Klaxons are from outer space. OK, England, really (Stratford-Upon-Avon and Bournemouth to be exact), but with a name like Klaxons (Greek, meaning “to shriek”) and a sound they’ve dubbed “new rave,” they may as well be. And they’ve shot straight through the atmosphere like a glow stick with rocket boosters. Zero to next-big-thing in like 8 seconds flat.

Right from the get-go the British music press went cuckoo for Klaxons. And with their debut album imminent (“Myths of the Near Future,” Geffen), the band may well become this year’s Arctic Monkeys.

Yeah, yeah — the hype is all fine and dandy, but what the heck do they sound like? They’re danceable for sure, but not in a wimpy-with-lots-of-keyboards sort of way. They are also unabashedly rock, with songs constructed of repetitive parts ala techno music, particularly the drum patterns which sound more like programmed loops than a real live drummer. Their lyrics don’t make a ton of sense either, but they sure do sound cool (sample: “Tone zodiac in tune with the fossils of our themepark / And falling from the seams, is a steeple swarmed light”).

Klaxons won’t be for everybody. They’re brash for sure, and sound better high than sober. They are also band that could have only come from the UK. We just don’t breed rock bands quite like this. There’s something about the way they make aggressive rock music sound so darn rhythmic that we Yanks just don’t do. Fugazi might come close, but rave-ready they ain’t. Call it young, loud and dancey.

Klaxons – “Totem on the Timeline”

Klaxons on Jools Holland:
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