Wow... I’m at something of a loss. Who knew Portland-based outfit 31Knots would choose their fourth full-length to be their breakout? While they have been working on their self-described “post-apocalyptic Vaudevillian punk” since the late '90s, The Days & Nights Of Everything Anywhere sees that macabre spectacle perfected in album form. The experienced pacing of musical variety -- taking cues from American jazz, Muse-like punk-rock, horn-led ska, synth-heavy Anticon downtempo, and even marching bands -- works well to underscore Joe Haege’s socio-politically aware lyricism, often recorded through a Julian Casablancas (The Strokes) broken mic, this creating a compelling narrative that doesn’t fall prey to the fits of vanity that tease the undertaking of any project of this magnitude. Simply, Days & Nights distils a good chunk of the American musical canon into a unique, singular showcase of accessible yet intelligent fringe rock that doesn’t get old fast. Muse and The Dresden Dolls have recently found success doing something fairly similar. Toss in a couple more bands, and you’ve got yourself a full-blown movement. Of course, toss in a few pale imitators and you’ve got a trend, but music this diversely challenging is almost impossible to fake, and nothing this vindictively political will ever be truly trendy (how many bands like System Of A Down are on the charts aside from them?). It’s prolly better that way anyway. Let’s keep this between us and our better friends.
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