Samplepedia: Knifehandchop's 'How I Left You'

KNIFEHANDCHOP: HOW I LEFT YOU

SCORE: 89/100

Knifehandchop's second album How I Left You was released in September of 2004, with this album marking a significant shift towards hip-hop sound collages for the Toronto-based producer. This is a sound that would continue throughout his music, and although this is his most recent full-length album release, his producorial efforts are still active from time to time, and this album marks what is best described as his "signature" sound. 

How I Left You blends breakcore with other Electronic subgenres like Gabber, Jungle, and Hardcore - creating something highly unique and truly original while mixing and mashing sounds that many might think would never work; but everything that shouldn't work always works the best in favour of Pollard. 

This is an album that truly feels electronic. It has all of the beeps and whistles while being entirely consistent and coherent in its production; and every minor moment is turned into something major with the complexities in the production of the album. 

Each transition leads into sonic bliss through breaks, and the pacing of the album feels like a secret underground DJ set that could be set in a futuristic art-action film. It's unique, gorgeously produced, and truly captivating from its aesthetics down to its sound. 

It may seem difficult to find a Hardcore Breaks album to truly invest your time into; but this album is one of those projects that is entirely worth your time. The album runs in at a crisp 46 minutes while ensuring that there is no filler or unneeded material on the entire album, creating a highly enjoyable and unique listening experience that is intense and packed full of energy.

This is an album where you can see the mastery of the producer within minutes. The sharp-witted sampling, eye for track titles, and multi-leveled appeal for the album all make it a unique and worthwhile project, and the music itself lives up to the hype. It's electronic music that will particularly please those who prefer Hip-Hop over other music genres, and this might just work as a gateway to Breakcore. 

Every single song on How I Left You is unique in its own right, and it's hard to find an album that does so much in such a small margin of time. It's complex and deeply rooted in the fundamentals of electronic music, with sampling, Jungle, Breakcore/Breakbeat, and distorted Gabber kicks all coming together into one comprehensive display of genres and producorial skills.