the kniφe - shaking the habitual

Man, 'Without You My Life Would Be Boring' is REALLY doing it for me right now.

picked this up yesterday on a foraging trip to civilization. listened to it three times in the car on the way around and back. not sure yet what to think. i can't say i don't miss the catchiness & concision of silent shout, which is starting to look like a minor stop on their road from electronic pop act to willfully challenging art project. though i wound up liking the fever ray album quite a bit, i was hoping the next proper knife album would be a bit less gloomily monochromatic. i suppose it is, but not at all in the way i'd imagined.

i do think it works quite well as a piece. i haven't yet been tempted to skip the ambient tracks, and i like most everything here. the attention to sonic detail is fascinating. one of the album's greatest pleasures is just listening to the textures and timbres subtly shift against one another. on first blush, at least, i do find myself longing for a bit more attention to and development of melody, especially in the vocals.

Has anyone got their vinyl yet? (I think someone upthread implied they had, but I can't be bothered checking every post)

the voice modulation on full of fire sounds like the max headroom incident

Saw the vinyl at my record store yesterday

yeah, it's about. went for the dbl cd instead, mostly due to half the price.

love the long screams in "a tooth for an eye", the way they slowly burn through the almost robotic restraint with which karin typically sings to become these jarringly physical, full-throated shrieks. kind of exhilarating.

Just annoying that I pre-ordered the vinyl, it's in stores, and they say it won't be shipped until the 22nd.

I pre-ordered the vinyl sometime late in the week before the street date and they shipped UPS and it got to me on Wednesday. Where did you pre-order? Mine was through the Mute webstore FWIW.

Mine was as well- bought through Mute, fulfilled through Insound, arrived on Wednesday. Maybe the vinyl delay mentioned upthread is only for the Rabid or Brille releases and not the domestic US on Mute?

I think mine was through Rabid Records?

First four songs on this album make up my favourite opening sequence in a long time, but I'm not gripped by the rest so far. Working on it.

listened a couple more times. "full of fire" is starting to feel really damn long. it wants to end at about seven, seven-and-a-half minutes, but cannot. the poor creature's desperation is pitiable, and yet there is nothing i can do to assuage it.

I'm on my fourth or fifth listen now, and I think "Full of Fire" gets longer every time.

I still love it!

Think 'Without You My Life Would Be Boring' may be my absolute highlight of this after several listens.

I was looking at this today. The single cd is a tenner, dbl is thirteen quid, so I'll be paying three quid for a nineteen minute drone piece. Do I really want that? I was hoping this thread might help but seems the song is question had divided people. (Thought - maybe I should get the single cd and download the drone track from Itunes? Wouldn't that be cheaper?)

Was in same quandary but convinced to buy double by this:

Double.

― they all are afflicted with a sickness of existence (Scik Mouthy), Thursday, April 11, 2013 11:59 AM (4 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Not that the 19-minute drone is essential, or whatever, I just think it makes sense. Two 45-ish minute blocks being easier to take in, perhaps.

― they all are afflicted with a sickness of existence (Scik Mouthy), Thursday, April 11, 2013 11:59 AM (4 days ago)

what are these "CDs" you people are dithering over

o yes i remember they're the things i have to import into itunes before listening to

lol you use itunes

easiest program to work by far

Easier than a CD player?

yes

duh

listening to this for the first time right now
Was expecting to not like it after a few minutes. All other Knife albums except TIAY are among my favourites but I've been anticipating an unlistenable mess - happily this isn't it.
'Wrap your arms around me' is good although I'm a little embarrassed to admit that when the vocals started it reminded me of the cover of 'tomorrow never knows' from the Sucker Punch soundtrack

The Sucker Punch soundtrack is the most weirdly compelling unlistenable mess

I never knew there was a version of this released as a single disc without the long drone piece. I can't think of any other albums that have been released normally and also in a truncated form (bonus track editions aside).

I'd go for the double disc version Rob. Not only is it the complete album as the band intended but I think it's probably a bit more digestible over two instalments.

My vinyl copy turned up today. This thing is a beast. Weighs a tonne. 3 LP's plus both the CD's and 12" size spazzy artwork for £19 seems like a great deal to me.

i picked my vinyl up for $25 or so, considering everything it comes w/ esp compared to other overpriced vinyl i was p pleased.

so i got my copy in the mail. i paid $7.99 for the single CD edition. they wanted $10 for the second disc with a 19 minute song i did not want.

so for those who were asking, the single CD edition is in a card board case. not a jewel case as i suspected. so i think it is just like the 2CD edition but with one less song.

correction: they wanted $10 more for the deluxe edition. or $17.89 for the added song.

cd edition flips open craftily crabwise and contains two large posters. which doesn't add much to the listening experience, but dr. tra lala is kind of cartoon hott.

^ the double cd version, but yeah

Ilike the drone but Idon't think every album should have 19 mins of drone in the middle

Also I never really got Silent Shout but this album totally fucking rules

'full of fire' is absolutely crushing on speakers, soundstage is immense, extremely disorienting

Loving every ounce of this, but know that I'd never heard so much as a lick of Knife before now.

(Will def remedy soon)

Second listen - thinking this is epic and genius.

I'm getting a similar vibe off this as I do The Seer by Swans. Jarring, arty, large scale. some really catchy parts ensconced in jarring extended instrumental workouts. The apocalyptic political outlook. The use of exotic instruments to tap it all neatly into the 'fourth world'.
I'm really interested in this kind of music right now: long, dark albums with a lot of variety and experimentation - post rock, but only in the sense that rock instruments and arrangements rarely feature at all. Prog done properly? Maybe. Scott Walker, Om, Swans and now the Knife have all released albums recently that could fit into this and I'm loving them right now.

The comic strip that came with it was pretty funny. Kinda self deprecating in a way. I like the way the solution to extreme wealth seemed to be simply 'plant a tree'.

For those, like myself, with only digital downloads, the artwork/comic strip is available here.

The theknifefans tumblr also featuring some useful guides like:

http://24.media.tumblr.com/ee69b525a7371c94b951e5215812c5a8/tumblr_ml9drbhSxU1s1r55zo1_500.png

Damn I want my record. I think tomorrow is the shipping day...

Raging Lungs isn't available on Spotify and you can't buy it as an mp3 by itself from either iTunes or Amazon. Guess I won't be hearing it until maybe Christmas time.

Ha, totally, I was just about to recommend a "Seer" vs. "Habitual" poll.

Okay, I've been listening to this all day and I'm ready to say it's the best thing they've ever done. Better than Silent Shout, or at least very different. The drone track isn't just worth having, it's essential; it wouldn't be the same album without it. I listen to this album as one piece and the drone tracks is really an extended outro/intro for the two sides - it works as apiece to the other songs. Don't really see why people can't get behind it, but then The Captain was always my favourite off SS.

Comparing it to The Captain seems silly in terms of length, structure, vocals, lyrics,...
I realize you didn't do it directly here, but someone did upthread.

Yeah I don't think they're very similar at all really, but as you say people were comparing them upthread. This record feels very very different to Silent Shout. Coming out 6-7 years after, it feels contextually different too. So much has happened in the intervening time, so many records taking direct influence from SS too that this one makes a lot of sense coming from outside all that.

Listening again. Think this is fast becoming album of the year so far for me. I'd really like to talk more about 'Old Dreams Waiting To Be Realised' because it's sort of frustrating me that so many people are getting perturbed by this album for being a little bit avant garde and having a 20 minute 'drone' track on it. It's 2013, this is the Knife, you're all music fans - what's going on?
It's not a useless track, it's not really a drone track either. Plenty going on in it, lots of changes and bits creeping in, some interesting acoustic artefacts too - isn't it supposed to be an amplified recording of a building or a corridor or something? An the Fracking track was made with a bed spring allegedly. It's cool stuff and it works really well as part of the album too.

I totally get it if electroacoustic soundscapes aren't whoever's thing but I'm just surprised by the reaction, almost as though the Knife had decided to include 20 minutes of silence just to fill the album out or provoke people. It's not that big a deal. I'd argue it's the duck's eye of the album, but also just as worthwhile as the other tracks here. Had some pretty cool auditory hallucinations while drifting off with it on, especially when that bizarre whacking noise came in. Earlier on I was listening to it in the kitchen, my housemate came in and started talking to me and after about three minutes he goes 'what's that noise?' In a slight panic. When I explained I was playing a record he told me he'd thought it was a plane until it had just kept getting louder and louder.

ＬＥＴ'Ｓ ＴＡＬＫ ＡＢＯＵＴ ＧＥＮＤＥＲ ＢＡＢＹ
ＬＥＴ'Ｓ ＴＡＬＫ ＡＢＯＵＴ ＧＥＮＤＥＲ ＢＡＢＹ
ＬＥＴ'Ｓ ＴＡＬＫ ＡＢＯＵＴ ＧＥＮＤＥＲ ＢＡＢＹ
ＬＥＴ'Ｓ ＴＡＬＫ ＡＢＯＵＴ ＹＯＵ ＡＮＤ ＭＥ

this album is working out okay for me. there are times when i think, "this is a flying lizards record where all the songs are ten minutes long", but other times, it's like listening in on conversations between electrical outlets in a david lynch movie. leonard is giving me a nerve pinch, i guess is what i'm trying to say.