Review Summary: wompin' fun.
If Skrillex, Feed Me, and Noisia had an orgy, Knife Party’s
100% No Modern Talking would be the sound equivalent of their screams as they womp each other. It’s no nonsense brostep/electro house with enough wobbles to take down a building; it’s filthier than your mom’s rag after cleaning the kitchen table, etc. An EP such as this cannot possibly improve the abysmal reputation of the genre seeing as it fits every stereotype. You see, this is the epitome of typical brostep, with the typical build-ups, and the typical womps, and the typical voice samples. However, while it loses points for the absence of uniqueness, it gains brownie points for generally solid execution. One can’t deny the catchiness of these tunes; the EP is fun.
The one problem with this EP is that Knife Party consistently remind us that we’re listening to brostep. The buildups to the obligatory bass breakdowns are too long, and occur too often to keep the listener hanging on every sound. ‘Fire Hive’ is the worst song, being Skrillex-esque and too bent on bringing down the bass, as though womps in themselves create a great song. Some tact would have been greatly appreciated.
Save for its non-uniqueness, the EP is fairly well done. ‘Destroy Them With Lazers’ has expectedly fun videogame reminiscent laser sounds, and ‘Internet Friends’ is a blast, with extremely catchy bass wobbles. Even ‘Tourniquet’ (despite sounding exactly like a Feed Me song with its stronger electro house feel) still hits hard. Throughout the EP, there is a sense that the songs could easily include rappers or singers, with rappers rapping alongside wobbles, and singers replacing synthesizers in the songs’ faux-choruses. The EP actually feels musical to some extent, which is uncommon in brostep. If Knife Party continue at this pace, creating a full album as solid as this, it could be excellent fun. As for now,
100% No Modern Talking breaks no ground, but it’s still pretty fun.
