I know that I haven't done one of these in a long time, so I'll try to keep this brief, but informative. Lately I find that I've been seeking out some really weird shit to listen to. I think it's because I'm getting bored with most of my music being so uplifting and polite (I still love it, just eh, want some darker stuff). So! With that in mind, I started checking out music blogs (and Pitchfork) for bands considered to be 'dark', you know, bands that have the word 'haunting' used every other sentence to describe them. Anyway, this led me to Fever Ray and The Knife. If Beach House are the haunted mansion up the block with black bats and wolves howling near the door, Fever Ray is the abandoned asylum with tribal drums echoing through the torn walls. Victoria Legrand does not come anywhere close to Karin Dreijer Andersson in terms of creepy-ass atmosphere.
Fever Ray's debut record (self-titled) was released March 18th, 2009, and it is the solo project of Karin Dreijer Andersson of The Knife. The record in question, "When I Grow Up" is very weird, much like the rest of the album: filled with demonic sounding chants and other weird shit that reminds me of the early Dead Can Dance albums. As for the song itself, I love the atmosphere, and the sort-of nonsensical patois (at least to me they sound like that, very accented, world-music and Bjorky) that fill the vocals. The percussion -- especially when it shifts halfway in -- is amazing. The lyrics almost don't even matter to me, because whatever this is about, it hits you: "I put my soul in what I do. Last night I drew a funny man with dark eyes and a hanging tongue. It goes way bad, I never liked a sad look, from someone who wants to be loved by you." I love the rhythmic turn it takes toward the end.Grade: A
Moving onto something even weirder, this is the first leaked track from The Knife's 2010 upcoming album, Tomorrow, In a Year. Both Fever Ray and The Knife are on Rabid records. I really don't know how I feel about it. It's long, really long; and when I listen to it, I feel like this was the Fever Ray approach, but with some operatic elements added in. It's a very odd song, so I really don't know what to make of it; but I will say that Pigeons is definitely one of the more intriguing songs to be released this year, or 'leaked' if you want to get real technical about it. Grade: I honestly don't know. I like a lot of things about it, but it's a ten minute song. Also it didn't really hit me the same way "When I Grow Up" did, so we'll see (On a side note, I think the video for "When I Grow Up" is really creative, despite that I have no fucking idea what it means, sort of like the song).
Anyway, let me know what you guys think of these two tracks. If you're not fans, just remember, I didn't record them. I don't need a bunch of people repeating the word 'subjective', which I find a bit ironic since most of these music threads are in the off-topic of a GAMES REVIEW SITE , but hey, that's just me. I'm getting back on track with new 2010 releases, so expect some more of these in the future. Also, here is an interesting list of artists with either confirmed, or rumored work coming out this year:
- Arcade Fire
- The Strokes
- Interpol
- MGMT (Not excited for this at all)
- The Magnetic Fields (I CANNOT WAIT)
- Hot Chip (New single sounds lame)
- Beach House
- The National
- LCD Soundsystem
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