Klaxons

[SomethingElse]

Klaxons scoop Mercury album prize - The Klaxons said they were "very happy" to win the award.

Rock band the Klaxons have won the Nationwide Mercury Prize for the best album of the past year, beating Amy Winehouse and the Arctic Monkeys.
The "new rave" group from south London scooped the £20,000 prize for their debut Myths of the Near Future. Singer Jamie Reynolds said they deserved to beat Winehouse because she made a "retro record and we've made the most forward-thinking record".

Winehouse performed at the ceremony, her first appearance for several weeks. She gave a breathtaking rendition of Love Is A Losing Game from her nominated album Back To Black - but it was not enough to win her the award. There was uncertainty over whether she would even turn up after attending rehab following reported * use. Speaking after the show, her father Mitch said: "She was very happy to be here. And I'm just thrilled she was here. She gave a brilliant performance and she looks well."

Klaxons, who have only been together for two years, looked elated as they hugged and ran on to the stage to collect their award from Jools Holland. The Mercury Prize judges said the group took them on an "ecstatic musical adventure". Their album, which features the singles Golden Skans and It's Not Over Yet, reached number two when it was released earlier this year. Klaxons have tried to produce something that feels like it came from the future.

NME editor Conor McNicholas, who was on the judging panel, said Winehouse's performance at the ceremony was "amazing".

"I've never been to an awards ceremony where somebody has performed and the room has been genuinely silent, proper pin-drop stuff," he said. "But we have to take into account an awful lot and at the end of the day the Klaxons was felt to be the right decision.It's an album that could only ever have been made in Britain, could only ever have been made at this moment in time and it's a multi-layered album."

Winehouse's album was "one of the greatest vocal performances this country has ever seen", he admitted. But he added: "You can argue that ultimately it is a backward-looking album and one of the things Klaxons have tried to do is produce something that feels like it came from the future." Winehouse's personal problems did not factor in the decision, he said. "I can honestly say it genuinely comes down to just the music on the album - everything else is shut out of that room."

Last year's winners the Arctic Monkeys were nominated for their follow-up Favourite Worst Nightmare. But the Sheffield band did not attend the ceremony because they are on tour in the US. Rapper Dizzee Rascal, who won the award in 2003, was also up for the prize, as was singer-songwriter Natasha Khan, aka Bat For Lashes - the bookmakers' favourite. The shortlist was an eclectic mix again this year, ranging from Leicestershire indie trio The Young Knives to classical quintet Basquiat Strings. Other nominees included Fionn Regan, New Young Pony Club, The View, Maps and Jamie T.

Ladbrokes spokesman, Nick Weinberg, said: "The Klaxons win was a shock. All the money had been for Bat For Lashes. We were pleased to get Natasha Khan beaten. It was the worst result in our book."

Go to the source to see the pictures and a brief video interview. news. bbc.co.uk . published 4 September 2007

 

[BaroqueRockstar]

i LOVE the klaxons, simon is quite cute too

 

[Salvatore]

I love their cover of "Not Over Yet" so much!

 

[yourbestfriend]

I just saw them today, they were so good! Mystery Jets opened.

W/ Mystery Jets

source: me

 

[beatrice_neumann]

Now those are some fashionable boys, they are wearing Brian Lichtenberg hoodie tanks and necklaces. fancy!
I'll go buy me some, too.

 

[strawberry daiquiri]

IN AN ONGOING COLLABORATION, FASHION DESIGNER AND ROCK PHOTOGRAPHER HEDI SLIMANE TEAMS UP WITH MUSIC WRITER ALEX NEEDHAM TO BRING THE UNDERGROUND TO CENTER STAGE

KLAXONS
Standard-bearers for a rave new world

Periodically, London is convulsed by the kind of microfad that is incredibly exciting for the people inside it and the subject of much hilarity and incomprehension (and maybe a little jealousy) from the people locked outside. Such is the current craze called new rave, all but invented by three sharp 20-somethings from Stratford-upon-Avon. Named after the kind of air horn that used to be blasted at raves, Klaxons has almost single-handedly revived fluoro T-shirts, glow sticks, sweaty warehouse parties, and the playing of ’90s rave records in indie discos—all of which new rave hallmarks have swept through the more hipster parts of the capital over the past six months. Klaxons—whose music is a giddy mix of clattering punk funk and euphoric trance-y keyboards—has even covered two classic British dance anthems: Kicks Like a Mule’s “The Bouncer” (refrain: “Your name’s not down, you’re not coming in”) and Grace’s rousing “Not Over Yet.” Having spent the past year building up an ever more hysterical live following, and getting right up the noses of the rock traditionalists in the process (Noel Gallagher of Oasis described it as the worst band he’d ever seen), Klaxons is now setting out to prove that there’s more to it than the kitsch rave accoutrements. It’s working, too. On the Sunday afternoon these pictures were taken, the band—Simon Taylor, 24 (keyboards); Jamie Reynolds, 26 (vocals); and James Righton, 23 (keyboards)—discovered that its third single, the trippy and addictive “Golden Skans,” had reached the British Top 20. New rave be damned: Klaxons’ next self-proclaimed mission is to subvert normality itself. “We’ve got an unashamed desire to be a pop band while being as out there as possible,” says Reynolds. Taylor posits Klaxons as the antidote to a played-out post-punk revival: “We want to be ambitious, celebratory, and euphoric.” In 1978, X-Ray Spex sang about the day the world turned Day-Glo. Thanks to Klaxons, it’s happening again.

Photography Hedi Slimane
Text Alex Needham/vmagazine.com

 

[SomethingElse]

^ "We want to be ambitious, celebratory, and euphoric." Here is the link to their website and MySpace.

 

[KhaoticKharma]

Come with me, come with me, we'll travel to infinity...

 

[Mchunu]

Golden Skans is my fav.
it should be one claimed as one
of the biggest & most original songs
of the millenium.

From their Wiki. Article:

In May 2007, NME magazine placed "Golden Skans" at number 40 in its list of the 50 Greatest Indie Anthems Ever. The song has been covered on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge on different occasions by both Mark Ronson and the Kaiser Chiefs.

 

[titania]

I just saw them today, they were so good! Mystery Jets opened.

i only wish mystery jets had opened klaxons' show on thursday night but damn arms opened. still, all was good.

 

[cutxpaste]

i don't like them all that much, but 'gravity's rainbow' is quite catchy

 

[nat_attak]

great band. i saw them a while back at the el rey.

 

[nicestthing]

LOVE THEM!

I would love to see them live someday!

 

[mcnuwave]

the klaxons are my secret lovers...hehe!!!! i love them!!

 

[ednafrau]

because i finally saw them live last saturday (they were incredible!!!) and because it's been too long since photos of the klaxons have been posted, here goes!

source: virginmedia.com - musicwallpapers.net - hitoralp.co.uk - gigwise.com - sydney.diarystar.com.au

 

[ednafrau]

i took some pix which aren't too good, but what the heck, i'll share 'em anyway! i absolutely recommend those who have the chance to see them live to do so without hestitation, their energy is amazing and their music is upliftng and demential and truly original!

and the setlist (the only song off "myths of the near future" they didn't play was "forgotten works", which i love, but all in all it was an unforgettable show!)

happy, musical sunday everyone!

 

[|BellaDonna|]

luv their music it helped give voice to the emotions i had inside while going thru a rough time

 

[jennifer~]

I bought Myths of the Near Future on a whim (or bipolar shopping spree) and, unsettlingly, I cannot stop listening to it.

 

[eewwaa00]

looking forward to listening oto their new upcoming album which is to be released at the end of august! I saw them live on Heineken Opener Festival in Poland where they've resented some of the new material and it was just outrageous!

 

[therethere]

Curious about them live.
Going to photograph their gig in a few months probably, looking forward to it!