The Knife

nocoverart

Liking this a lot more than Full of Fire. Almost get the feeling that this album will be more along the lines of Tomorrow, IN a Year (in terms of style) rather than Silent Shout MK2 or Fever Ray

Gonzovision

nocoverart wrote: »

Liking this a lot more than Full of Fire. Almost get the feeling that this album will be more along the lines of Tomorrow, IN a Year (in terms of style) rather than Silent Shout MK2 or Fever Ray

Have to say Full of Fire has grown on me, there is an absolute load going on in that track.

Stark

Same here. I've listened to it countless times at this stage and even at 9 minutes, it always feels like it's over too soon. That's not the final version of the new song above is it ? The quality seems a bit off, it sounds like it could be good but there's a lot going on that I'm struggling to hear.

retalivity

across the pond so little to no chance of me getting to see them anytime soon.
full of fire has really started growing on me too. didnt like it at first at all.

Stark

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W10F0ezCTIQ

Sound quality sounds a little better. It's good but I think I prefer "Full of Fire".

Gonzovision

Album streaming here

arbitrary constant

Listening to it right now. Am four tracks in and already I love "Without You My Life Would Be Boring". Something about the sound of squawking flutes always gets me. "A Cherry On Top" is more difficult, will need a few more listens before I know how I feel about it.

Am both looking forward to and slightly worried about the 20-minute white noise track that'll be coming up soon...

"Wrap Your Arms Around Me" has just started and already I'm a little unnerved by it....

EDIT: "Raging Lung" is awesome!

nocoverart

A very challenging album, but in a good way I think. Could be a masterpiece.

Gonzovision

I'm not sure I can listen to it all in one sitting.....

Gonzovision

This is really growing on me now. I really love the first two tracks, A tooth for an Eye and Full of Fire. I had heard both quite a bit before hand but they have really sunk in at this stage. After that the stand outs so far are, Wrap your arms around me and Raging Lung. I still have difficulty with Old Dreams Waiting to be Realised, simply because of the length and Fracking Fluid Injection, which I haven't got the foggiest about what's going on! It is only the second day that I've gotten to listen to it and it is pretty damn impenetrable at first to say the least.

loyatemu

Listened to it once yesterday. It may be a grower but TBH I don't want to listen to it again - long sections of it are very dull.

mosstin

loyatemu wrote: »

Listened to it once yesterday. It may be a grower but TBH I don't want to listen to it again - long sections of it are very dull.

It's really worth persisting with to be honest. There's a ****load of things happening there and it'll take infinite patience to allow it to wash over you. Listened to it all day today and yesterday and I'm really starting to love it. Track titles elude me but 'Raging Lung' definitely stands out as do the opening track and 'Wrap Your Arms Around Me'. It's shaping up wonderfully.

Here's what Sterogum make of it thus far.

Stark

Someone made a comment that summed it up nicely. "There's a really good 45 minute album hiding in there". There's a lot of dull stuff that I'm probably not going to listen to again but there's an awful lot that's excellent too. "Full of fire" convinced me that it's probably worth sticking with. I hated that "song" on the first couple of listens: I honestly thought all the Youtube commenters saying "this is amazing" were trolling, braindead, or simply engaged in blind devotion. But after my brain's had time to decode it, I think it's awesome. I can't wait for a proper download of it so I can listen to it properly at my leisure instead of in front of the computer.

nocoverart

Some of the tracks are absolutely unreal while some are nothing short of diabolical. I've created my own mini-album at this stage, but what a great fookin mini-album! stand-outs for me are, A Tooth For An Eye, Wrap Your Arms Around Me, Raging Lung and Ready To Lose.

budgemook

Got the album this evening, a bit afraid to listen to be honest!

SilverScreen

Had to give this one a while to sink in. I still don't know what to make of it, I can't decide whether it's a stroke of genius, an over-indulgent mess or a bit of both. It's certainly a far cry from the synthpop of Deep Cuts. If they left 'Old Dreams Waiting to be Realized' and 'Fracking Fluid Injection' off the album it would have been more focused and more consistent. There's some really great material on the album besides this, 'A Tooth For an Eye' and 'Raging Lung' in particular.

It's certainly something different and I can't imagine this album existing ten years ago. It's been a while since I've been challenged and baffled by a new release but I don't really feel like wasting too much time trying to figure it out. It could be something that will make more sense in another ten years or maybe not, time will tell.

loyatemu

I made a Spotify playlist omitting the 3 long boring tracks ("A cherry on top" being the 3rd one), and its actually a pretty good (if intense) record now. Its still nowhere near as good as Silent Shout though.

nocoverart

Reading a few posts on Last FM I think it was, and the Live-Shows are suppose to be utter cack! it all just feels half baked with The Knife this time around. I read It's more like a play than a gig, hopefully come the festivals it will be more about the tunes.

ILIKEFOOD

Travelled from Dublin to hamburg to see them. A very unusual 'gig' there was no live instrumentation whatsoever. I think the knife have become more about their ideals than anything else. The performance was (it has to have been) intentionally bad as if to say 'you wanted a show and we'll give you a bad version of one you wouldn't want to see anyway' with woeful choreography, a very unlikely guy dressed as a Viking acting as a pre gig cheerleader. I actually thought he was part of the venue at first. They didn't play a good few tunes I was hoping for either. Don't hold your breathe for a big festival show - the '**** show' is definitely intentional and another means of getting you to think about what they represent and their politics etc. I expected something off the wall - and got it - I enjoyed it too, outrageous but I think that pure shock of outrage will wear of easily on those expecting it

budgemook

playing the sunday at electric picnic

http://theknife.net/show/

Gonzovision

budgemook wrote: »

playing the sunday at electric picnic

http://theknife.net/show/

That's grand, it means I can suffice with a day ticket.....

budgemook

Gonzovision wrote: »

That's grand, it means I can suffice with a day ticket.....

I had no choice as I'm busy that weekend. Regular picnic goer too so I was getting very worried.

Gone West

I am in Paris on business this weekend, and I just got back from their gig here where they played to a sold out crowd of about 600 people in the spectacular cite de la musique. We were in the front row on the balcony.

I'm a huge fan, and I have been for 8 years, so I was delighted to be finally able to see them live. Especially since I was going to be in Paris already. I loved everything they have ever done, including tomorrow in a year. I love Karins voice and Olofs very niche solo stuff. I love fever ray and I even can agree with their political stuff. Bear in mind that I really wanted to love it, and I have an open mind, and I would be a relatively easy fan to please.

I'm not sure how to process it. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, but the whole thing felt like a huge "f**k you" to the fans.
There were moments where I found myself shaking my head and thinking that the rest of the audience were morons for clapping. Obviously he crowd can do as they like, and anybody is entitled to clap if they are having a good time.
But on several occasions, the group did something ironic or distasteful and the crowd didn't "get it" and just lapped it up.
Like, there was a fake looking sound check where a fake Karin Dreijer lookalike tested her mic, they loved it, likely thinking it was her.
There was another "sound check" of the wacky vertical drum set where one or two of the drums disn't make a synth sound, but I could hear the actual mechanical sound. I suppose the idea was to show that it wasn't really live electronic music.
They didn't move a muscle for most of full of fire, which is ironic.
They pretended to sing, even as I was successfully shazammng the song, proving it came straight from the studio.
There was a girl playing a sort of electronica driftwood flute, actually it was excellent, but it just wasn't live. Same thing with a log and a type of violin bow.
There was a weird finger clicking control-the-crowd thing going on.
Karin danced like a lunatic, and I loved her for it.
The dancing was cheesy and bad but fun and wild.
The music was really really great. Bangin actually, but there was only 2 songs played that weren't from the new album. I do like the new album, but It can definitely be challenging at times (one track is a bizzare 19 minute soundscape).

The costumes were something you would see in a budget high school production.
Karin played air guitar right in the face of one of the group who was "playing" an actual guitar. Of course his guitar wasn't real, it was more like a 2 stringed hexagonal plank with some electronics. And of course he wasn't playing either.
It just felt like she was mocking the crowd, making fun of that rock music trope, and making fun of themselves. There was a sly smile each time the crowd misunderstood the joke or didn't get the irony.

They also poked fun at the standard concert trope where the band will abruptly leave after the second last song, then re-appear after 5 minutes and play one last tune.
The knife left, some interval techno was played, the lights stayed dark, but they never re-appeared.

Theres also the terrible colours on the website, and the rambling quasi political tour launch blurb.
I did enjoy it, and I would go again, it was a strange experience, it was meta, and it was a great way to pass an evening. There were moments of genius, and it did Definitely force me to think... Just as I thought this brother-sister act couldn't get any weirder, they go mess with my head like this.
It was gruesome, unbelievable, bizarre and unprecendeted. :V

ILIKEFOOD

Fuzzy wrote: »

I am in Paris on business this weekend, and I just got back from their gig here where they played to a sold out crowd of about 600 people in the spectacular cite de la musique. We were in the front row on the balcony.

I'm a huge fan, and I have been for 8 years, so I was delighted to be finally able to see them live. Especially since I was going to be in Paris already. I loved everything they have ever done, including tomorrow in a year. I love Karins voice and Olofs very niche solo stuff. I love fever ray and I even can agree with their political stuff. Bear in mind that I really wanted to love it, and I have an open mind, and I would be a relatively easy fan to please.

I'm not sure how to process it. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, but the whole thing felt like a huge "f**k you" to the fans.
There were moments where I found myself shaking my head and thinking that the rest of the audience were morons for clapping. Obviously he crowd can do as they like, and anybody is entitled to clap if they are having a good time.
But on several occasions, the group did something ironic or distasteful and the crowd didn't "get it" and just lapped it up.
Like, there was a fake looking sound check where a fake Karin Dreijer lookalike tested her mic, they loved it, likely thinking it was her.
There was another "sound check" of the wacky vertical drum set where one or two of the drums disn't make a synth sound, but I could hear the actual mechanical sound. I suppose the idea was to show that it wasn't really live electronic music.
They didn't move a muscle for most of full of fire, which is ironic.
They pretended to sing, even as I was successfully shazammng the song, proving it came straight from the studio.
There was a girl playing a sort of electronica driftwood flute, actually it was excellent, but it just wasn't live. Same thing with a log and a type of violin bow.
There was a weird finger clicking control-the-crowd thing going on.
Karin danced like a lunatic, and I loved her for it.
The dancing was cheesy and bad but fun and wild.
The music was really really great. Bangin actually, but there was only 2 songs played that weren't from the new album. I do like the new album, but It can definitely be challenging at times (one track is a bizzare 19 minute soundscape).

The costumes were something you would see in a budget high school production.
Karin played air guitar right in the face of one of the group who was "playing" an actual guitar. Of course his guitar wasn't real, it was more like a 2 stringed hexagonal plank with some electronics. And of course he wasn't playing either.
It just felt like she was mocking the crowd, making fun of that rock music trope, and making fun of themselves. There was a sly smile each time the crowd misunderstood the joke or didn't get the irony.

They also poked fun at the standard concert trope where the band will abruptly leave after the second last song, then re-appear after 5 minutes and play one last tune.
The knife left, some interval techno was played, the lights stayed dark, but they never re-appeared.

Theres also the terrible colours on the website, and the rambling quasi political tour launch blurb.
I did enjoy it, and I would go again, it was a strange experience, it was meta, and it was a great way to pass an evening. There were moments of genius, and it did Definitely force me to think... Just as I thought this brother-sister act couldn't get any weirder, they go mess with my head like this.
It was gruesome, unbelievable, bizarre and unprecendeted. :V

Nice review - I missed so much of the detail of the gig as I was stuck in the crowd.

It's funny the bizarreness of it hasn't left me even though its been a week! Really looking forward to seeing them at the picnic ill try to be more observant!

IamtheWalrus

Saw them in London on Wednesday. The campness wore off after a couple of songs. Liked the darker moments though. A bit Wickermanish.

Bizarre.

I saw them in Camden on Wednesday too. I had a great time and really enjoyed myself but I do understand why so many people are slamming it. I'm glad I knew it was a playback/dancey show before going 'cause otherwise I may have felt a bit dejected by the whole thing. But the choreography was great, and the tracks where Karin did sing live were brilliant. Silent Shout is as epic a closer to a gig as you could hope for!

S.M.B.

Yeah, I was there on Wednesday too and I was really apprehensive having read that review above.

I thought it was great though. I couldn't take my eyes of the stage for the entire show.

I expected it to be some distasteful practical joke after the above review. And if you didn't 'get it' then the joke was on you. A 'f**k you' to the fans like the poster said.

It was a lot more playful than that though. Just a deconstruction of your typical live show amongst a performance collective as opposed to the 'if you don't get the joke, the jokes on you' pretentious performance art I was expecting.

For example, this:

They also poked fun at the standard concert trope where the band will abruptly leave after the second last song, then re-appear after 5 minutes and play one last tune.

The knife left, some interval techno was played, the lights stayed dark, but they never re-appeared.

made me fear an unnecessary f**k you to the audience but I interpreted the whole thing in a completely different way. It wasn't interval techno at all in London. Silent Shout just segued into a DJ set and folk were dancing around the Round House for the next 30 minutes.

Anyway, I loved it and might even go out of my way to see it a second time at now.

budgemook

Can't find the link now but The Knife were saying their tour will start with one thing (dance aerobics?), then change to another (danceoke?) and then finish off with dj sets.

Anyone know if they're still on the first bit and/or if they will be just doing the dj sets by the time they get to Ireland?

S.M.B.

That means each show is made up of the 3 parts as opposed to the tour being made up of 3 phases.

Opening act was DEEP Aerobics, then their actual set was could pretty much be summed up with the term danceoke and then in segued straight into a DJ set (by a separate DJ).

budgemook

S.M.B. wrote: »

That means each show is made up of the 3 parts as opposed to the tour being made up of 3 phases.

Opening act was DEEP Aerobics, then their actual set was could pretty much be summed up with the term danceoke and then in segued straight into a DJ set (by a separate DJ).

Ah right! Cheers. You don't have the link by any chance do you?