Fresh off the recent release of their excellent fifth album “70 Years of Static”, Austin, Texas based hyponotic shoegaze electronic post punk duo BLOODY KNIVES are joining us today for a special track by track commentary and their list of best records of the year!
BLOODY KNIVES are Preston Maddox (vocals/bass/synths) and Jake McCown (drums/synths).
70 Years of Static is the bands first release since White Light Black Moon (2018) and the first release as a duo since the debut album Burn It All Down (2010).
𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑏𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑠 𝑛𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚-𝑟𝑜𝑐𝑘 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑢𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑢𝑛𝑘, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑠𝑡𝑦𝑙𝑒 𝑒𝑥𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑡 𝑎 𝑚𝑒𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙, 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑧𝑒, 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑝𝑢𝑛𝑘, 𝑑𝑟𝑢𝑚 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑎𝑠𝑠, 𝑎𝑚𝑏𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝑛𝑜𝑖𝑠𝑒, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑎.
The sound of “70 Years of Static” marks a return to the bands punk origins in structure and style but continues their sonic expansion into dense noise and lush soundscapes. Sounds of the album pay homage to a non-existent future and a false nostalgia of the past, a tribute to the void.
The release will also include a remix album with contributions from Dean Garcia (SPC-ECO, STFU, CURVE), Secret Wilderness (Screen Vinyl Image, Alcian Blue), Ian Ljunquist (Me You Us Them), and We Are Parasols.
Writing and recording began in 2019, with post-production extending into 2020. While the initial songwriting and recording was quick and spontaneous the post-production was slow and methodical, trying to maintain the energy of the live performance alongside the digital elements of the music. All of the performances were done without overdubs or punch-ins, in the same manner a band would have recorded prior to the DAW era.
𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑙𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑏𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑟𝑜𝑜𝑚 𝑡𝑜𝑔𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑟𝑔𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑐 𝑠𝑦𝑛𝑡ℎ 𝑟ℎ𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑚 𝑝𝑢𝑙𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑦 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑐 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑐, 𝑓𝑖𝑙𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑎 𝑚𝑜𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑛 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑒𝑠𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑐.
1. Lostaway – This is a song about anxiety and paranoia. The synths are aggressive and confrontational and on this track skews heavy to the industrial side of our sound.
2. This Is the Way You Burn – This reminds me of The Jesus and Mary Chain with the laid back vocal over the noisy chaos and barre chord rock and roll chorus.
3. Out From the Shadows Into the Light – This song was written on one of the days when we were jamming just bass and drums, and the riff was there and worked things weren’t totally right until I switched all the bass parts out for keyboards and all the keyboards out for bass, then it came together as the song you hear on the record.
4. Tourniquet – It feels like a few songs all got crammed into this track, it’s almost like a montage of the overall record vibes.
5. Eyes Don’t Move – One of the ideas coming into the record was to have song that start off heavy and aggressive but then have a bigger but also more ambient softer outro, and this song is the best we did with this idea.
6. NYE – This song started out as a long winding ballad that ended up getting condensed into a short, concise shoegaze song that has this glitchy and atmospheric ambience.
7. Extinction-There is a crushing, grinding vibe to this track that isn’t that common to the band, more mid-tempo that the more explosive punk tracks. The main synth sound like an elephant crying out through a bunch of distortion.
8. Parasomnia – 80’s synths dominate this track, with heavy slamming arpeggios in the outro and one of the heaviest moments on the record at the end.
9. Ashes Into Dust – The empty dystopian vibe is thick here, and the digital wasteland of the future dominates the lyrical themes.
10. Eclipse – There is a deep winding pulse to this song that has a whirlpool like effect. All the synth parts on this were done on the Moog Sub Phatty, and it has a mechanical syncopation and kinetic energy that leads it into the atmospheric ending.
BLOODY KNIVES’ top album recommendations of 2020:
Soft Kill – Dead Kids, R.I.P. City
Ganser – Just Look At That Sky
Bizou – Stilllifeburning EP
Exhalants – Atonement
We Are Parasols – Orphaned EP
