I'll admit, this might just be an American problem - I just went on Youtube and saw that they were on the Brit Awards backdropping Riahna on Umbrella.
The way it came around to me was this. I wast talking to one of our friends, we were talking about electronic and industrial, I was mentioning Skinny Puppy to him, and he mentioned that not only did he have a line cook (he manages a 5 star restaurant downtown) who was into industrial but the same guy had introduced this band Klaxons to him and that he'd seen them live - that I should really check them out.
Like anything; I took a listen on youtube; wasn't what I expected, and so I put the knowledge on the back burner for a minute. Being that I was hooked on Muse for a while recently and was looking for something kind of in the same sort of energy as them. Block Party, etc. I decided to reinvestigate. I was out of town for work, between Toronto and Mississauga, and I ended up deciding to buy their cd and blast it in my rent-a-car.
With Klaxon's there's something I noticed on first listen - I guessed that it wouldn't be something I wanted to listen to all the time but I immediately recognized that yes, they have something to their style, intuitively *get* something; its like the earworm factor, making a sound addictive and making it grow on you till you can't get it out of your head.
Not to say that I can't pull their 2007 cd out of my car, just that yes - I think they intuitively get something. The thing I do find interesting about them; the friend I'd mentioned likened them to Prodigy, they're nothing like them but - they pick up with the current pop-rock-metal sound, blend it with loud and unpolished 70's punk, blend it with electronic; ie. they had a clear vision. The hand full of bands that I can think of that I've had a hard time not listening to a lot had that in common - they knew what they set out to do and they did it with their own clarity of vision (ie. Alice In Chains, Tool, Sublime, Skinny Puppy, and yes - in a context all their own - these guys too).
Help me out here, are these guys good or am I liking it just because I'm not a Brit?