#30 on the 2010 Musical Bacon Calendar
03 to TEN by Knathan Ryan
It’s nice to have the opportunity to put an album on my Top 31 of the year that most everybody reading this blog has not yet heard. Allow me to introduce Knathan Ryan. He’s a salt-of-the-earth kinda guy, and his songs reflect that. (Full Disclosure: Knathan is a long-time friend of the Bacon Review.)
Knathan has been in (and is still in) a number of smaller bands throughout Seattle, in addition to his vast experience as a solo artist. 03 to TEN is the culmination of that experience. The music on this album is much grittier, loud, and fuzzed-out than any of his prior recorded works. But much like his previous works, the prose is amazing in it’s direct yet obtuse manner. You get the sense these are stories passed down through the ages, but somehow told through a reversed smoke filter. It makes for an emotional experience you won’t find in most “popular” music today. “Brother K,” the song linked above, is a great example of what you can expect on the album. Featuring Phil Peterson on cello, it’s a twisted tale of death and madness. Make sure to give it a listen all the way through, as it gets quite interesting at around the 3:30 mark.
One of the best things about this new album is that it can be had for free. Knathan has posted it over at bandcamp.com, which is a great site for works like this. It follows what’s now known as the “Radiohead Method,” where you can donate any amount to the artist who created the music, all the way down to $0.00, in exchange for being able to download the entire album right to your desktop. So you have no excuse: download this album right now. You won’t regret it.
__________________________________________