The Young Knives "Human Again" (MP3 download)

Sound it Out #14: The Young Knives - “Human Again”

I’ve been eagerly waiting for the new Young Knives album Ornaments From The Silver Arcade to come out in the US. Now I've learned that it’s not being released here at all, except for on iTunes. Apparently my nation-mates in the music business these days don’t value cheeky and smart punk-influenced pop. Maybe they have something against bands formed in Ashby-de-la-Zouch or those who choose to perform in dapper tweed ensembles.

I’ve always been charmed by The Young Knives’ strange combination of verbosity and vitriol. “Human Again” tones down the anger but maintains an awkward, angular, underdog quality that I find irresistible.

Amy worked in the record business at Enigma, Elektra, Virgin and Sub Pop before she got sucked into the technology vortex. She co-founded the Backwards Beekeepers, a chemical-free urban beekeeping collective in Los Angeles. She runs digital marketing for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and The Hollywood Bowl.

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BonkoTheTalkingMime

Thanks for this! I’ve been looking for something like this for a while and it hits the spot right on the head! With a big hammer! Maybe even using a small spike to be more precise. Anyway…thanks again!
http://twitter.com/deep9x Paul Harrison

Is this seriously ONLY available on iTunes? No other MP3 store? I love this band and have all their other albums, but iTunes is useless for me. :(

EDIT: Answered my own question, their own store has it available for purchase in English money. Yay! http://youngknives.sandbag.uk.com/Store/DII-460-3-ornaments+from+the+silver+arcade+mp3+download.html
- http://profiles.google.com/jystadj J Jystad
  
  Thank you Paul. I was about to ask the same thing. I haven’t heard them before but I like what I hear and I want more. But I don’t buy off iTunes for a variety of reasons.
  
  I *very much* prefer to buy from the artist directly.
  
  Now if only they offered other formats too, I keep telling artists I would gladly pay more for FLAC. *sigh*
- Amy Seidenwurm
  
  Hey Paul – thanks for supporting music by paying for it! The band asked me to link to iTunes, but I’m glad to hear there are other ways to get the record.
  - http://profiles.google.com/jystadj J Jystad
    
    You should let the band know that there is a market for higher quality downloadables, especially ones that are not saddled with DRM. No criticism of the band intended, I’d just like to be able to buy direct from the band, give them real money instead of whatever idiotically small royalty they get, and ideally get loss-less files.
jansob

You can also buy the import cd from Amazon, if the physical cd is ok.
- http://profiles.google.com/jystadj J Jystad
  
  Yeah, that is what I end up doing a great deal of the time, just so I can get a better quality file. I would love to buy FLAC, or even non-drm AAC, and skip the physical media. Ah well, maybe someday.
robuluz

I didn’t know John Hodgman was in the Buzzcocks?
- alfanovember
  
  That’s not John Hodgman; a Yale man knows how to properly button his jacket.
Bodhipaksa

I haven’t liked much of the music that BoingBoing has featured, but this is excellent. Duly purchased (from iTunes, I’m afraid — I hadn’t realized I could download from the band’s site).
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_2X6OHAN7GLVLAIP4QLECKD3NY4 morgane

but oh, this is so last april! no seriously the physical cd isn’t bad to look at. It’s their LA album, produced by Nick Launey. But I prefered their second album Superabundance to this one. Get the british copy: it’s distributed by PIAS which was burned to the ground during the London Riots last august. Better buy from an independent distributor who needs it than from iTunes…
http://twitter.com/cpconstantine Conrad Constantine

Love the utterly redundant (thanks to scale) audio waveforms of the track. This one looks like a tampon created by an industrial designer. (wonder if it sounds like one).
ptwheatstraw

I’m glad to see these guys get some publicity, and thanks everyone for showing where I can get the album without going the itunes route.
Richard Britton

these guys are so much fun live, please see them if you get the chance… the sense of humour is decidedly english and they love to tear shreds off each other. a very cool band which manages to be funny without being a novelty.
robuluz

OK so that song is unbelievably catchy and I got the album. I also checked out some of their other stuff, and discovered “Current of the River”, my new favourite song of all time. Don’t know how I missed these guys, maybe a new new wave haze of Franz Ferdinand and Kasabian or something. Making up for lost time now.
ericfrederich

I like the “sound it out” do-dad. It prevents me from listening to garbage. I can tell you right now how bad it sounds. It has no fidelity at all.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcKDMBuGodU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gmex_4hreQ
http://twitter.com/ablufia PabloAblufiaBodente

excellent – ashby-de-la-zouch. not far from there is a place called ‘burton lazars’ – which, if you add an exclamation mark, sounds like the finale to a magic trick.
jeligula

I, for one, welcome our new punk-inflected power pop overlords.
scotchmi_st

I’d just like to say how much I enjoy this Sound It Out series.
http://www.peterbagge.com/ Buddy Bradley

The new album is available on emusic.com if you’re browsing from a European location, but when you log in with a US account, it’s not available.

Why would they do that? It seems to me it doesn’t cost anything more to release the album worldwide through all digital retailers. Maybe they have an exclusive online agreement with iTunes for the US?