KLAXONS and their Bournemouth- born leader and bass player Jamie Reynolds were surprise victors of the Nationwide Mercury Music Prize, leaving favourites like troubled singer Amy Winehouse and last year's winners Arctic Monkeys out in the cold.

Reynolds, 26, and other members of the band were clearly shocked and delighted after judges ruled that their debut album Myths of the Near Future was the most innovative produced by the 12 nominees. They fought back tears as they accepted the 2007 award from Jools Holland.

Reynolds, still recovering from the broken ankle he suffered when leaping from a festival stage in Brittany six weeks ago, appeared with his leg in a surgical cast.

Their album was one of 12 nominated for the prestigious £20,000 music award.

Reynolds has dubbed the Klaxons' sound as "New Rave".

He later claimed it had been a joke aimed at music journalists, but that has not stopped fans turning up to their gigs wearing neon T-shirts and brandishing glow-sticks.

The band - Reynolds, keyboard player James Righton and guitarist Simon Taylor - have been together for only two years.

Their first two singles were limited to 500 copies each but created a huge buzz.

The NME rated their album nine out of 10, and said on its website: "Myths Of The Near Future will remain one of the most dynamic, intense and totally lunatic pop records of the early 21st century."

It said the album "is charged with the same spirit which fuelled legendary rave pranksters The KLF's period of pop subversion. Like those predecessors, these boys are bigger than the gimmicky fashions which people seek to define them by".

The group have also gained nominations in the the MTV Europe Music Awards and in the BT Digital Music Awards.

Klaxons recently played at the Glastonbury Festival.