The Knees Start To Go

“The Knees Start To Go” comes on the fifth anniversary of Boiled Records: a combined effort by two of the label’s staple artists, Flanafi and Ape School. Flanafi is the musical disguise of one Simon Martinez, who has played with artists including Jazmine Sullivan, Marsha Ambrosious, Kiefer and Boiled’s own Pulgas. Ape School is the occasional recurrence of Michael Johnson, who has played with Lilys, The War on Drugs, Kurt Vile, Daedelus and Holopaw among others in his now two decade “career." This release follows Flanafi’s “Do You Have My Money” and Ape School’s “You Don’t Listen." both out in the latter months of 2020 to a truly pandemical reception.
Martinez was a student under Johnson’s university tutelage in the middle part of the 2010s, and they developed a working relationship via many hours in a rotting old studio in downtown Philadelphia. Concentrated studies included: spelunking the value cave of absurdity, creating music while actively removing one’s own brain from the equation, and general explorations in letting one’s instincts dictate direction. Budget Eno on a private school price tag. Paradox eternal which still confuses them both. In the end, these years laid the groundwork for a very natural back and forth this time around.
This collaboration followed a relatively simple... trajectory: Flanafi painted the picture and colored it in while Ape School blurred the edges and added melting palm trees and an occasional stump to the landscape. The resulting effort combines a host of approaches and influences, producing a work that should baffle and delight in equal measure. For some, these two reactions are codependent. An amalgam of synthetic and natural sound: bird calls clashing with ARPs, hiss fighting for room with gnome r&b choruses, carried always by Flanafi’s stunning musicianship and plaintive vocals. Some would some say prog, but that’s likely because we’re all musically moronic at this point. Open your ears and see what you might hear, people. The new is the old all over again, and vice versa, foreverandever, amen.
"The Knees Start To Go" will be released digitally and on 12" vinyl on May 25, 2021. more