Album: The Klaxons <!-- none onestar twostar threestar fourstar fivestar -->

Myths of the Near Future, POLYDOR

Myth has its own momentum. Take The Klaxons, now having to live down a presumably offhand description of them as part of some new rave movement. The truth lies deeper, as witness the references here to Pynchon and Burroughs, and the fact that the first musical influence mentioned on their MySpace site is the cult electro duo Silver Apples, the late-1960s pioneers who brought the rock aesthetic to electronic music. That aspect seems decisive when "Two Receivers" opens this debut album with the forbidding tone of a John Carpenter movie theme, the sinister logic of its ostinatos providing a dark undertow to the ethereal melody. The new rave claim gains ground with "Atlantis To Interzone", whose full-on siren sample-groove recalls The Prodigy and Chemical Brothers; but even that is deceptive, as the sleek pop energy and punning lyrics of "Totem on the Timeline" and "Isle of Her" bring to mind the Kaiser Chiefs. But the band's seemingly incongruent elements of techno, indie guitar rock and catchy close-harmony vocal chants combine with enough appeal to carry The Klaxons beyond any dubious comparisons.

DOWNLOAD THIS: "Gravity's Rainbow", "Atlantis To Interzone", "Two Receivers"