Wasn’t sure what to expect from this, I hadn’t heard much No Knife and I didn’t really listen to the Nine Days Wonder CD that often. But I picked up a copy anyway, because split 12″ records are neat.
No Knife contribute two tracks on here, and I think they do the best job of the two bands. “The Red Bedroom” kicks things off and is a catchy, rolling melodic indie rock track that brings to mind a slightly mathier Boilermaker. It melds together a groove ridden song and a bouncier chorus with absolutely fantastic vocals to create a quality track. Very well done, I am left wondering why I didn’t really hear them before, and why nobody ever mentions them when talking about this style of music. Hohum! “Automatic Writing” is their 2nd tracks and it takes a slightly different approach, the intro reminds me of Green Day for a moment! Then it gets darker, and turns into a rather intriguing rock song that pulsates and broods in a similar manner to the Party of Helicopters, dirty riffs and a bit of an attitude. Quality.
Nine Days Wonder are a Japanese band, and they offer up 3 songs that are pretty solid. Melodic and vaguely mathy in a Braid-ish vein. They don’t stand out dramatically, but I quite enjoyed their side. They also have some keyboards at times, but you don’t notice them too much. If you like other Japanese bands like Three Minute Movie, you will probably like this an awful lot. I just found it was OK, and nothing special.
Decent split record if you fancy some No Knife methinks.