Klaxons Clinch Mercury Music Prize
By: Thomas Hannan
All credit to the boys Klaxon. Despite facing stiff competition from the likes of Amy Winehouse (who did show up after all, and delivered a rousing, defiant performance accompanied only by an acoustic guitar), Jamie T, Basqiat Strings, Maps, The View, second time nominees Dizzee Rascal and Arctic Monkeys, Fionn Regan, New Young Pony Club, Bat For Lashes - who we tipped for the prize back when the nominations came out, thereby making us totally wrong two years in a row (we tipped Hot Chip in '06) - and our sister label Transgressive's very own Young Knives (bad luck boys), they claimed the 2007 Mercury Music Prize at an awards ceremony in London's Grosvenor House Hotel last night. And with it, they gained a huge critical seal of approval for a record which had been at the forefront of a much maligned movement.
So was new rave more than a blip? Or, with 'Myths...' (given a four star rockfeedback going over HERE), did the Klaxons surpass it? Did it ever exist? Do you care? Aren't there more important questions to be worrying about? What happened to the dinosaurs? Where's Richey?!
Stream four tracks from the Mercury Music Prize committee's album of the year HERE.