Klaxons releasing new album, touring (new songs & dates)

by Bill Pearis

Remember the Klaxons? Three years after winning the Mercury Prize, they’re back with Album #2 and are playing some American dates this fall, including two stops in New York: Bowery Ballroom on September 20 and Music Hall of Williamsburg on September 22. Both shows go on sale Friday (7/16) at noon, as does a September 19th show at Maxwell’s. Oregon’s Baby Monster open the shows. All currently known dates on that trek below (with more still TBA).

Klaxons new album, Surfing the Void, will be out August 23 in the UK and yes that is the album art above. Ridiculous but kind of awesome too, which also is a good descriptor of the band themselves. (Mind you, this post is written by a guy who picked their track “Golden Skans” as Best Single of 2007.)  The new album was produced by Ross Robinson, best known for being behind the board for hard rock acts like Korn and Limp Bizkit and Sepultura. (But also At the Drive In, Blood Brothers and The Cure.) It’s another odd choice for a band that has almost willfully defied pigeonholing — despite coining the regrettable “nu-rave” tag in an interview — since day one. Their debut, Myths of the Near Future, remains one of the weirdest Mercury Prize winners ever.

The new album was a difficult birth. Sessions recorded with Tony Visconti, Focus, and Myths producer (and Simian Mobile Disco dude) James Ford were all scrapped before finally getting it done with Robinson in Los Angeles earlier this year. Despite threatening to go full prog, the first taste we got of Surfing the Void was “Flashover” that is pretty much what you might expect The Klaxons working with Korn’s producer to sound like: loud, flinty, cacophonous, weird. Official first single “Echoes” is closer to a “Golden Skans” or “It’s Not Over Yet” type vibe: poppy, kind of dancey, also weird. Lyrically, it seems we’re still in sci-fi/fantasy/nu-age/what? territory. You can stream both songs via YouTube, with all currently known dates, below….

Klaxons – Flashover

Klaxons – Echoes

Klaxons – 2010 North American Tour Dates
Sept 19: Maxwell’s. Hoboken, NJ
Sept. 20: Bowery Ballroom, New York
Sept. 22: Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Sept. 24: Paradise Rock Club, Boston
Sept. 25: Cabaret du Musée…, Montreal
Sept 27: The Mod Club, Toronto
Oct. 5: Chop Suey, Seattle
Oct. 7-10: FILTER Magazine’s Culture Collide Music Festival, Los Angeles
(more dates TBA)

Klaxons – other 2010 Tour Dates
Jul 14 – The Ruby Lounge Cheadle, Stockport, gb Find Tickets
Jul 14 – Ruby Lounge Manchester, Manchester Find Tickets
Jul 16 – Traffic Free Festival Venaria Reale, ITALY
Jul 17 – Benicassim Festival SPAIN
Jul 24 – Paleo Festival SWITZERLAND
Jul 27 – Village Underground London, London Find Tickets
Jul 30 – Paredes de Coura Festival PORTUGAL
Aug 14 – Dockville Festival GERMANY
Aug 20 – Frequency Festival AUSTRIA
Aug 21 – Open Air Gampel SWITZERLAND
Aug 28 – Leeds Festival Bramham Park, UNITED KINGDOM
Aug 29 – Reading Festival Reading, UNITED KINGDOM
Sep 8 – Club Duo Tokyo, JAPAN
Sep 13 – La Cigale Paris, Ile-de-Fra, fr Find Tickets
Nov 26 – Astra Berlin, GERMANY
Nov 27 – Amager Bio Copenhagen, ., UNITED KINGDOM
Nov 30 – Melkweg Amsterdam, ., NETHERLANDS