The Klaxons - "Golden Skans"Myths of the Near Future, 2007
The Klaxons (and the salivating superlatives attending their meteoric rise) remain one of the better examples of the hyperbolic tendencies of the contemporary British music press. Hailed as the "next big thing" and among the first wave of a nascent "new rave" scene (a largely figmentary resurrection of Hacienda-inspired, MDMA-addled, technicolor sonics), The Klaxons were seemingly everywhere in 2007. However, as someone once noted, one band does not a movement make, and, "new rave" proved to be neither "new" nor exceptionally rave-worthy.
These days, it seems every emergent English band of promise is all but destined to be, at least in the eyes of the British music press, the "greatest band of all time". Frankly, it's a little hard to take any of these pronouncements seriously. How many times can one cry "the next Coldplay" before such claims begin to ring hollow?
Maybe these enraptured, misguided prognostications are the inevitable byproduct of nearly five years of artistic disappointment. The endless procession of thoroughly forgettable, definite article-wielding groups all but destined to combust faster than you can say "Razorlight" has certainly made for an utterly banal and tired domestic music scene. This generation's "great" band, The Libertines, imploded in a very public maelstrom of heroin/crack-fueled hedonism. The musical power balance has once again shifted to the United States. Long gone are the days when American bands needed English approval before they could be fully embraced by U.S. listeners. How did it come to this? Does anyone remember 2003?
The Klaxons may prove to be just another also-ran in a ever-growing list of decidedly evanescent British bands, but the strength of their songs seems to suggest a permanence and longevity not found among a great many their countrymen peers. While their debut (Myths of the Near Future) was a little uneven, when it was good, it was great, and "Golden Skans" was my favorite moment on this record. The Klaxons don't sound like many other bands (which is more than enough to set them apart in a national scene teeming with all the originality of a system of interchangeable parts). It could be the myriad sci-fi references, the boundless, polyglot creativity, or it could simply be the ready incorporation of electronic textures at a time in British music when it was more fashionable to sound like The Clash, The Specials or The Jam (or at least a very pale imitation of these seminal bands). Or maybe it's simply that they are energetic and original at a time when, at least among English bands, such traits are exceedingly precious and few.
NME's Single of the Year in 2007 (perhaps a reason why I shouldn't really like this song) and apparently inspired by a lighting display, "Golden Skans" is a brilliant slice of infinitely catchy, polyphonic pop veritably teeming with hooks. It whizzes by at a staggering clip (it's over in less than three minutes) and all but demands to be replayed. Who knows what will become of this band, but, for now, they remain one of the very few points of light at a very dim time for British music. At the very least, whenever they release their next album, it's safe to say, there will be a long line of English critics celebrating its arrival, and, for once, they might not be wrong.
Watch the video here.
Up next: #98 - Yeasayer - "2080"
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