twenty knives - the royal we

you have received a royal invitation: leaving your spaceship you are stranded on a strange, colourful island. a tiny robot takes you by the hand and is your host for the next 45 minutes (you will even have the chance to speak to him!). everything is a bit odd here, but who could resist the urge to explore this foreign kingdom? ‘the royal we’ by twenty knives is the perfect soundtrack for our trip. it will stimulate your imagination with sounds mixed together from electronica, idm and dubstep, sometimes with traditional influences or orchestrated by string quartet. all this pleases our ears and is the result of a curious and talented artist from the noble lands of nyc: the man behind twenty knives serves us 13 songs full of self-made instruments and effects. together with him singing instead of common sampling, the whole album bears an irresistible personal spirit. all of the compositions consist of powerful harmonics, being carried over the edge, overdriven, and still sophisticated in a way only electronic emperors know to do. we feel reminded of 1990s computer games, a very alien version of alice in wonderland and a crazy mechanical hatter. and while you struggle to understand what your ears are encountering, you realize your feet have already started tapping to the rhythms. not only for lovers of the experience of mind-expanding drugs, this release makes you the protagonist in your own fairytale. the ‘royal vomitorium’ from the miwak twelve compilation (hymen records ¥777) has been a hors d’oeuvre of what will finally expand here to a full-blown psychedelic trip. and yet, we are already looking forward to what will be chapter two after this aristocratic prelude. twenty knives is the electronic glamrock of the century, absorbing the madness of aphex twin on lsd with ziggy stardust singing the royal theme of a velvet goldmine.