Karin Dreijer Andersson is one of the most enigmatic figures in electronic music. The driving force behind Fever Ray and one-half of brother/sister team The Knife, she’s been responsible for some of the most beguiling music of the past half-decade. It’s music that’s often frightening—whether she intends it to be or not—because of the way she twists, masks and terrorizes her own voice, a haunting one-of-a-kind sound that has quickly become a trademark. “It is interesting what you find scary, and especially within music,” says Andersson.
And that’s the major reason why we asked Andersson to put together a very special RA podcast in advance of Halloween, featuring tracks that could soundtrack the season. Some are obvious (Shackleton, Burial Hex), some less so (Bruce Haack, Amadou & Miriam) and some take on a new resonance because of the context (Neil Young, Krause Duo). But as Andersson herself puts it, “I think the eclectic and wide range of music makes it more dynamic and more intense. The tracks affects each other, they get even more mean.” We think that once you get done listening to this mixtape-like selection from Andersson and the rest of the Fever Ray touring group, you’ll no doubt agree.
There’s no explanation for this: Bizarre music video, but Royksopp’s This Must Be It featuring Karin Dreijer Andersson AKA Fever Ray is still one of my favourite tracks of the year.
Music video for Ohbijou’s New Years by Exploding Motor Car. It’s hard to start describing this, but I’d say Pan’s Labyrinth meets Takashi Miike grotesque aesthetic and a wee bit of Michel Gondry. That said, it’s one of the more amazing videos I’ve seen for the year for an equally awesome song. / BOOOOOOOM!
Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson / Relator
Awww… who knows, Scarlett?
The Antlers / Kettering
The haunting falsettos, the slow quiet piano build-up, the climatic crashing drum beats. Oh, this could be my favourite song of the year.
YACHT / The Afterlife
Well, it’s like LCD Soundsystem with female on vocals.
My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-8-9)
The Antlers / Bear
The Antlers’ Hospice is working up to the top of my list for the year. From the comments on SongMeanings: “The idea in Hospice is that sometimes love is not enough and that despite love, people can be unable to help each other - in fact, they can do enormous damage to one another.” Powerful.
British Sea Power / Come Wander With Me
A stark departure from the preceding album, Do You Like Rock Music?, the new British Sea Power is a quiet and largely ambient soundtrack to the 1934 quasi-documentary film Man of Aran by Robert J. Flaherty (of Nanook of the North). ‘Come Wander With Me’ is the only vocal track on this album. Haunting.
My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-8-2)
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone / Optimist vs The Silent Alarm (When the Saints Go Marching In)
Discovery of the week: I downloaded this some time back and left it dormant on my Downloads folder until stumbling on it today while clearing files. A very short album (most songs are just under 3 minutes) but the captivating tunes and world-weary lyrics immediately summon repeat listens.
From tomlab: “It’s like gospel music, if you can imagine that most of the choir has gone home for the evening and the church musical director is just really into samplers. […] Ashworth wrote many of the songs on Vs. Children from the perspective of remorseful criminals. Many more songs deal with the themes of babies, pregnancy, and parent/child relationships, because, let’s face it, none of us are getting any younger, if you know what I mean. Tick tock goes the baby clock.”
