Blank-Wave Arcade

Most say Klaxons invented New Rave, but these guys have been doing it long before anyone else. "Blank-Wave Arcade" is an album with a sound that may be dated by today's standards, but you can really tell how this album was ahead of it's time back then. The electroclash influence is very clear; from the heavy emphasis on blaring synths, punchy baselines, and what's electroclash without making a third of the songs about sex? Mix that with electric guitars and danceable drums, and you've created a New Rave album.

Often times they execute this sound very well. 'Sex Is Personal', 'Call Call', 'Worked Up So Sexual', and 'Victim Convenience' are the best tracks on here, as well as being excellent showcases of this sound. It's too bad the questionable decisions they made throughout the record weigh it down. 'Sealed Human' is this weird, glitchy, Bandcamp fuckery, spoken word mess. I don't know how else to describe the track other than calling it "filler", or an experiment gone wrong. The noisy transition from 'Cars Pass In Cold Blood' and 'Casual Sex' really caught me off guard, but was it really necessary? 'Casual Sex' doesn't even recapture the energy from the intro.

The rest of the tracks aren't all that remarkable, and there isn't much that helps these tracks from standing out compared to tracks I've already mentioned. And thus, the album ends up being a mixed bag at best. At least it set a really good foundation for their next album.