5 out of 5

Label: My Pal God

Produced by: Mark Edwards, Knodel

Could I have admitted five stars those years ago when I was collecting MPG and stumbled across this electro record of 70s space-suited French-speaking third-person-using bleep blop rock?  No.  I know I couldn’t have.  Maybe I would’ve tried the “ironic cool” defense, but I would’ve hated myself for it, and cut off my tongue with blunt scissors whilst dancing barefoot upon flaming lizards as a punishment BECAUSE MY STANDARDS ARE HARD-FU-KING-CORE MAN.  And so the album was relegated to the rarely-played file, where it slept, until I was slimming out my collection and accepted that there were only a couple of bands on the MPG roster I actively listened to.

Yes, you’ve heard this tale before: sold, rebought, reappreciated…  But wait!  ‘Tis a different tale this time!  For Knodel… remained in my collection.  (Pause for collective gasps.)  Why?  And why is it that when I listen to the record now that I somehow know most of the words?  Right.  I might not’ve been bold enough to admit it at the time, but I love Knodel, and ‘Dawn’ is an insanely good album, not only for its catchiness, but for its totally legit songwriting chops.  I can’t quite identify how the band gets away with song names like ‘Knodel’s Gonna Take You Home’ (with lyrics absolutely serving that title) with utter sincerity, but these mystery musicians manage it.  Everything just feels applied in the proper dollops: the Daft Punk vocoder bleep rock is balanced by what seem to be actual drums and guitars at points, as well as untreated vocals and certain layering techniques and build-up which just aren’t the usual name of the game for dance floor fodder.  The opening title track lays this all out amazingly, displaying how the 8th-grade-poetry-sounding title somehow works with the way it’s delivered.  A couple tracks in, on the comparatively contemplative ‘Red,’ I would criticize a statement like “red, how I feel on the inside,” except I tip-toe outside my cynicism and realize that, like, Sam Beam could moan such a line above acoustic guitar and sweaty boys would poop themselves in sad-worship empathy.  In other words, it’s all in the presentation, and it’s the masterful balance of factors – including dropping some French phrases in there, ya jerks – that makes ‘Dawn’ stand out as a real record.  I mean, how does a band freaking cover a Man of War track with a straight face and make it feel like a legit power ballad?  But Knodel does it.  Thus to quote track 9, “Knodel rocks.”  I can admit it now, without tongue in cheek.