The Knife - Tomorrow, in a year

A few weeks back The Knife introduced us to their new project / full length album through the 11 minute track 'Colouring the Pigeon'. This was a collaboration between Mt. Sims and Planningtorock. This project was actually commissioned by Hotel Pro Forma to accompany an opera they had written entitled On The Origin Of The Species. The full album has been available to stream lately. It comes off in typical Knife fashion. Sometimes obscure, and always with a variety of sounds to interpret. Although familiar, it also goes in a bit of a different direction than past albums due to it being written for this opera in particular. The album will be available on digital release February 2nd.

The Knife - The Height of Summer

Loney, Animated

Loney, Dear (aka Emil Svanängen) is a Swedish musical genius whose latest album Loney, Noir is receiving a ton of buzz. What's even more fantastic than his sound is this sweet animated video for his single "I am John". It was created by fellow Swede Andreas Nilson, whose video for The Knife (below) is also worth your while. Enjoy!

Loney, Dear - I am John


The Knife - N.Y. Hotel

Ice Cream is Going to Save the Day...

Let's look back to what I refer to as the golden years of my music listening career. I was young, I was bold and I certainly would never dance at a disco. If you were to hand me tracks from Girl Talk or The Knife I would scoff at you and give you an At the Drive-In record or the DFA '79 (RIP) demo. Fast-forward a few years and I can dance with the best of them. In fact, dancing to the likes of Justice or MSTRKRFT has become a well-enjoyed weekend pastime for me. I have no one else to thank but my dance-loving friends from university and a little place in Ottawa called Zaphod Beeblebrox. Don't get me wrong, bands like ATDI and DFA still top my favourite artist lists, but dance artists have become a mainstay on my ipizzle.

The electroclash/dance artist from Melbourne, Aussieland known as Muscles is the latest addition to my ever-expanding music collection. His late 2007 release Guns Babes Lemonade is an eclectic mix of pop songs and dance floor anthems, all with brilliantly laid out tongue-in-cheek sing-alongs that blur the line between laptop pop and arena chanting. On the album's stand-out track (and my personal favourite, the song that got me hooked) Ice Cream, Muscles juxtaposes club violence "he could have a knife / stab me in the gut / bleeding on the floor / shoulda kept my mouth shut" with dancing with our shirts off " i just wanna dance with my shirt off".

Bloody brilliant. Electro-pop may be on its way out but it's albums like this that will make me fondly remember the days when I was just another sweaty body in a sea of happy, sweaty people.

Muscles - Ice Cream

Muscles - Sweaty

- MF Blaz

Remix Sunday - Sharing and Caring

This is, in my opinion, one of the best remixes of 2006. Ratatat takes The Knife's disjointed, frenetic and slightly disturbing 'We Share Our Mother's Health' and restructures it into something much more comprehensible. I particularly like what is done with the rearrangement of the vocals, and where the original is cold and downright creepy the remix is much more user-friendly, encouraging the listener to shuffle their feet and bob their head if not dance outright. As much as I love the original, I love the remix for all different reasons.

The Knife - We Share Our Mother's Health
The Knife - We Share Our Mother's Health (Ratatat Remix)

-Andrew M