Knifeworld: Any friends (and friends only) of this his current prog artist?

[NogbadTheBad]

Certainly in my top 3 so far

[aith01]

Everything by Knifeworld is bloody great, but The Unravelling is just godlike. Absolutely thee album of 2014. "Don't Land on Me" was my introduction to the band and it just blew my mind into teeny tiny pieces.

Sadly I didn't "discover" Knifeworld until 2016, but the track that did me in was "Don't Land On Me". After hearing that, I realized this was something special.

[at least 100 dead]

...the track that did me in was "Don't Land On Me". After hearing that, I realized this was something special.

For me, it was “In a Foreign Way”. I still wonder if its video is a nod to The Fall’s “Wings” video in terms of: Let’s just shoot this clip in our natural habitat. Prolly just coincidence...great minds etc.

[at least 100 dead]

Certainly in my top 3 so far

+1

So far, "Bottled out of Eden" and Bent Knee's "Say So" are my faves of 2016.

[chalkpie]

+1

So far, "Bottled out of Eden" and Bent Knee's "Say So" are my faves of 2016.

Not to derail, but give Moulettes Preternatural a spin if you can. It might be slightly more poppy compared to those two albums, but damn its GOOD, and imo might appeal to folks who love those other two great albums.

[aith01]

For me, it was “In a Foreign Way”. I still wonder if its video is a nod to The Fall’s “Wings” video in terms of: Let’s just shoot this clip in our natural habitat. Prolly just coincidence...great minds etc.

Oh yeah, that one too! I must have had that tune on repeat for days.

[moecurlythanu]

For me, it was “In a Foreign Way”.

Still my fave Knifeworld track.

[NogbadTheBad]

+1

So far, "Bottled out of Eden" and Bent Knee's "Say So" are my faves of 2016.

Add Nik Bartsch Mobile and you have my 3.

[at least 100 dead]

@Nog: I was just about to ask you who #3 is. Listening to samples of Continuum right now. Intriguing. Has a very autumnal/ethereal vibe. One reviewer called it “string quartet Zen funk”.

@Chalk: Just listened to bits of Preternatural and will probably pull the trigger on that one. (I wish they had a live album, though, because those live videos in the Moulettes thread sound even better than the studio stuff.)

Thanks for the recommendations!

[Kavus Torabi]

The video for In A Foreign Way was filmed on my 40th birthday in a Wetherspoons pub with which I have a lot of history.
We did it three times over the course of the evening, the tune was being played through Mel's phone on the table and I synched the footage up with the track at home.
The second attempt was the best and the one we used. I told everyone to ignore what me and Mel were doing. Emmett is having a fairly in depth discussion about Killing Joke with Steve Mitchell, the guy who does our art during this.
I really like how it turned out!

[moecurlythanu]

Imo, it's one of the coolest videos ever, Kavus. Clever and classy, you hit the sweet spot there.

[loosefish]

The video for In A Foreign Way was filmed on my 40th birthday in a Wetherspoons pub with which I have a lot of history.
We did it three times over the course of the evening, the tune was being played through Mel's phone on the table and I synched the footage up with the track at home.
The second attempt was the best and the one we used. I told everyone to ignore what me and Mel were doing. Emmett is having a fairly in depth discussion about Killing Joke with Steve Mitchell, the guy who does our art during this.
I really like how it turned out!

Who's the bird in the leopard print hoodie?

[Kavus Torabi]

That's our pal, Val. She drives us and Guapo sometimes.

[zombywoof]

+1

So far, "Bottled out of Eden" and Bent Knee's "Say So" are my faves of 2016.

Not to derail, but give Moulettes Preternatural a spin if you can. It might be slightly more poppy compared to those two albums, but damn its GOOD, and imo might appeal to folks who love those other two great albums.

You're both right.

[Bob Drake]

I, if I may be permitted to use the term, myself, am a friend, yea, even a pal, of Knifeworld and its denizens, its music, its self. I have had the pleasure of working with them, and looking forward to what they come up with next.

That would be this here, I think.

Check out the Bob Drake Special, where we learn that his real name is actually Chaos Torabi and that Bob Drake has a Uriah Heep fantasy or something like that.

To be more specific: back when Uriah Heep's Demons and Wizards came out and I used to listen to it a lot (I think 1972-ish) I always imagined it was the soundtrack to a kind of grand sci-fi/fantasy adventure featuring an anthropomorphic dog going on an epic "quest". I still do when I listen to it! I always liked the idea so in fact the opening song on my new album is exactly that - a funny little fantasy-adventure with an athropomorphic dog hero, the lyrics as full of as many "epic" cliché terms as I could fit in, things such as Councils of Elders, grimoires, Towers of Ebon, Legions of Hell, Perilous Vales, etc etc.

BD
www.bdrak.com

[at least 100 dead]

^^
Never heard that Uriah Heep album, but since you like it, I need to check it out.

[Karda Estra]

Love all four Knifeworld albums - just wonderful and full of colour and detail. I always look forward to hearing what will come next. The 1-2-3 on the latest album of 'Lowered into necromancy', ' A dream about a dream' then 'Secret Words' is an especially beautiful sequence. Great live too.

[TCC]

Love the "Live at the Phoenix FM Creative Sessions, Brentwood Centre, Brentwood, Essex..." (YT)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udreJgzL1u4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ChOeF5gn6c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWeDH3bGBV0


E X CE L E N TE !!.

[zombywoof]

Woke up with "I Must set Fire to your Portrait" stuck in my head the other day. What a monstrous tune!

[iguana]

consider me a friend, fan and ally. i look forward to seeing them at ArcTanGent on august 19th.

review of Bottled Out Of Eden (for a non-prog source):

Knifeworld: masters of the non-obvious.

Meet Kavus Torabi. The hirsute Plymouth native of Iranian descent is one of today's musical polymaths of moderate middle age who grew up on 1980s independent/alternative rock, discovered the avant-garde of the 1970s along the way … and, by sheer experience (that had been denied to the preceding generations due to the mercy of early birth) have managed to concoct an all-new brew of musical experinmentation, understanding and sensitivity from it. The British isles seem to abound with this good species these days (look no further than Steven Wilson or Sam Healy). Best known for his latter-day participation in Cardiacs and vocational administration of their increasingly renowned heritage, Torabi also now fronts Gong as the de facto successor to the late Daevid Allen and he is hosting an acclaimed and much-debated radio programme with Snooker legend and self-confessed avant-nerd Steve “Interesting” Davis on Phoenix98FM radio (“The Interesting Alternative Show”). Apart form Cardiacs and Gong he is/was also in Guapo and countless other bands that require perseverence and determination. Knifeworld is his most visible and, of late, successful venture; it well represents both a cross-section and a logical culmination oh his many endeavours. Partaking is a joyful experience.

Knifeworld is the perfect antithesis to the plight of acts with as many remote control receivers as possible for so-called career guidance. It is – count ‘em! – an octet of diverse and heterogenous contribution, featuring no less than a full woodwind trio of saxophones, clarinets and bassoon. Another key element are the shared male/female vocals of Torabi and Mel Woods, a former Cardiacs contributor herself and drummer of underground darlings Sidi Bou Said. This is, in short, a band that demands and deserves attention.

“Bottled Out Of Eden”, their new album, was released in May a short 18 months after “The Unravelling” which was their first major release after a number of rather lower-key projects. Whereas “The Unravelling”, a paean to the Cardiacs’ suffering leader Tim Smith, was elegic and of cumbersome mournfulness in places, “Bottled Out Of Eden” does its best to usher in summer in a timely fashion. The double slab of “High/Aflame” and “The Germ Inside” spreads a vivacious atmosphere that sits with the best of British indie rock yet boasts neck-breaking twists and turns that musicians of a lesser kind could not even begin to imagine, let alone conceive. However, before you are about to lower your car windows and to break into song there is an erratic stab of brass, a weird key change or an abstract synth accent you most certainly would not have expected. I adore stuff like this.

“I Am Lost” ups the ante with a more jazzy vibe and more bodacious instrumental contributions before “The Deathless” and the folky “Foul Temple” move the album more towards the relative restraint of its predecessor. The woodwinds provide a short chamber music interlude before Knifeworld own up to their obvious interrelatedness to Cardiacs with the nervous “I Must Set Fire To Your Portrait”. Special mention on the absolutely gorgeous folk ballad “Secret Words” whose plaintive tenor sax interludes brings up comparisons to an update of Supertramp’s “Even In The Quietest Moments” and some earlier Porcupine Tree. Closing track “Feel The Sorcery” directly links the diversity of the album’s core to its exuberant start and proves once and for all that this is an album that one can take through summer without having one’s brain scorched or being bottled out of whatever eden one chooses to dwell in. Really, it’s (psychedelic) pop in its best imaginable form and already seen as an “album 2016” contender. Knifeworld inhabit a self-designed eden that I could agree on.

PS: Kavus Torabi, vocals and guitar; Melanie Woods, vocals and assorted percussion; Emmett Elvin, keyboards; Charlie Cawood, bass, Ben Woolacott, Drums, Chloe Herrington, bassoon, alto sax and vocals; Josh Perl, alto sax and clarinet; Oliver Sellwood, baritone sax. Hekkuvaband.

[Silantyev]

I have seen them on "Night of the prog festival" - it wasn't a good performance. I was particularly disappointed with poor vocal abilities of the singer.

[loosefish]

Read the thread title punk!

[Kavus Torabi]

I have seen them on "Night of the prog festival" - it wasn't a good performance. I was particularly disappointed with poor vocal abilities of the singer.

Hey, you know, we're a polarising band. We certainly didn't sound like anyone else there.
I couldn't hear what it was like at the front, but we made a lot of new friends and broke a personal record for the amount of albums and T-shirts we sold.
We had a really good time and were happy with our set.
I know my voice is a problem for a lot of folks, what can I tell you? That's my voice. Most of my favourite singers are pretty divisive too.

[Rarebird]

Everything by Knifeworld is bloody great, but The Unravelling is just godlike. Absolutely thee album of 2014. "Don't Land on Me" was my introduction to the band and it just blew my mind into teeny tiny pieces.



Also just received the Admirals Hard LP last night--I'd heard a lot of individual tracks already, but I think it works best as a whole album. Big fun!

Sounds interesting and with a bassoon, which makes it even more interesting.

[pete284]

Some great inventive songs on their albums. They are like a breath of fresh air, and what I would called very "progressive".

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