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.
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THE KNIFE TICKETS
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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 Mothers' 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.
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 the traditional
Venetian Medico Della Peste
(plague doctor) masks worn during
Carnival.
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. 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.
Influences
The Knife have listed
David Lynch,
Aki Kaurismäki, Korean cinema,
Trailer Park Boys
,
Donnie Darko
,
Doom
, and
Black Hole
as inspirations for their work.
[3] [4]
Fever Ray
In 2008, Karin 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.
Discography
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
|
Singles
- "Afraid of You" (2000)
- "N.Y. Hotel" (2001)
- "Got 2 Let U" (2002)
- "Nedsvärtning" (2002)
- "Heartbeats" (2004) # 54 SWE
- "You Take My Breath Away" (2003)
- "Pass This On" (2003)
- "Handy-Man" (2003)
- "Like a Pen" 2006
- "Marble House" (2006)
- "Silent Shout" (2006)
- "We Share Our Mothers' Health" (2006)
- "Christmas Reindeer" (2006) (free internet-only mp3 release)
DVD
- "Deep Cuts" (2004)
- "When I Found The Knife, By: Frau Rabid." (2005)
- "Silent Shout: An Audio Visual Experience" (2006)
Other
Dreijer Andersson appears as guest vocalist on:
- "This Must Be It?" (Röyksopp) (2009)
- "Tricky Tricky" (Röyksopp) (2009)
- "Slow" (dEUS) (2008)
- "What Else Is There?" (Röyksopp) (2005)
- "Lost in the City Nights" (Yvonne) (2001)
- "Axe Man" (Silverbullit) (2001)
- "Bear Quartet" (Be A Stranger) (Gay Icon CD 2001)
- "Wasted" (Robot) (Fake or Real? CD (2000, Starboy Recordings/BMG Sweden))
- "Volksblues" (The Bear Quartet) (1998)
Olof Dreijer appears on the
Nine Inch Nails remix-album
Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D
with a 14-minute remix of "Me, I'm Not".
Production
- Robyn: "Who's That Girl?" (2005)
- Jenny Wilson: "Let My Shoes Lead Me Forward" CDs and 12" (2005)
- Hird: "Keep You Kimi", "Moving On Remixed" 12" (2005)
- Stina Nordenstam: "Parliament Square" (2005)
Videography
Music videos
- "N.Y. Hotel" (Andreas Korsár & Andreas Nilsson) (2001)
- "Pass This On" (Johan Renck) (2003)
- "Heartbeats" (Andreas Nilsson, Johannes Nyholm & Bo Melin) (2003)
- "Handy-Man" (Bold Faces) (2003)
- "You Take My Breath Away" (official video) (Henry Moore Selder) (2003) (Featuring Jenny Wilson)
- "Rock Classics" (Amy Leech) (2005) ("When I filmed The Knife" video competition winner)
- "Silent Shout" (Andreas Nilsson) (2006) (inspired by Oskar Fischinger and Charles Burns' "Black Hole")
- "Marble House" (version 1: partly animated) (Björn Renner) (2006) (Featuring Jay-Jay Johanson)
- "Marble House" (version 2: mice) (Chris Hopewell) (2006) (Featuring Jay-Jay Johanson)
- "We Share Our Mothers' Health" (Motomichi Nakamura) (2006)
- "Like a Pen" (Andreas Nilsson) (2006)
- "Na Na Na" (David Vegezzi & Dagmar Weaver) (2007)
Short films
- "When I Found The Knife" (story by Frau Rabid, animated by Vardag) (2004)
- "When I Found The Knife Again" (Amy Engles=Amy Leech , ) (2006)
Concert film
- "Silent Shout: An Audio Visual Experience" (2006) (Marius Dybwad Brandrud)
Awards
Year
| Awards
| Category
|
2003
| Nöjesguiden’s Stockholm Award
| Music Category
|
Swedish Hit Music Awards
| Best Video “Heartbeats”
|
Swedish National Radio P3 “Gold”
| Group of the Year
|
Grammis
| Pop Group of the Year
|
2004
| Manifest Awards
| Pop Rock
|
Scandinavian Alternative Music Awards (SAMA)
| Song of the Year "Heartbeats"
|
2006
| Pitchfork Media
| Album of the Year
|
Manifest Awards
| Dance/House Techno of the Year
|
Live Performers of the Year
|
2007
| Swedish National Radio P3 “Gold”
| Group of the Year
|
Dance of the Year
|
Grammis
| Artist of the Year
|
Pop Album of the Year “Silent Shout”
|
Songwriters of the Year
|
Pop Producers of the Year
|
Music-DVD of the Year "Silent Shout: An Audiovisual Experience"
|
Pop Group of the Year
|
SAMA
| Song of the Year "Marble House"
|
Album of the Year "Silent Shout"
|
See also
References
- Entourage Music: Season 04: Episode 52 "Snow Job"
- The 50 Albums of 2006
- Interview: The Knife
- The Knife - Videography