Knife Party – Abandon Ship (2014)

Knife Party are notably a musical duo from Australia. Early pieces, such as Internet Friends were club classics, and great tunes too. They released this, their first and only album so far, in 2014. Is it up to scratch? Let’s have a listen to the music here.

We begin with Reconnect. It has a psychedelic intro with a spoken voice letting the world know that Knife Party are here. It’s a good listen and a nice way to kick off the album.

After this, we go to Resistance, a nice piece with some house and dubstep overtones. The breakdown is intense. There are some African sounding drums in this breakdown, we hit party central with an awesome groove. This is a refreshing listen compared to the RnB of today, it’s fantastic. These guys are fantastic at what they do, the music here is great.

Boss Mode begins with some freaky distorted chimes, before knocking down the competition with a Hip Hop style groove and distorted dubstep riffs. It is a great tune here, the sampled lyrics pointing to a higher level of consciousness. Our sonic journey on this track is wonderful. It ends with some gunshots. Mint.

EDM Trend Machine is a piece that sounds much more mellow, along with some good male soul like singing. It’s a good one to relax to after a heavy night of clubbing, assuming that people enjoy this sort of thing for that purpose. It’s way different than the tracks before it. Automated dance music for the people.

The following piece 404 sounds a little weird. It has some Chiptune sort of noises in the track, before going into a static sounding bliss. Rotating drums capture our attention, before launching into a very good piece in the style of Knife Party. It’s a good listen, taking us into the future of music and sounds we have not heard before. There are a few twists and turns in this one, being very suspenseful indeed.

We Begin Again with some poly rhythmic beats and we hit sonic waves afterwards. The vocals, which have a sense of urgency, then kick in. Honestly, this piece is not as good as the ones before, which is disappointing. But it fits the album well anyway. There are some good samples in the middle of the track as well.

A more dubstep driven Give It Up with some reggae influences comes next. It is a good uptempo and busy sounding piece that sounds club ready. A progressive and semi-psychedelic listen here. A nice effort. The dubstep bassline is fantastic here.

D.I.M.H. sounds much more mainstream and House based, you can seriously dance to this tune. It has some interesting sound effects, and vocals comparing music to God. It sounds like a rework of an old 1980’s song, but seriously, it is much better than that for sure. It’s a greatly textured piece.

Micropenis is a strange tune that begins with a strangely sampled situation, before leading into a piece that has beats galore everywhere. It had some rather metallic sounds in it as well. It’s okay, but not fantastic, mind you. There are some Sufjan Stevens like melodies in the breakdown here. The second half is far better than the first half by far.

The next song Superstar is outright awful. It sounds like a poor take on a disco track here. Worth avoiding, and enough said about this number. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds do a better job at disco than what Knife Party do here, and that’s saying something.

The follow up Red Dawn is a far better tune, something indeed to listen to at sunrise, for all you party animals out there. It has some middle eastern melodies and cut up vocals for your enjoyment. It’s a good dance number. Some neat intricate backwards loops occur, before banging beats hit you. A good way to liven up the listen towards the end of the album. A ghostly outro makes it better, too.

Kaleidoscope is the last one on the album. It’s a laid back and chill tune, for those who made it through this album. A good downtempo, deep house sort of joutney. It has suspense all the way through. We then finish the album.

This is a good album, not a great one. It does have its moments, but for the most part, could have been bettered. It’s still listenable, especially for you young nightclub goers. Having said that, it is worth a listen anyway.

7/10