Knife Crazy – Knife Crazy
Picture this – it’s 2007. I’m in high school trying to grow my curly hair long but it’s just growing more and more into an unmanageable ‘fro. George W. Bush is president, for better or for worse (see album cover). Buffalo trio Knife Crazy is about to shatter spectacularly, but for the time being, they’re freezing their collective asses off in an uninsulated Buffalo hayloft, recording indescribable, jagged indie rock in between firehouse sirens and the rumble of motors from the auto shop downstairs. These final, pre-shard moments together as a unit would eventually become Knife Crazy – a long-rumored, 14 song collection of aptly-named “shardjamz” that is finally being released nearly 20 years later. The group reconvened virtually to finish it from pretty much all across the globe – Fen Ikner in New Zealand (now of Lips); Vic Lazar in LA (now of Some Gifts); and Phillip Freedenberg, still in Buffalo (who is now an author).
2007 was a different time, but 20 years on Ikner’s hard drive has done nothing to dull the proverbial blade. Knife Crazy opens with “Moonwalking Over Isotopes with George Washington’s Runaway Coda,” a mathy, almost funky song that brings to mind contemporaries like Q and Not U, Tera Melos, or Joan of Arc – or even the raw energies of forebearers like Drive Like Jehu. The trio created an undeniable ruckus, perhaps out of necessity (to drown out the sound of hammers and firetrucks), but more likely, to shatter the perceived Patriot Act stillness of the first post-9/11 presidency. It’s a great encapsulation of what to expect across Knife Crazy – jaunty, occasionally discordant guitar theatrics; spittle-in-the-corner-of-your-mouth vocal deliveries; and a thunderous drum presence to match. “Moonwalking” not-so-quietly bleeds into “A Computerman,” which is equally as mathy, but also features a pre-AI voice of a vintage Macintosh computer. These guys were firing on all creative cylinders – and as for the robot voice, this ain’t your mom’s sterile TikTok feed.
You’ll find more and more of their scraggly, neurotic din as you venture through Knife Crazy, but a big theme throughout the album is its sardonic lyrical content. The very 2007-titled “Hey That Guys Taillights Look Like The Eyes Of Johnny 5 Who Is Still Alive And Reportedly Doing Well On The Tokyo Drift Circuit” plays around with lyrics inspired by automobiles, and its wild-eyed, start/stop guitar accompaniment was perhaps inspired by the effect of breathing in exhaust fumes. “Punk Jacket” details the identity-confirming action of buying a discount jacket from Hot Topic, covering it in patches, to prove your status to all the fellow degenerates of the world – “Realized this is all that matters in the end / Awesome memorabilia!” You’ll be met with abstract ideas like the Cap’n Jazz sounding “Old Fashioned Fingermaze Suitcase (Snoodley, Snoodley, Snoodley)” and the more Midwestern “Texty McTexterson” too. We’d be remiss without mentioning that, contextually, these guys were fresh out of nu-metal and balls-deep into the mall emo scene. On “Limp Biscuit vs. Corn (Big Ups 2 Stained),” Knife Crazy gives true and incredibly sincere thanks to legends like Durst, Davis, and Lewis. If only we could return to those halcyon days…
They say time heals all wounds – Buffalo is grateful that Ikner, Lazar, and Freedenberg were able to pick up the pieces and finally release this wild, post-hardcore calamity into the world. You can find Knife Crazy on bandcamp (below), as well as on all the “good” streaming services, namely Spotify and Apple Music.
Categorised in: Album of the Week
This post was written by Nick Sessanna