking to Me, Yeasayer Odd Blood...
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