YES PLEASE Presents DJ COOLOF (THE KNIFE)

DJ COOLOF
YES PLEASE DJ's

Thursday 2.2.2006 @ Rose Garden, Iso Roba 10

Tickets 3 (before 23), 6 after

K-20




THE KNIFE, Rabid Records

"Most art (and music) is shit. But it’s worth listening to and look at, ‘cause when you finally see something you like, it’s fantastic."

Believe us when we say that we think you’ll find something to love in the magical world of The Knife. As their name, and the above volley of abuse, suggests, The Knife are not a conventional band content to offer vacuous platitudes served on a diet of mediocrity. Nope, they mean business and they’ve got the manifesto to prove it.

A brother and sister duo (Karin and Olof) from Stockholm in Sweden, they claim their music – which is a glorious blend of melodic electro-pop, machine-made rhythms and dark, curveball twists – is nothing more than pop, yet their songs speak of an informed and subversive political agenda. They refuse to play live - but don’t think this is a bold statement - and deride rock’n’roll for being outdated.

"We want to react against the organic, improvised expression. We wanna do a more synthetic, weird and non-organic expression. Within the artificial expression new moods and spheres arise. Electronic music is absolutely the music of the future. Machine music is good."

Like we said, not exactly Erick Morillo. But then what do you expect from a pair who namecheck Sonic Youth, Kate Bush, Le Tigre and Siouxsie And The Banshees (Karin) and hard techno, UK grime and southern US rap (Olof)?

Their first eponymous album was released in Sweden in 2001 (it finally saw the light of day over here earlier this year). A stunning collection of emotional electronic punk pop, its razor-sharp aesthetic told tales of a political bent shaped by fierce views on animal rights. And now that we’ve been suitablty primed for the creative textures that run deep through Karin and Olof, the UK is finally ready for album number two, ‘Deep Cuts’.

Already certified gold – 30,000 copies and increasing - in their homeland, ‘Deep Cuts’ is a giant leap forward for the duo. Recorded in Karin’s basement the duo believe that ‘Deep Cuts’’ ‘expression, lyrics and music is more clear and colourful’ than ‘The Knife’. "It’s more hard and tough," they boast.

Indeed it is: lead track and recent single ‘Heartbeats’ is a crunchy gothic electro number, where Karin indulges her Siouxsie Sioux fetish to the max. ‘Girls’ Night Out’’s dark ‘80s pop is 50 per cent stupid, 50 per cent clever – like all the best pop – and the anthemic, multi-coloured electronica of ‘You Take My Breath Away’ betrays a sense of humour that is prevelent throughout the album’s 17 tracks. Elsewhere Karin gets salacious on ‘Pass This On’ as she suggests ‘I’m in love with your brother/What’s his name?’, the folktronic ‘One For You’ suggests a Bjork meets Four Tet crush and the machine gun fusillade of Euro pop monster ‘Listen Now’ is a full on freak out with oriental overtones: a feat that’s replicated on ‘She’s Having A Baby’.

However, cheeky, art house cuts only tell half the story. ‘You Make Me Like Charity’’s minimal R’n’B grind lambasts those who believe it’s better to give money to charity than paying their taxes; the lush, slinky house rhythms of ‘This Is Now’ is Carl Craig’s Paperclip People on an away day to Scandinavia and the grand, cinematic, instrumental ‘Behind The Bushes’ is genuinely affecting in its melancholic and haunting splendour.

Like its predecessor, ‘Deep Cuts’ is suffused with a political edge. This time its feminism.
"When we were making the album we were thinking a lot about making music which could have a dialogue with different kinds of people," they suggest. "For example we wanted the feminist issue to get out to a broader audience, not only to those already familiar with it. So we tried to package the music into something we thought could create that kind of communication or dialogue."

This communication has already led them to winning a Grammy in Sweden, but rather than bask in the glory The Knife boycotted the ceremony, prefering instead to send along two of their friends. Nothing out of the ordinary there you might think, save for the fact their buddies were wearing gorilla masks and t-shirts each emblazoned with the number 50. "We are tired of the focus on people instead of music in the media," Olof rallies. "Therefore it’s better to send someone you don’t know, and who is also dressed as a gorilla. We are also tired of the disproportion between gender and power in the music industry. Of the ten biggest labels in Sweden, only one has a female general manager. None has a female A&R. The gorillas had t-shirts on which had the numbers 50 on it. So they scremed 50, 50! And they said this thing about the disproportion in the industy and that The Knife’s winning concept is 50/50! That’s why we are so succesful! Great innit?"
Funnily enough the gorillas were quoted in Sweden’s ten biggest newspapers the next day, further fanning The Knife’s flames.

So lads and lasses, the battle lines have been drawn. It’s wonderful, kick-ass butt shakin’ music versus staid, lumpen, meat and potatoes shite. It’s the opinionated and fun versus the insular and the boring. Still undecided? A deep cut of future classics to the soul will convince you.
The Knife: One scar you’ll be proud of.