Surpassed
Over the weekend I bought The Klaxons' debut album 'Myths of the Near Future' because I vaguely recalled liking what I heard when RTR-FM had it as their feature album a couple of weeks ago. I didn't recall any details, because I only listen to RTR-FM when my alarm goes off in the morning, and anything I hear has to make it through the foggy layers of sleep to reach my brain. But apparently it made it through, and apparently I liked it, because I bought it and now I'm very happy that I did.
Why I like it is hard to say, since I can't really compare The Klaxons to anyone I know. I looked up a few reviews on the web, and I learned a couple of things.
One, they're part of something called New Rave, or nu-rave, depending on how cool you are, which apparently is almost but not completely unlike Old Rave.
Two, I am totally over that bitchy, sneering, jaded tone universally adopted by the British independent music press. A few of the reviewers actually admitted that they wanted to say how much they liked the album, but because of something a Madchester producer said to the New Musical Express sub-editor in 1994 regarding Damon Albarn's haircut, they couldn't. Or, you know, something like that.
However, I waded through all the snark and the bitterness, and I did find one idea that seemed to sum them up: they sound like somebody trying to re-record mid-90s dance music using indie-style guitars and drums. And indeed they do. Why couldn't someone just say that at the begining?
Sadly in going to the CD store and reading some music mags, I've also discovered that I am now too old to keep up with music. I mean, I've heard of Gnarls Barkley and Snow Patrol, but if you put a gun to my head and asked me to say what they sounded like, or to name one of their songs, well, I guess my brains would be splattered all over the wall by now. That's not to say that I wouldn't like them if I heard them - I'm not that far into decrepitude yet - but I'm just incapable of keeping up with the ever-changing names.
Maybe it's also a sign on incipient fogeyism that I love OK Go's video for 'Here It Goes Again', without worrying about whether or not it is cool to do so. I salute any young person who says "I will practice flawlessly timed and choreographed treadmill dancing until I can do it in an unbroken three minute take." Therein lies the future of our great civilisation.
Why I like it is hard to say, since I can't really compare The Klaxons to anyone I know. I looked up a few reviews on the web, and I learned a couple of things.
One, they're part of something called New Rave, or nu-rave, depending on how cool you are, which apparently is almost but not completely unlike Old Rave.
Two, I am totally over that bitchy, sneering, jaded tone universally adopted by the British independent music press. A few of the reviewers actually admitted that they wanted to say how much they liked the album, but because of something a Madchester producer said to the New Musical Express sub-editor in 1994 regarding Damon Albarn's haircut, they couldn't. Or, you know, something like that.
However, I waded through all the snark and the bitterness, and I did find one idea that seemed to sum them up: they sound like somebody trying to re-record mid-90s dance music using indie-style guitars and drums. And indeed they do. Why couldn't someone just say that at the begining?
Sadly in going to the CD store and reading some music mags, I've also discovered that I am now too old to keep up with music. I mean, I've heard of Gnarls Barkley and Snow Patrol, but if you put a gun to my head and asked me to say what they sounded like, or to name one of their songs, well, I guess my brains would be splattered all over the wall by now. That's not to say that I wouldn't like them if I heard them - I'm not that far into decrepitude yet - but I'm just incapable of keeping up with the ever-changing names.
Maybe it's also a sign on incipient fogeyism that I love OK Go's video for 'Here It Goes Again', without worrying about whether or not it is cool to do so. I salute any young person who says "I will practice flawlessly timed and choreographed treadmill dancing until I can do it in an unbroken three minute take." Therein lies the future of our great civilisation.
posted by Blandwagon at 5:33 PM
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