The Knife

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The Knife
The Knife performing at Sónar in 2006
The Knife performing at Sónar in 2006
Background information
Origin Sweden
Genre(s) Minimal techno
Electronic
Electropop
Electroclash (early-mid)
Years active 1999 – present (on hiatus)
Label(s) Rabid, Brille, Mute
Website official site
Members
Karin Dreijer Andersson
Olof Dreijer
For other uses of the term Knife, see Knife (disambiguation).

The Knife are a musical duo from Sweden formed in 1999. The band consists of siblings Karin Dreijer Andersson and Olof Dreijer, who also run their own record company, Rabid Records.

Contents

[edit] History

The group gained recognition when José González covered their song "Heartbeats" on his 2003 album, Veneer. The cover was used by Sony in a commercial for Bravia television sets, and released as a single in early 2006. The group commented on this in a Dagens Nyheter article, claiming that Sony paid a large sum of money to use the song. Despite the group's anti-commercial views, they justified the transaction by citing their need for money to establish a record company.

The Knife's song "We Share Our Mother's Health" from their album Silent Shout was featured by the iTunes Store as a free song of the week in late 2006. This song was also featured in the ABC series Ugly Betty, as well as an episode of CSI: NY. In August 2007, "Heartbeats" was featured on an episode of the HBO series Entourage.[1]

Having never before performed live, The Knife went on tour in 2006, and after selling out shows worldwide, a DVD of the tour was announced. The DVD was released in Sweden on November 8, 2006, and is titled Silent Shout: An Audio Visual Experience.

Silent Shout was named the best album of 2006 by Pitchfork Media.[2]

At the Grammis awards in January 2007, The Knife won in all six categories they were nominated in: Composer of the Year, Music DVD of the Year, Producer of the Year, Pop Group of the Year, Album of the Year and Artist of the Year. Again, they did not attend the award ceremony.

In an interview during the Silent Shout tour, Olof announced that the band would be going on a three-year hiatus, during which he would resume work on previously-started songs for Coolof, his solo DJ project.[citation needed]

[edit] Relationship with the media

One of the group's distinguishing characteristics is their unwillingness to cooperate with the media or the mainstream music scene. The group rarely makes public appearances, most of their promotional photos feature the members wearing masks, usually venetian masks and until recently, they outright refused to perform live concerts. The group has shown themselves in public wearing masks formed as birds' beaks, similar to those used by medieval doctors.[citation needed]

The Knife won a Grammis award as best pop group of the year 2003, but they boycotted the ceremony by sending two representatives of another artist group dressed as gorillas with the number 50 written on their costumes as a protest against male dominance in the music industry.[citation needed] Their album Deep Cuts was also nominated for a Grammis as the best record of the year 2003, although that award went to The Cardigans.

[edit] Influences

The Knife have listed David Lynch, Aki Kaurismäki, Korean cinema, Trailer Park Boys, Donnie Darko, and Doom as inspirations for their work.[3]

[edit] Fever Ray

In 2008, Dreijer Andersson announced that she would release a solo album under the name Fever Ray in March 2009. The album was digitally released (on iTunes and via other outlets) in advance of this.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

Album Record Label Release Date Charts
The Knife Rabid Records February 5, 2001 3x platinum
Deep Cuts Rabid Records January 17, 2003 # 11 SWE
Hannah med H Soundtrack Rabid Records November 26, 2003 # 51 SWE
Silent Shout Rabid Records February 15, 2006 # 1 SWE

[edit] Singles

[edit] DVD

[edit] Other

Dreijer Andersson appears as guest vocalist on:

Olof Dreijer appears on the Nine Inch Nails remix-album Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D with a 14-minute remix of "Me, I'm Not".

[edit] Production

  • "Jenny Wilson" "Let My Shoes Lead Me Forward" "Let My Shoes Lead Me Forward" CDS and 12" (2005)
  • "Hird" "Keep You Kimi" "Moving On Remixed" 12" (2005)
  • "Stina Nordenstam" "Parliament Square" "Parliament Square" CDS (2005, V2 VVR5030983)

[edit] Videography

[edit] Music videos

[edit] Short films

  • "When I Found The Knife" (story by Frau Rabid, animated by Vardag) [1](2004)
  • "When I Found The Knife Again" (Amy Engles=Amy Leech [2], [3]) (2006)

[edit] Concert film

[edit] Awards

2003 – Nöjesguiden’s Stockholm Award, Music Category
2003 – Swedish Hit Music Awards, Best Video “Heartbeats”
2003 – Swedish National Radio P3 “Gold”, Group of the Year
2003 – Swedish Grammies, Pop Group of the Year
2004 – Manifest Awards, Pop Rock
2004 – SAMA (Scandinavian Alternative Music Awards), Song of the Year "Heartbeats"
2006 – Pitchfork Media Album of the Year
2006 – Manifest Awards, Dance/House Techno of the Year
2006 – Manifest Awards, Live Performers of the Year
2007 – Swedish National Radio P3 “Gold”, Group of the Year
2007 – Swedish National Radio P3 “Gold”, Dance of the Year
2007 – Swedish Grammies, Artist of the Year
2007 – Swedish Grammies, Pop Album of the Year “Silent Shout”
2007 – Swedish Grammies, Songwriters of the Year
2007 – Swedish Grammies, Pop Producers of the Year
2007 – Swedish Grammies, Music-DVD of the Year "Silent Shout: An Audiovisual Experience"
2007 – Swedish Grammies, Pop Group of the Year
2007 – SAMA (Scandinavian Alternative Music Awards), Song of the Year "Marble House"
2007 – SAMA (Scandinavian Alternative Music Awards), Album of the Year "Silent Shout"

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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