New Rave

When is a scene not a scene? When it's New Rave. At least, that's what Klaxons would have you believe, since bandleader Jamie Reynolds considers the phenomenon "a joke that's got out of hand" and claims to have coined the phrase as a pun on the term "new wave". Judge for yourself, and dive into these outstanding rockin-yet-electronic Essentials before taking your Next Steps.

Lynchpin New Rave act S**tdisco took shape at the Glasgow School of Art in 2003, and honed their funkily eclectic brand of rock at a series of free gigs in unusual venues — hence their devoted underground following. Datarock (who, like S**tdisco, have been compared to Talking Heads) hail from Norway and are similarly artful and witty in their fusion of influences.

Roughly equal parts of smart rock and underground rave energy have coalesced to form New Rave: a term artificially inseminated in the minds of the genre-hungry public by the music press and Klaxons' Jamie Reynolds. In short, New Rave represents all that's sweaty and illicit and really rather good about 21st-century indie rock. These Essentials make a fine primer for those of you who like your freaky dancing driven by slashing guitars, connected by bendy bass strings, and decorated with savvy lyrics. And New Rave is truly global, shortening the space between Sao Paolo (CSS) and Brighton (Metronomy).