Knifehandchop / How I Left You

Tigerbeat6

Breaking up is like being held at gunpoint; a dire moment with the threat of violence, a chance to move on or be destroyed. Knifehandchop’s postbreak-up anthems survey schizophrenic stomping electro hardcore and dancefloor death marches. Twenty-three-year-old Billy Pollard’s songs of isolation and loss contextualize post-traumatic mania by kicking out the pummeling beats and extreme highs and lows. Dancehall vocal tracks such as “Outside” and “Tizzy Tixbown” bounce and bump the ragga. Knifehandchop also gives big ups to the hardcore DJs and mix cassettes of his teen years with the album’s vividly destructive closer “94 Hardcore.” This first true Knifehandchop album, as opposed to the latest in a series of compilations of dancefloor singles and plunderphonic booty anthems, aims to be a fully immersive concept. Previous KHC releases all keep the bar raised by mixing, energizing and distorting disparate genres as gabber, pop, techno, booty, ragga and ghetto-tech, but How I Left You reflects Knifehandchop’s newest saga of bipolar drama; this frenetic new form of sonic aggression could only come from a shot to the heart.  • Hot off a UK tour with Kid606 along with solo gigs across Europe and America • Follows a split 12-inch with Panacea • Preceded by two vinyl singles, “Triple Threat” and “Techno-Gaiden,” featuring remixes from Modeselektor, A77, and Com.a • Recorded a Breezeblock session for BBC Radio One in May and a John Peel session last year • First proper concept album, as opposed to a comp • Art by Fawn Gehweiler of nocandy.org • No export to UK or Europe

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