join me in anticipating musics by FEVER RAY (aka one half of the knife)

Aye, it is.

Fantastic record. Slim odds anything will top it for me. So I guess I can just ignore the rest of 2009; that was fast. . .

Artists like this who're drawing from a deep musical well but don't come across as especially "indebted to" or even influenced by particular musical heroes/movements/etc. always impress me. They remind me it's possible neither to rehash nor attempt to reinvent the wheel, if your songwriting and sense for production is strong enough. I'm not saying I even dislike things that wear their influences on their sleeves--a well-done revival isn't an oxymoron to me (like Glass Candy, for example). The Portishead album from 2008 almost had that feeling, but occasionally you could really trainspot a "source" on a particular track. Unless you're just convinced any woman with a slightly odd voice and a trans-European accent sounds like Bjork, The Knife and now this just begin to transcend.

obviously the brother is not a necessary element of the knife. did karin dreijer do the music?

what i mean to say is that this may as well be a knife album. karin is the one who sends chills down my spine.

What a divine january surprise this is !

this is way awesome. My sexist assumptions that Karin was just responsible for the vocals and Olof did the snyths, beats and programming seems to have been way off. Drum programming seems a bit simpler, but maybe just a stylistic choice. Music is as atmospheric as any Knife stuff. Track 2 reminded me slightly of Studio!

probably just the guitar, but whatever.

Digging the pan pipes on "Keep The Streets Empty For Me"

haha one time i was watching that horrible terrible indie video show on the nyc channel and they were playing videos then asking school children what they thought - one kid said abt the knife "is this real music"

haven't put the cd on yet but the single is quite something.

Artists like this who're drawing from a deep musical well but don't come across as especially "indebted to" or even influenced by particular musical heroes/movements/etc. always impress me

i agree - so many try to give this impression but there are so few who genuinely do seem to be complete one-offs, and the knife (or maybe karin dreijer) definitely fit.

re: production, it seems half of it is by christoffer berg and half by van rivers & subliminal kid (haven't heard those names before but berg apparently mixed the knife's work).

oh and since silent shout karin had her second child.

here's a myspace for 'the subliminal kid' profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=19900707 (can't listen, i'm at work)

was nervous, because uh http://www.djspooky.com/

Fuck Buttons remix of If I Had A Heart

http://putonyoureargoggles.blogspot.com/2009/01/fever-rayfuck-buttons.html

I am actually getting really psyched for this.

This is pretty awesome. It excised all the stuff I didn't like about the Knife, so I actually like it.

i've listened once through, not closely enough, but i enjoyed it a lot. to me the thing that seemed to be lacking compared to the knife was something about the sound design maybe? but the basic songwriting was really really great.

"who're"

Dont know about the music, but the video for 'if i had a heart' is amazing:

Wish she did a video for every song on the album, then I might appreciate bit more what she's doing in there.

The album's sound made me remember Bel Canto's debut album, can't exactly put my finger on what it is

so far I am liking this much better than The Knife (who always sounded a bit cheesy to me)

this album is affecting me in kate bush-like proportions

some songs could be on the dreaming

that's exactly what i thought! and i never really listened to the knife.

don't enjoy this as much as the knife, and as said above feel there's something lacking possible sound design or whatever (there's not much automation going on). Also possibly a bit more monothematic than the Knife's albums.

but still awesome.

less arpeggios than silent shout, less pop than deep cuts

hooray/about time.. it's been three years since silent shout!

hooray/about time.. it's been three years since silent shout!

― poortheatre

fuck sake time flies.

Damn this is good. Growing on me too, still

I'm pretty sure this is better than everything I heard last year (with, like, maybe the exception of the-dream, but i'm pretty sure this is even better than that album). So many textures and moods and hooks and sounds. I love her.

Kate Bush yes

listened again, and while a lot of it was really, really great, i still found it to be a little flat overall. certain parts (mostly vocals) risk becoming overused and gimmicky on this album, whereas i never would've thought that about the knife. that's not to say i don't enjoy it, i think i haven't listened to it in the right mood yet, so i don't wanna be too hard on it.

I'm really, really enjoying this album. It sounds so lush, so rich in mood and atmosphere.

I think I can see why later aprpeggiator finds it "a little flat", or 'samey', perhaps, but right now that's just a huge plus for me. The sound just flows and flows, and there are no musical 'thorns' that suddenly break the spell.

Yeah, I hear "unified" here, not "same-y"

man, this is h u g e

i am loving more and more, esp. the final 'keep the streets'/'coconut' couplet

listened to this again and am enjoying it a lot more after i stopped comparing it to the knife

the guitar on this is really nice

first song is amazing. enjoying it so far (halfway through)

i think coconut is my favorite song on this right now

this is truly dope

i'm not hearing any differences between a Knife album and this, which isn't a bad thing necessarily. not sure why they felt the need to use a different name for this. great album though. i'm on my 2nd time through and haven't heard a bad track yet.

same reason imagine isn't credited to the beatles, i imagine.

so massive

so she did the music to this without help from her brother or whoever does the music for The Knife? this sounds exactly like the Knife.

i guess it's like Peter Hook w/ Monaco doing What Do You Want From Me and Shine, which both sound just like New Order songs. oh well, doesn't matter who did the music, this album is fantastic.

maybe she did the music - women can create music beyond singing yknow

sure they can

orly? i had no idea since i'm a huge woman oppressing asshole.

the point is, this sounds EXACTLY like a Knife album. there are no songs here that sound different to anything that the Knife have released at this point. even without the voice, this would be identifiable/sonically linked to a Knife album.

therefore...

i see The Subliminal Kid gets a credit but i'm assuming it's not DJ Spooky - That Subliminal Kid.

I love it, sounds like an update to old Knife sound. Caribbean goth vibe.

So far I think this album’s singles are very promising. I wasn’t all in on her previous album but this one is reeling me back in.

it's my favourite of these new ones but man i wish there was a chorus

As a solo artist She’s on/off about doing chorus in her songs no? I’m trying to think about some of the songs on the s/t and I think most of them set a mood and stay fixed without a clear chorus

there is a chorus it's just not much of a shift

it really picks up right where silent shout left off (even uses one of the same synths according to the press release), i'm really glad they're working with olof again (if only it was for the full album though)

i didn't like plunge much at all but this album is shaping up much better

I was not aware of their pronouns sorry, had no idea Olof is back, excited to hear this one.

s/t has some amazing choruses but I can't imagine we're ever getting an album like that again

yeah olof produced "kandy", "what they call us" and two other tracks on the album

Love this, not sure why they break up the Knife and then release something like this?

S/t is a 10/10 so I doubt they’ll ever release something on that level ever again.

it's an extremely knife move to reunite in all but name for a bunch of ostensibly solo tracks

i still kinda feel like they never fully explored their potential, as good as their output was, i'm very glad to have them back in whatever capacity

kandy is super great, very knife-y and compulsively replayable

For the record I do think Kandy has a chorus:

She laid me down and whispered
All girls want kandy
Can you bring me back
All girls want kandy

album is pretty good, big step up from plunge

first four tracks make quite a nice little knife ep

Yes! Not as good as album 1, but waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better than album 2.

LOVE it

I'm way into it, too

Good car music.

I think it's more "fun" than album one? But I need to revisit

The two non-single Olof tracks being better than the singles is a really nice surprise.

I think it's hard to compare hearing this fresh to 14 years of the self-titled, but I think the quality gap is pretty minimal. Certainly, there's no duds.

I'm loving the new album front to back — and Plunge was underrrated!

This is sounding great. I hate that album cover though, the singles artwork was great, don’t get why they chose a photo of riff raff for the album cover.

agree about the cover right down to my first thought being "hey, it's Riff Raff"

also agree about Plunge being underrated (though I think I prefer the remixes)

Cover, visuals and “persona” are just urgh

I think she's going for making you uncomfortable, no?

Sorry, I forgot sincerely they use they.

It’s working, just not in any way I can see the point of.

No way I’d go see them live if that’s how they perform. Mission accomplished in scaring off the squares, I guess

No way you’d go see them live if what’s how they perform?

Glad they're back, love the album after a few listens, love the unsettling visuals (this has always been the case with them, hasn't it?)

I liked Plunge, though, and the live show was so fun, a ridiculous queer dance party. I guess her horny baby aesthetic back then might have scared off some squares indeed, lol

THIS IS FOR ZACHARRRRRRIUS

Got my numbered vinyl copy - #100!

"shiver" is a hell of a song, sheesh

Finally figured out what "Shiver" reminded me of:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-2jXC6rUIc

the costuming and vibe is incredible, and definitely not new. i mean ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymCP6zC_qJU (trigger warning: Cronenbergian shit)

The first time I saw Fever Ray live was one of the coolest shows I've ever seen. The last time I saw the Knife was one of my least favorite shows. Was considering seeing Fever Ray this weekend, but I suspect it will be closer to the latter in terms of themes and visuals than the former. Which, granted, was mostly just blurry costumed shapes cloaked in smoke, plus lasers, but it was super effective.

Phew, their set tonight in Oakland was quite incredible. Having not seen Karin Dreijer in any context live before I can't compare, but that was just a stellar presentation and the audience was deeply into it.

I had the same experience a month ago in Amsterdam - wonderful costumes, amazing, sensual, and positive energy, helped by a continuous positive feedback loop between crowd and performers. Saw them in 2009 on the tour supporting the debut, a very memorable gig but far more gloomy and gothy, presentation wise. Though I think one of the standing lamps of that tour was also part of the current decor :-)

Awesome in Pasadena

god, Even It Out fucking rips live. I can't turn the volume up loud enough on the album track to relive it.

Wish I'd seen em, so great live both times on the tours for the prior two albums.

Watching the Glastonbury set, loving this version of 'When I Grow Up'