Playlouder - Music is the Network

Knudt Tourette subverts expectations from the word go; the name suggests a one-man Viking punk assault; his MySpace page suggests an angsty poetic kid with a Casio keyboard and an electric glockenspiel; and live? 

Well… Let Them Eat Gak is the Rhythm Factory’s weekly alternative music showcase and this is where Sweden’s Knudt is beginning his four day ‘tour’ of London. 

As the first act on stage at a small but respectable Whitechapel venue he has the unenviable task of taking to the stage in front of about twelve people. This he does by shambling onto the sizeable stage, announcing his presence indifferently and launching straight into a bizarre ballad which involves him rumbling along a bass guitar while spouting some seemingly-steam-of-consciousness story into the mic from behind a huge helmet of blond hair, and barely pausing for breath. 

When the first track ends and Knudt’s band steps onto the stage to join him it’s almost a disappointment, but the songs speak for themselves and what we end up with is an indie rock sound tinged slightly with country – almost like The Broken Family Band fronted by a more nerdy Conor Oberst. 

Like the Bright Eyes man, Knudt alternates between breathy mumblings and outpourings of raw emotion, and it’s during the latter that his snarling voice is at its best and that he lives up to his name. There are also moments of brooding, introspective darkness, as on ‘When I’m at My Lowest’, and towards the end of the set the band veers into a more psychedelic shoegazing freakout, which is as welcome as it is cathartic. 

Sure, it’s kind of a rocky ride, and it seems like the band haven’t played together as much as they’d like to – there are moments of shakiness where it seems not everybody is playing the same song – but at the culmination things come together in the chaos and feedback, and the songs Knudt recorded originally on his own, we presume, are infused with a punk passion that cute keyboards can’t cut. 

By the end of his set there are at least twenty four people in the room. So if he can keep doubling his audience with every gig, success is pretty much guaranteed. He may yet escape the oatmeal factory. 

You can download Knudt’s EP for free here.