No Knife
Fire in the City of Automatons (Time Bomb)
by Tim Den
OK, so these guys made a fan out of me by simply appearing on a comp (Warped Music), and then wiped the floor with my face opening for Jimmy Eat World. That doesn’t necessarily mean this album’s gonna be an instant winner… right? Oh wait… wrong. Once again, a band has totally surpassed my expectations. Sure, I knew No Knife was capable of some damage from my previous experiences (my face still kinda aches), but I didn’t expect a full record’s worth of whoopass. Now I know. And you should too, because Fire in the City of Automatons is not only a whoopass of an album, it packs quite original soundscapes as well. The first few seconds of “Academy Flight Song” should be evidence enough. Jang-jang-jang guitar picking, almost Middle Eastern-flavored harmonies, backed by a solid bopping beat. And then you have ditties like “Heavy Weather” and “Angel Bomb” where the quirkiness completely takes over and you forget what fuckin’ band you’re listening to. For that alone, people should buy this record.
But No Knife never forgets why people love indie rock so much to begin with: uncompromising yet brilliantly sneaky melodies. In the aforementioned “Heavy Weather” they keep throwing odd melodies at you until the very last line of the chorus, where a simple “heavy weather all along” wraps up the craziness with such simplicity and effectiveness, that you realize not even William Tell could’ve nailed the song’s bullseye center better than those last few notes. This is the kind of songwriting that makes scholars of musicians.
To our blessing, the band actually lets this kind of melodic genius take over full-out once in a while, particularly on “Charming” and “Under the Moon.” Whether it’s the slithering, sing-it-at-the-top-of-your-lungs of the former, or the whispering, croon-it-to-your-girl-from-below-her-window of the latter, the full-blown beauty of No Knife’s melodies are just amazing when they stretch their wings. And with wings like this, I wouldn’t mind being batted around by them a little more. Ah, the ever-tasty combination of originality and good songwriting. It just doesn’t get any better than this.
(6 West 57th St. New York, NY 10019)
