MP3: “Leny (ADAT rmx)” by Crystal Castles
Crystal Castles gave an early Christmas present to fans yesterday by posting a remix of the previously released “Leni,” a remix of a GoodBooks song by the same name. If you listen closely you can hear a sample of the last verse of The Knife’s “We Share Our Mother’s Health.” You can stream and download “Leny (ADAT rmx)” by Crystal Castles (click down arrow for download) below:
Crystal Castles – Leny (ADAT rmx) by Crystal Castles
Hear Entire New Album By The Knife
January 28, 2010 by Peter
Filed under Electronic, News
The Knife (in collaboration with Mt. Sims and Planningtorock) have announced that their new record, ‘Tomorrow, In A Year’, is now available buy directly from the Rabid Records store as a download or pre-order a CD copy and receive the download instantly.
The album features songs Olof and Karin wrote for the Danish performance group Hotel Pro Forma’s opera based on Charles Darwin’s ‘On the Origin of the Species.’and will be available worldwide on iTunes and Amazon beginning Febuary 1st and the CD will be in stores on March 1st.
You can pre-order the CD or FLAC and stream every track here.
MP3: New Track From The Knife: “Colouring Of Pigeons”
January 6, 2010 by Peter
Filed under Electronic, MP3s, News
The Knife announced plans to release the studio version of the music they scored for the opera ‘Tomorrow, In A Year’, on the 1st March 2010 in collaboration with Mt. Sims and Planningtorock. Olof and Karin wrote the music for the Danish performance group Hotel Pro Forma’s opera based on Charles Darwin and his book ‘On the Origin of the Species.’
They have released their first track free for mailing list subscribers and can be downloaded here: “Colouring Of Pigeons”
Read the full details from their press release including track list below.
Commissioned by Danish performance group Hotel Pro Forma to write the music for their opera based on Charles Darwin and his book ‘On the Origin of the Species’, The Knife decided to make this a collaborative process, working with artists Mt. Sims and Planningtorock for the first time, to capture the huge width of the Darwin and evolution theme. They extensively researched Darwin related literature and articles, with Olof attending a field recording workshop in the Amazon to find inspiration and to record sounds.
‘Tomorrow, In A Year’ is a unique musical project. Richard Dawkins’s gene trees have formed the basis of some of the musical composition, artificial sounds have been mixed with field recordings, with the music inspired by everything from the different stages of a bird learning its melody, to a song based on Darwin’s loving letters about his daughter Anne. These are compositions that challenge the conventional conception of opera music.
Pushing the experimental process further still, composer, choreographer, costume designer and set designer worked separately, only coming together 3 and a half months before the first performance of ‘Tomorrow, In A Year’ in Copenhagen on the 2nd September 2009. Described as “shifting the position of operartic art in a single leap”, further performances of ‘Tomorrow, In A Year’ are confirmed to take place in Athens (8-9 Jan), Stockholm (29 Jan-1 Feb), and Munster (5 June), with further dates to be announced.
Olof Dreijer says: “At first it was very difficult as we really didn’t know anything about opera. We’d never been to one. I didn’t even know what the word libretto meant. But after some studying, and just getting used to opera’s essence of pretentious and dramatic gestures, I found that there is a lot to learn and play with. In fact, our ignorance gave us a positive respectless approach to making opera. It took me about a year to become emotionally moved by an opera singer and now I really do. I really like the basic theatrical values of opera and the easy way it brings forward a narrative. We’ve approached this before in The Knife but never in such a clear way.”
Tracklist:
CD 1
01. Intro
02. Epochs
03. Geology
04. Upheaved
05. Minerals
06. Ebb Tide Explorer
07. Variation of Birds
08. Letter to Henslow
09. Schoal Swarm OrchestraCD 2
01. Annie’s Box
02. Tumult
03. Colouring of Pigeons
04. Seeds
05. Tomorrow in a Year
06. The Height of SummerBonus track
07. Annie’s Box (alt. vocal)
Fishpork’s 100 Favorite Tracks of the 2000s
This is an attempt at the impossible. Here are our 100 favorite songs of the past decade (featuring multiple tracks from Animal Collective, The Knife, Radiohead, and Elliott Smith). Our top two choices are more like 1a and 1b. Be patient, as the page needs to load the embedded songs.
1. Panda Bear – “Bros” (2007)
2. The Knife – “We Share Our Mother’s Health” (2006)
3. Animal Collective – “For Reverend Green” (2007)
4. Grizzly Bear – “While You Wait For The Others” (2009)
5. The Knife – “Heartbeats” (2003)
6. Grizzly Bear – “The Knife” (2005)
7. LCD Soundsystem – “Someone Great” (2007)
8. TV on the Radio – “Staring at the Sun” (2003)
9. Crystal Castles – “Crimewave” (2008)
10. Beirut – “Ciloqut” (2007)
11. Thom Yorke – “Harrowdown Hill
12. Animal Collective – “Derek” (2007)
13. Nine Inch Nails – “Me, I’m Not” (2007)
14. Beck – “Lonesome Tears” (2002)
15. At The Drive-in – “One Armed Scissor” (2004)
16. Animal Collective – “Grass” (2005)
17. Deerhunter – “Nothing Ever Happened” (2008)
18. Atlas Sound – “Recent Bedroom” (2008)
19. Panda Bear – “Comfy in Nautica” (2007)
20. System of a Down – “Chop Suey” (2001)
21. Animal Collective – “Peacebone” (2007)
22. Battles – “Atlas” (2007)
23. Error – “Jack the Ripper” (2004)
24. Enon – “Pleasure and the Privilege”
25. Elliott Smith – “Son of Sam” (2000)
26. Animal Collective – “Did You See the Words” (2005)
27. The Knife – “Marble House” (2006)
28. LCD Soundsystem – “All My Friends” (2007)
29. Thom Yorke – “Analyse” (2006)
30. The Flaming Lips – “Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell” (2002)
31. Girl Talk – “Smash Your Head” (2006)
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32. A Perfect Circle – “Judith” (2000)
33. Radiohead – “Idioteque” (2000)
34. Tapes N’ Tapes – “Manitoba” (2006)
35. TV On The Radio – “I Was A Lover” (2006)
36. Radiohead – “Reckoner” (2007)
37. Fever Ray – “Coconut” (2009)
38. Animal Collective – “My Girls” (2009)
39. Built to Spill – “Things Fall Apart” (2009)
40. Wilco – “I’m Trying to Break Your Heart” (2002)
41. Modest Mouse – “Tiny Cities Made of Ashes” (2000)
42. Animal Collective – “Leaf House” (2004)
43. Modeselektor – “Happy Birthday” (2007)
44. Arcade Fire – “Wake Up” (2004)
45. Autolux – “Blanket” (2004)
46. MGMT – “Time to Pretend” (2007)
47. Built to Spill – “Conventional Wisdom” (2006)
48. Wilco – “Side With the Seeds” (2007)
49. Elliott Smith – “Happiness/The Gondola Man” (2000)
50. Avey Tare – “I’m Your Eagle Kisser” (2007)
51. Department of Eagles – “Waves of Rye” (2008)
52. Animal Collective – “Summertime Clothes” (2009)
53. Radiohead – “2+2 = 5″ (2003)
54. Dredg – “Sang Real” (2005)
55. While Lies – “Farewell to the Fairground” (2009)
56. Grizzly Bear – “Ready, Able” (2009)
57. Matisyahu – “King Without a Crown” (2005)
58. Modest Mouse – “Paper Thin Walls” (2000)
59. Dillinger Escape Plan – “When Good Dogs Do Bad Things” (2002)
60. Elliott Smith – “Twilight” (2004)
61. Deerhunter – “Flourescent Grey” (2007)
62. Holy Fuck – “Lovely Allen” (2007)
63. LCD Soundsystem – “Never As Tired As When I’m Waking Up” (2006)
64. The Notwist – “Boneless (Panda Bear Remix)” (2008)
65. Liars – “Nothing Is Ever Lost or Can Be Lost My Science Friend” (2004)
66. The Mars Volta – “Inertiatic E.S.P.” (2003)
67. The Notwist – “Solitaire” (2002)
68. Of Montreal – “The Past is a Grotesque Animal” (2007)
69. Queens of the Stone Age – “Tangled Up in Plaid” (2005)
70. Radiohead – “Jigsaw Falling Into Place” (2007)
71. Saul Williams – “Raised To Be Lowered” (2007)
72. Autolux – “Great Days for the Passenger Element” (2004)
73. Sigur Ros – “Untitled 8″ (2002)
74. Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs – “Maps” (2003)
75. Portishead – “Threads” (2008)
76. Sufjan Stevens – “Chicago” (2005)
77. Ugly Casanova – “Things I Don’t Remember” (2002)
78. Animal Collective – “Brothersport” (2009)
79. Radiohead – “Pyramid Song” (2001)
80. Nine Inch Nails – “Only” (2005)
81. El-P – “Flyentology” (2007)
82. Queens of the Stone Age – “No One Knows” (2002)
83. Ghostface Killah – “Shakey Dog” (2006)
84. Modest Mouse – “Missed the Boat” (2007)
85. UNKLE – “Persons and Machinery” (2007)
86. Amon Tobin – “Verbal” (2002)
87. The White Stripes – “Denial Twist” (2005)
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88. Tomahawk – “Captain Midnight” (2003)
89. Modest Mouse – “Bukowski” (2004)
90. Sigur Ros – “Hoppipolia” (2005)
92. Fuck Buttons – “Sweet Love For Planet Earth” (2008)
93. Bon Iver – “Skinny Love” (2008)
94. Built to Spill – “In Your Mind” (2001)
95. The White Stripes – “Icky Thump” (2007)
96. Does It Offend You, Yeah? – “We Are Rockstars” (2008)
97. Dub Trio – “Not Alone” (2006)
98. Modest Mouse – “The World At Large”
99. The Walkmen – “In the New Year” (2008)
100. Nine Inch Nails – “The Great Destroyer (Modwheelmood Remix)” (2007)
Fishpork’s Favorite Albums of the 2000s
Compiling a list of your favorite albums for an entire decade is quite the challenge, especially when that decade was as strong as the 2000s were. Six of our favorites come from two bands (Animal Collective and Radiohead), and two were from this past year (Veckatimest and Merriweather Post Pavilion). This list is by no means a definitive statement of the best music from last decade. Instead, these are our favorite albums that were on heavy rotation in our iPods and scrobbled endlessly on Last.FM.
1. Strawberry Jam (2007) – Animal Collective
2. Silent Shout (2006) – The Knife
3. The Moon and Antarctica (2000) - Modest Mouse
4. Kid A (2000) – Radiohead
5. Figure 8 (2000) – Elliott Smith
6. Veckatimest (2009) – Grizzly Bear
7. De-Loused in the Comatorium (2003) – The Mars Volta
8. Future Perfect (2004) – Autolux
9. The Eraser (2006) – Thom Yorke
10. Person Pitch (2007) – Panda Bear
11. Return to Cookie Mountain (2006) – TV on the Radio
12. Sea Change (2002) – Beck
13. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002) – Wilco
14. High Society (2002) – Enon
15. The Loon (2006) – Tapes N’ Tapes
16. Microcastle (2008) – Deerhunter
17. Feels (2005) – Animal Collective
18. Sound of Silver (2007) – LCD Soundsystem
19. In Rainbows (2007) – Radiohead
20. Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009) – Animal Collective
Fever Ray @ Webster Hall
This was Karin Dreijer Andersson’s first US show as Fever Ray and what a show it was. Andersson has not stepped on a stage in the States since her last visit to Webster Hall in 2006 with her brother Olof as The Knife. The stage was set with smoke machines, synchronized lamp shades of yellow incandescent light that contrasted the green laser beams bouncing off mirrors on the stage and ceiling. All of this was designed by none other than artist and director Andreas Nilsson, who has directed her spooky-short film videos as well as previous work on the Knife projects. With a much larger live band than expected, the stage was filled with three sampling stations in addition to an large percussion arrangement of tribal drums and Karin’s microphone and guitar setup.
The show opened with “If I Had A Heart” as the droning sample rung with Karin hidden beneath a large Indian headdress that engulfed her entire body. This went along with the primal imagery of Nilsson’s design that also included warpaint and American Indian hand crosses brilliantly juxtaposed by the beams of light, making the smoke look like a moving ocean above our heads.
The perfect sound mix added to what was a flawless show. The deep bass of songs like “Coconut” were heart-pounding. Lights even shined on Karin’s face as her impeccable voice crooned the lyrics to “When I Grow Up” and “Seven.” In addition to songs off of the self-titled record, Fever Ray played two cover songs recorded with Van Rivers and The Subliminal Kid. The tracks are available on a limited vinyl release. “Stranger than Kindness,” originally by Nick Cave and Anita Lane, and “Here Before” by Vashti Bunyan added to s seamless set.
The only awkward moment of the show ironically came when it ended. As Karin and company left the stage the house lights stayed off and the sold out crowd of 1400 clamored for an expected encore. After four minutes of darkness, its almost guaranteed that a band will return to the stage. But Karin Dreijer Andersson is the pinnacle of non-conformity and did not return. The house music slowly began to get louder until the house lights came on, leaving everyone confused but not unfulfilled.
This show was on our calendar for months and was easily the most anticipated of the year. Somehow our expectations were exceeded. To put it in plain English, it is was one of the best fucking performances I have ever seen in my life.
Setlist:
If I Had A Heart
Triangle Walks
Concrete Walls
Seven
Now’s the Only Time
Dry and Dusty
I’m Not Done
Keep the Streets Empty
Stranger than Kindness
When I Grow Up
Here Before
Coconut
Here’s a sample from the MELT Festival in Germany:
MP3: “Knife/Heartbeats (Grizzly Bear vs. The Knife)” by PARRKA
What happens when you mash up the two best songs of the 2000s? You get PAARKA’s 2007 mashup masterpiece “Knife/Heartbeats (Grizzly Bear vs. The Knife),” a inconceivably well executed remix of epic proportions. Each song is still more masterful alone, but the mash up concept extends beyond its reputation as a gimmick here. If you missed this when it was released two and a half years ago, you can download “Knife/Heartbeats (Grizzly Bear vs. The Knife) here or stream it below:
Original versions:
“The Knife” by Grizzly Bear
“Heartbeats” by The Knife
White Lies: Everything’s Got To Be Love Or Death
April 7, 2009 by Mark
Filed under Interviews
White Lies may be one of the most hyped British bands in recent memory, and their highly anticipated debut, To Lose My Life, has reached #1 on the U.K. charts. The band is just now making their way to the U.S. for a full proper tour, featuring a collection of emotionally-charged songs that are best served live. Other bands have taken notice, and the White Lies have become a target of countless remixes. Most recently, Crystal Castles put their electro-spazz touch on the album’s opening track, “Death.” We recently caught one of their shows in Philly and became instantly enamored with front man Harry McVeigh. Filter Magazine was able to hook us up with an opportunity to speak to Harry (just hours before his Seattle gig) about his band’s penetration into the American market, the passion in his performances, and some of his favorite bands at the moment.
Fishpork: We were at your Philly show and were really blown away. How do you think the fans over here are responding to White Lies?
Harry McVeigh: It’s been very good, actually. It’s actually been a lot better than we expected it to be. A lot of these shows have started to sell out now, especially towards the end of the tour as interest starts to build. We’ve been playing some good shows, and people have been responding to it really well. Much better than expected I think, and we’ve been really pleased with it.
Fishpork: How is your voice feeling since that show?
HM: It’s much better now. Thanks very much for asking. Yeah, I was out for about five, six days, but I had to do all the shows, and I got through it. It was a struggle. It was definitely a struggle.
Fishpork: Do you find the U.S tour to be more of a challenge since most of your success has been in the U.K.?
HM: No, we had the same challenge in the U.K. about six months ago when we first started touring with the band properly. You know, it’s the same in any country. When you’re starting out, it’s gonna be a little bit harder, because no one’s heard your music, and no one’s had the chance to come see you play live yet. And that’s how interest is generated, and that’s how bands start out. It is a challenge, and it’s really good fun for us, and I’m really enjoying being on this tour. It takes us back to the time when we started. And I know it’s only six months ago. That’s the time we started in the U.K., our own headline tour or whatever. It’s really good fun to play these size venues, to play to people who haven’t really heard your music before and to try to win them over. It’s great fun. I’ve really enjoyed. I suppose the only challenging thing about touring in the U.S. is the distance between each show. And that’s obviously the big difference between the U.S. and England. Every night, we’re probably driving for eight/nine hours to get to places. And, in fact, I decided to fly, because I have my girlfriend out here in Seattle. I drove from Minneapolis to Seattle, which is a very, very long drive. Yeah, it’s cool. It’s really fun.
And it never gets boring playing live, ever. We love it, and we learn new things about the songs and, in fact, learn new songs every few months. And it’s great. The live show’s constantly stepping up in quality, and the performance is becoming better and better, I think.
Fishpork: Some of the songs on your album have been out for a while. Do you get tired of playing the same songs every night? How do you keep your live shows fresh?
HM: No, you’d have to be playing the songs for a long, long time for them to get boring. There’s always the excitement and the nerves when you’re playing live, that it might just go wrong at any moment. And you have to always be concentrating really hard and be really focused when you’re on stage to deliver the best performance. And it never gets boring playing live, ever. We love it, and we learn new things about the songs and, in fact, learn new songs every few months. And it’s great. The live show’s constantly stepping up in quality, and the performance is becoming better and better, I think. If anyone’s seen us this time around on the tour . . . the next time we tour the U.S., hopefully, it’ll be even better. So, it never gets boring. It’s always fun to expand on songs and to get the most out of them in every show.
Fishpork: You seem to put so much energy and emotion into your performances. How are you able to keep your sanity from night to night?
HM: You know, it’s exactly that. During the performance we’re obviously very focused, and we want to deliver the power and emotion of the song. And it’s actually hard not to deliver that power and emotion. They’re very emotionally charged songs and lyrics. It sounds like a cheesy thing to say, but it’s quite therapeutic to sing about things like that and to get that emotion off your chest. For the rest of the time, we’re pretty grounded, normal people. We enjoy the same things that everyone else does. And we enjoy them in the same way. For the show, we’re definitely very focused, but we try to leave that emotion in the show and during the show. Otherwise, we would go insane.
Fishpork: What’s been your favorite stop on the U.S. tour?
HM: I’ve enjoyed a lot of places to be honest. I’ve just spent a couple of days here in Seattle, and I really loved the city, first time here. Everywhere is different. New York and Chicago, the big cities, are great to visit. They’re really amazing places to see. And we always have a good time in the big cities. But there’s some wonderful small places we’ve visited as well. Ann Arbor, the show we did just before Chicago, which is obviously a very small university town. It was great fun, and it was a good show and a really beautiful city as well.
You don’t get a sound check or anything. You usually just set up the equipment and walk on stage. And, personally, I love that. It’s great that it’s so spontaneous. And it actually kind of separates the really good performers and musicians from the no so good performers. And, hopefully, we fall into the first bracket.
Fishpork: We’ve noticed a lot of festival stops on your tour. How do you compare the festival experience to more intimate shows?
HM: Of course, we’re playing Coachella in a couple weeks. Amazing, we’re really looking forward to that. The festival experience is totally different, not only for the people playing but also for the people watching it. A festival performance is a very immediate thing. You don’t get a sound check or anything. You usually just set up the equipment and walk on stage. And, personally, I love that. It’s great that it’s so spontaneous. And it actually kind of separates the really good performers and musicians from the no so good performers. And, hopefully, we fall into the first bracket. And we work very hard, as I mentioned before, on our live show. It’s going to be interesting. And we might have a few shows that are not quite so good, and we might have a few amazing shows at festivals. And that’s the genius of it. You never quite know what’s going to happen, and I love that. At the smaller clubs shows you get a long sound check, and you get to make sure everything’s working. And that’s still really good fun and really great. And, also, you get to use your light show and whatever. It’s not quite as immediate and spontaneous as the festival shows.
Fishpork: What is the songwriting process like for you guys?
HM: It’s almost entirely a democracy in the band. Usually it’ll start with . . . maybe Charles will maybe write some lyrics. And me and Charles will probably sit in my house with the keyboard in my living room, and we’ll start to work out the basics of a song, like the the basic chord structures and melody lines. And then we’ll go into the rehearsal studio, and we’ll work with Jack. It’s only usually a couple of days where we’re working on the very basics of a song, me and Charles. For the rest of the time, me, Jack and Charles will be in the rehearsal studio working long hours to get the song into shape, and it’s the same right way until we finish recording it, and then we have to relearn how to play it live. It’s very much a democracy between the whole band.
Fishpork: Who are some of your American music influences?
HM: Most of our musical influence comes from America actually. It’s very strange. We don’t listen to a huge amount of British music. And I don’t know what the reason for that is. We love the Secret Machines’ first record, I think is our favorite record as a band. That would be in all of our top three records of all-time. We love a band called School of Seven Bells, which is obviously the Secret Machines’ guitarist. They’re amazing. They’re actually coming out to play with us in the U.K. actually in May. And also a band from New York called Violence, a very new band that we’ve fallen in love with. They’re amazing. It’s strange, especially in modern music. We certainly listen to a lot more American bands than U.K. bands.
Fishpork: The visual component to White Lies is quite cinematic. Where does that interest in the visual come from? How do you guys come up with the music video concepts?
HM: The main visionary behind those videos is actually the director, Andreas Nilsson. And the reason we started working with him was because he did the treatment for our first music video, which was “Death.” And it was amazing. It fit so well with the band’s ethos, and what the band is about and, also, what the song is about. And so we chose his treatment and made a video with him. It was so good that we decided to make two more videos with him. He’s just a fantastic director and great visionary. We have a lot of trust in him to make really amazing videos. So that’s why we did a trilogy of videos with him. I’m not sure if you guys have seen the most recent one. It’s on our MySpace. It’s for the single that’s coming out in the U.K., “Farewell to the Fairground.” We shot it in Russia, which was amazing.
I absolutely love that remix. I love the way they’ve taken it completely out of context and changed the song but still made it their own a bit in a very unique and original way. I love their remix. I think it’s amazing.
Fishpork: Crystal Castles is one of our favorite bands. How did you like their remix of Death?
HM: I love it. I love Crystal Castles as well. I think they’re album is incredible. And I’m so, so excited about their second record. We were sort of introduced to Crystal Castles when we were touring with them in 2008 on a tour called NME New Noise Tour in the U.K. And they obviously heard us playing Death on pretty much every night of the tour, and they fell in love with the song. And so they decided to do a remix of it. I absolutely love that remix. I love the way they’ve taken it completely out of context and changed the song but still made it their own a bit in a very unique and original way. I love their remix. I think it’s amazing. Since then, they’ve actually started working with the same management as us, and we get along with them very well as people. They’re really lovely people. We often see them on the festival circuit, and often around London, and also we were in Toronto recently, we saw them out there. We get along with Crystal Castles very well. They’re great people.
Fishpork: What other bands are you guys listening to right now?
HM: Let me think. There’s a band called M83 who just did a remix of one of our songs called “Nothing To Give.” Also, I’ve just bought their album, and I’ve fallen in love with it. I think it’s fantastic. Really great record.
Fishpork: What’s coming up in 2009 for White Lies?
HM: Pretty much touring. We’re touring around the whole world and around the U.K. and Europe a lot. And we’re playing festivals all over the world for the rest of the summer. And it’s going to be great. We’re really, really excited about it. And we hope to see as many people as possible at all the festivals around the world. It’s going to be great.
White Lies has also been hard at work with music video extraordinaire, Andreas Nilsson, who is best known for his work with the Swedish electronic duo, The Knife. So far, Nilsson has worked with White Lies on a trilogy of music videos that capture the visual aesthetic of To Lose Your Life. Embedded below are his videos for “Death,” To Lose My Life,” and “Farewell To The Fairground.”
Album Review: Fever Ray
The elusive Karin Drijer Andersson is best known as the lead vocalist and one half of the electronic music duo The Knife. The Knife formed in 1999 and consists of Karin and her brother Olof Dreijer. Together they run their own record company, Rabid Records.
The Knife has quietly put out some great records including the critically acclaimed Silent Shout in 2006. Silent Shout moved The Knife into a darker direction musically, but Karin’s Fever Ray takes the listener to a much darker place that will haunt you from the depths of an oceanic abyss.
The first track and single “If I Had a Heart” begins with a depressed droning loop that continues throughout the song. This is followed by Karin’s modulated vocals which come in and evoke the mantra, “This will never end cause I want more|More, give me more, give me more.” Haunting masonic temple chants follow, complimenting her voice layers perfectly before the next verse save vocal effects. Inducing a haunting mood and raising things to an aesthetically higher octave pitch. This contrast is used throughout the record and give it the necessary amalgamation an ambient record like this deserves. The Fuck Buttons also did a damn good job remixing the track. Stereogum is streaming it here.
This record is hypnotic and brings the listener to a state of enlightenment that transcends anything The Knife has done previously by pushing the listener to a place that is both comfortable yet vulnerable. Using the juxtaposition of slow, subtle beats as a back drop to the mini-electronic drones, she creates a sound that is both ambient and psychedelic. Standout tracks like “Keep the Streets Empty for Me” and “Now is the Only TIme I Know” move the record into areas previously unexplored by anything she has done in the past.
This album is being released by Mute, and the physical release is not slated until March 23rd in the US but it was made available for digital download via Klicktrack and iTunes on January 13th. You can also stream the entire record on Klicktrack as well.
Coming in at a little over 48 minutes, Fever Ray is a brilliant record and a completely enveloping experience. Karen is able to find a separate vehicle that complements her work with The Knife, much like Thom Yorke did with The Eraser. Karin’s vocals here are unassailable, and she was able create a sound that is minimalistic yet perceptible. Along side Animal Collective, this makes for an amazing start to the new year for music, and we still have 11 months left in 2009!
Here’s the video for “If I Had a Heart,” which was directed by Andreas Nilsson. It’s one of the most chilling and well produced videos I’ve ever seen. Andreas also directed The Knife’s Silent Shout.
Fever Ray – If I had a Heart
Tracklisting:
1. If I Had A Heart
2. When I Grow Up
3. Dry & Dusty
4. Seven
5. Triangle Walks
6. Concrete Walls
7. Now’s The Only Time I Know
8. I’m Not Done
9. Keep The Streets Empty For Me
10. Coconut
http://feverray.com/
http://www.myspace.com/feverray