Knodel
Dawn of the Butterfly
My Pal God
Heavy heavy synth prog… heavy heavy heavy. Sometimes it feels like the buzzing of saw waves is about to split my softened skull. Heavy on the analog riffing, Knodel doesn’t stop there, slathering a thick coating of dramatic vocals and harmonies and occasionally achieving an overwhelming level of plodding grandiosity. “I Told You (I Love You)” is a perfect example, where a slow drum beat (analog in that department) anchors a batallion of swarming keyboards, a pained voice, and a falsetto harmony. Knodel also seem to love sample-and-hold and vocoder technology, for that 100% genuine retro-future sound. The kind of thing that happens when you bring up a toddler with Gary Numan/Tubeway Army and disco.
As with labelmates (and nu-synthers) Emperor Penguin, Knodel are often so over-the-top, they force you to stop trying to find the joke and take their sounds seriously. As the band will gleefully point out, “Knodel wants to rock you and Knodel wants to dance.”
My Pal God: http://www.mypalgodrecords.com
