Htef Shau Ert

If the title doesn't make sense to you, go out and buy the Klaxons debut cd "Myths of the Near Future" and read the vertical words on the crossword puzzle on the front cover. Maybe it's secret Klaxons code, the newest "new rave" slang, or just gibberish.
Fabled as the creators of the "new rave" genre over in the England scene, then claiming it was a joke that got out of hand. Whether it was a joke or not, it caught on and helped sell records. Their initial EP "Xan Valley" leaned more towards the rave sound with sirens, bleeps, and blips grinding against each other in ecstatic passion of sound. Hell they even covered a older rave song, "The Bouncer", and ended the EP with some well-done remixes of their more "ravey" singles of "Gravity's Rainbow" and "Atlantis To Interzone".
But "Myth of the Near Future" goes so much further, blending their rave sound with a whole new sense of pop. "Golden Skans" being a perfect example of this with it's harmonic choruses and building prechorus that will have you chanting along with the background vocals before the two minutes and forty-seven seconds song ends. While adding other pumped up songs such as "Totem On The Timeline", "Magick" and "Four Horsemen of 2012", they keep the pace of the record racing along and the bodies on the club floor grinding. But very much like the Vines very first album, the Klaxons can mix it up a bit blending in some slower numbers that stand out as well as the singles. "Two Receivers" is a great opening song, drawing you in and building you up before they hit you with the full energy of "Atlantis To Interzone". "As Above, So Below" is a good middle of the album track, being sort of a more ballad-esque number. "Gravity's Rainbow" was changed for the full album adding a whole new set of blips and guitar slides and even giving the old video for a complete update. A really stand out track is "It's Not Over Yet", a classic pop song in the making. The argument will still stand....new rave? pop? weirdness? But all that matters is a glorious album is out for all to enjoy.

Also released today is Kaiser Chiefs latest and Mika's debut. Always a big fan of those extra tracks, Best Buy has both albums with special deals. Kaiser Chiefs comes with a live version of "Angry Mob" and two additional b-sides while Mika has two acoustic tracks added (one of soon to be hit single "Love Today" and a cover of Dave Matthews Band's "Sattelite"....don't worry it's better than Dave's version).