Klaxons win Mercurys 2007

 

Klaxons (pictured) were the surprise winners at last night's Nationwide Mercury Prize, beating off competition from Amy Winehouse, Dizzee Rascal and Bat For Lashes.

 

The Polydor-signed group from south London scooped the £20,000 prize for debut album Myths of the Near Future.

 

Yet for many observers, the win was overshadowed by a stunning performance from Amy Winehouse, who performed Love Is A Losing Game at the Grosvenor House ceremony.

 

Speculation as to whether Winehouse would perform or not had been running high all through yesterday.

 

The full nominee shortlist was:

 

Bat For Lashes - Fur And Gold

Maps - We Can Create

Fionn Regan - The End Of History

The View - Hats Off To The Buskers

New Young Pony Club - Fantastic Playroom

Dizzee Rascal - Maths + English

Klaxons - Myths Of The Near Future

Amy Winehouse - Back To Black

The Young Knives - Voices Of Animals And Men

Jamie T - Panic Prevention

Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare

Basquiat Strings - Basquiat Strings with Seb Rochford

 

 

 

Because £20,000 will mean a hell of a lot to Klaxons... -_- I suppose that's why it's cool when relatively unheard of bands win it.

I have to say, my money was on Amy Winehouse or Bat For Lashes, with Klaxons and Jamie T as the acts I would have like to have won.

 

I was really shocked when klaxons won, I thought they stood a reall good chance but thought AW or BFL would walk it.

 

The album MOTNF, is brilliant and i can see why they deserved to win it, really pleased about that...thank god it wasnt The View......

I thought it was between Bat For Lashes, Amy Winehouse and Arctic Monkeys with an outside chance from Klaxons, I don't mind they won it but still would have preferred AM

I wonder if the Mercury curse will strike yet again.... :lol:

...What? o.O

It's an okay album but not even close to Back To Black, Fur and Gold, or Favourite Worst Nightmare. Or the rest, for that matter.

Klaxons..?? Who they then...? -_- Sometimes I seriously wonder about the Mercury jury tbh, look at some of the past winners - M People, Ms Dynamite, Gomez, Antony and the Johnsons, Talvin Singh...... And then look at some of the acts they've knocked back - Radiohead (THREE times), Massive Attack, The Prodigy (TWICE), Chemical Brothers, Blur, Tricky, Faithless..... Frankly, I dont give the Mercury Award any actual serious credibility at all.... -_-

its a good choice imo

Here's an article from one of the judges. It gives a pretty good idea of what the judges are looking for.

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,2163040,00.html

Great article that sheds some good light. I've wondered about that for a while really.

 

I will say though, if Lauren Laverne and Conor McNicholas had not been on the panel then the Klaxons would definitely not have won. I can't help but feel that those two, no matter what their roots are, have been brainwashed into the full-time promotion of pretty bland indie music as their jobs dictate it.

 

I suspect that's how The View ended up in the nominations for an album that's woefully lacking in originality and cohesion. If their inclusion was a tokenistic nod North of the border then why didn't they give that to the wonderful James Yorkston or the badly in need of a break Aliens?

Even if they had to pick an album by a Scottish act that was a debut, sold well reaching the higher end of the album chart, produced top 10 singles and is loved by Radio 1 then "Costello Music" should've been up. It wipes the floor with The View's album. Not that I think it should particularly have been nominated....

 

Agree that it's a good article!

MOTNF is a superb album and all, but I don't think its as good as Favourite Worst Nightmare :/

 

Still, I like the Klaxons so grats to them ^_^

 

Oh, and I agree with you Mark about Fratellis > Klaxons

Hindsight is a wonderful thing......

 

The Klaxons, Myths of the Near Future

* (1 star out of 5)

(Rinse/Polydor)

Alex Macpherson

Friday January 26, 2007

The Guardian

 

Just in time for the release of their debut album, the Klaxons have distanced themselves from the term "new rave". It's just as well, for there's almost nothing on Myths of the Near Future that would suggest more than a passing familiarity with old rave. There are a few electronic sounds, less integrated into the music than taped on to it, and a heavy-handed cover of Grace's classic Not Over Yet, which drains it of its original blissful ecstasy.

 

For the most part, though, the album is a mess of clumsy beats that never settle into a groove, lurching shout-along chants more suited to the football stadium than the dancefloor and unpleasant-sounding, overdriven bass. The songs descend the same chords repeatedly and ponderously, as if the band were falling down the same flight of stairs over and over again.

Most unforgivably, there's the appalling production, with its curious emphasis on nasty, screaming treble. Stellar remixes from Simian Mobile Disco and Erol Alkan have shown that the Klaxons' music is redeemable - by removing all trace of the original. But, given the current creative fertility of house and techno music, indie chancers trying to pass this ropey stuff off as a dance revival is insulting and pointless.

 

:rofl:

 

Personally I (rather boringly) agree with Alex Turner that Amy Winehouse should have won.

 

Amy Winehouse - Love Is A Losing Game (Mercury performance)

 

 

I like their album a lot and I would consider it among the best of the year, but COME ON! :rolleyes:

 

It's not as if they need the exposure. Instead, New Young Pony Club should have won with their brilliant, fresh and innovative album which deserves more attention. ^_^

I think your wrong TIP, Klaxons album is inotive and exciting...

 

But it shouldnt of won, Arctics is by far and away the best album ive heard ever

i m glad they did...very good album...like it or not at least it doesnt sound like most brit indie c**p bands these days

btw,

in my opinion:

1)artics

2)amy

3)klaxons

I think your wrong TIP, Klaxons album is inotive and exciting...

 

But it shouldnt of won, Arctics is by far and away the best album ive heard ever

 

If you like a band who sound like a second rate Pop Will Eat Itself/early Jesus Jones act with a loud bass guitar then good luck, but they were appalling on the Live Mercury Music awards show, the guitarist did not even have his guitar tuned in properly ffs.

 

Maybe it would sound better if I took ecstacy, but I don't do narcotics. :lol:

 

However even Alex Turner disagrees with you :lol:

 

 

I applaud Alex Turner for telling it how it is (on Radio 2's Radcliffe & Maconie show, just now pre 9PM via phone - proving that he is a legend in the making on a par with John Lydon, Morrissey, Noel Gallagher & Jarvis Cocker):

 

"The Klaxons winning is a bit like when M-People won" (when they beat Radiohead's OK Computer in 1997)

 

"The album sounds alright, but the songs are a bit samey"

 

"Amy should have won it easily hands down, but they (the judges & sponsors - Nationwide Building Society) don't want to give it to her because of all her problems as it would send out the wrong message.."

 

As for the Klaxons claims that they deserved it "It's a bit rich calling Amy's album retro sounding, then claiming to try to produce something that feels like it came from the future. When it's your album that contains a f***ing cover of a 10 year old dance track".

I like their album a lot and I would consider it among the best of the year, but COME ON! :rolleyes:

 

It's not as if they need the exposure. Instead, New Young Pony Club should have won with their brilliant, fresh and innovative album which deserves more attention. ^_^

It's not supposed to "give exposure". It's supposed to reward quality...

It's not supposed to "give exposure". It's supposed to reward quality...

 

What I said still applies then, I reckon.

Well yes, but no decision will please everyone...

 

There's a phrase I want but I can't think of it. URGH.