Silent Shout is amazing. It haunts you like a dark film noir, tempts you with its danceable rhythms, scares you with strange vocals, puzzles you with complex lyrics or gives you chills with its moody melodies. The Knife explores a dark and obscure universe with their ingenious compositions made up of electronic wizardry and poetic brilliance. This will certainly affect you in one way or another, possibly towards an appreciation of this fascinating piece of art.

The Swedish duo consists of brother and sister, Oluf and Karin Dreijer. While the texts are solely Karin’s work, they both collaborate on the music. The singing is mostly done by Karin, even though this isn’t that obvious because of the group’s appreciation for pitch shifting. This makes the vocals change gender with a creepy effect adding to the already perfectly eerie vibe that Silent Shout contains. The heavily synthesized sounds are the perfect match to the close vocals, as their grandiose melodies often set the mood to the beautiful strangeness of The Knife.

Their curious and daring approach to music gives this album a life of its own, showed by tracks like “We Share Our Mothers Health” or “Like A Pen”, which actually made it as dance oriented singles. They could be called the two most upbeat tracks on the album, as they certainly differ in some ways from the rest of the album. But then again, they’re still prominent and defining for the album because of their bold rhythms made of up 80’ies-esque squared drums. The sound matches up with the rest of the album, using keyboard sounds that could seem corny when described, but amazingly enough they pull it off perfectly. Digitalized, grainy synthesizers with a more polished sound than on their earlier album “Deep Cuts” sounding just perfect in content with this duo’s impressive work.

When reaching the end of this album, it’s tempting to play it from the beginning again. Its 11 tracks suck you into a dark universe of bulging sounds that moves closer to you every time you hear it. This is right up in your face; an artful package containing so many qualities in terms of thoughts, music, expressions, feelings and much more of the deep things that The Knife is all about.

by Emil

Just as the opening track introduces, this is an easy album to listen to. For the same reason have Röyksopp’s music been used in various commercials, because of their easy-going and laid back sound. The music has warm reminisces of a forgotten time, more specifically the 70’ies. The love of heart-warming melodies and funky rhythms is easy to recognize, as Melody A.M. cherishes a joyful and intuitive vibe. This Norwegian duo has been widely recognized for this album because of their widespread musical creativity, and it’s certainly no wonder why.

Melody A.M. does in a way represent the tunes that were transmitted through radio waves in the 50’ies, 60’ies and 70’ies. The grainy quality that AM radio was known for provided the post-war population with modern dance tunes, and the warm melodies were received well through small transistor radios. The love of the same crackling melodies is very present on this album. With a modern approach, Röyksopp mixes old samples with minimalistic beats and their own retro-styled instrumental parts, all put together to match a very organic soundscape. The catchy single “Eple” has a cheerful organ motif that hums along sweetly with a child-like happiness, and it’s hard not to love it for its catchy simplicity. Its crisp sound continues on the string heavy “In Space”, which could be called a ballet; lightweight and pure – which perhaps could describe what it’s like to be in space. Regardless of the music’s intentions, every track has been made with great imagination, which is one of the great qualities of this album.

The Norwegian musician Erlend Øye, known from Kings of Convenience, is featured on the album. This includes the haunting “Poor Leno” where his laid back voice meets one of the first up-tempo tracks on the album. It has a funky forward-minded feel that represents the danceable side of Röyksopp, which they continued on the successor, The Understanding. The second track featuring Erlend Øye is likewise funkier than the rest of the album, and impresses with its edgy bassline and tight drums, but the essence of this album is the downbeat styled beats, which are intuitive and rich with their mixed impressions in both major and minor keys. They take you by surprise and help you on your way back to a golden time with a soundtrack so analog and real it’s hard to imagine it being recreated in the 21st century. Melody A.M. is glad to take you back with its warm and mellow vibe.

by Emil

Amongst other French duos like Daft Punk or Justice is Air to be found on the frontier of electronic music. The group’s 1997 debut album ”Moon Safari” was well received by critics, and served them a spot as a softer electronic band on the active electronic scene prior to the new millennium. Their smooth and airy sound does certainly take off on this mellow and soft electronica-phased album, which stands out for its light and relaxing atmosphere.

The overall outline of this album is in fact quite clean, with its strict rhythms and minimalistic soundscape. With the use of many acoustic elements blended with lightweight electronics, the songs keep a balance that controls the output to be softly balanced; pleasant and rich with impressions. A distinct use of intelligent piano phrases is quickly recognized as a trademark of this album, as the uplifting chords on “Once Upon A Time” that leads in to an adventurous tale seen from the perspective of a little boy. The lyrics are yet another proof of the clear minimalism that rules this album, as they tend to be short but interesting in a small sense. The little boy once upon a time; a centered lyrical universe that does contain something after all, even though it seems fairly simple. “Mer Du Japon”, which translates into Sea of Japan, is another showcase of this albums brilliance. The lyrics contain only two sentences, but they really add a great deal to the number. The driving drumbeat behind the swirly synth and tight bass guitar is the perfect backdrop for backing the French words up, and the number really glitters with what Pocket Symphony is all about: simplicity.

A swell of different voices is introduced throughout the album, but the most prominent seems to be the airy vocal on numbers like “Left Bank” or “Redhead Girl”. In the already laid back feeling, more and more relief seems to be introduced. The simple singing is well fitted in everywhere, and the instrumental numbers, which the album also features, are great to fill in between the more text oriented numbers. Many of these solely instrumental numbers are filled with small creaking electronics and dreamy sequences with delightful strings, pianos, synthesizers or other elements played with true delight, and they’re certainly helping to lift the album up to what its title claims it to be: a Pocket Symphony. And yes, it is true to its title. It fits right into your pocket, because it’s so compact and minimalistic – but the size doesn’t compromise its great content, thus it being a magnificent symphony.

by Emil

Winter is a season that tends to be very quiet. When walking in the newly fallen snow, it’s almost as if the cold white mass puts a filter on words, both in terms of colour and sound. The glowing white shades lights everything up, and softens the sound to be muffled and less widespread. “Soon It Will Be Cold Enough” seizes this beautiful atmosphere perfectly. Small but beautiful piano melodies that shine behind the jazzy breaks, long haunting pads that weep over the snowy plains whilst a crying violin spellbinds you into a dreamy winter wonderland. Just like the title, this album longs for the winter; a truly enchanted and beautiful winter.

The albums title is explained by the track that adds “To Build Fires” to the name. This tells about a longing after colder times, most certainly the winter, which is a major theme on this album. It will soon be cold enough to build fires; a confirmation of the winters coming. The winter and its beautiful ambiguity is greatly covered by this moody and deep music, that contains so damn much it’s hard to hear it all with only a single listen. Emancipator is an artist to admire in many ways, and the authentic and humble yet massive impression that this album gives is certainly one of them. The mastering of this album was done by the late Nujabes, a pioneer and almost legend in this type of music, and the album stands as a great tribute to him.

“Anthem” is one of the many powerful tracks on this album. It certainly doesn’t compromise the cold season theme, as it includes a chill that goes right into your heart. A cold but noble string arrangement is presented after a short line of longing “calls”; windy melody fragments that sound distant – out in the snow, calling up for this massive anthem. The drums drive the staccato strings forward while lighter and much more fragile woodwinds float on top. At this point it is merely an emotional state than a song, because we’re so deeply swept into the joyful sounds. The tragic but magnificent violin tops this anthem to make it fully complete, and the fading outro slowly closes the door to this enchanted winter dream world, only to make you eagerly want to go back inside again.

It’s amazing how this album contains so many different tracks despite its minimalistic approach. Emancipator uses a fair dosage of mellow piano riffs with accompanying bass and strings combined with groovy downbeat drums to achieve the chilling sounds of this album. This declaration applies to many of the numbers, but in fact it isn’t visible in any way. Every track has its own life, provided by the countless small bits and pieces of brilliance, whether its melody or rhythm. The fact that all the numbers are so unique even though the album altogether tightly matches a wintery theme is astonishing, and shows what a remarkable job the then 19-year old musician did on this album.

by Emil

Éric Serra is well known for his work on many of Luc Besson’s movies. His work spans over many different genres and is characterized by a great ability to tell something with the music, just as a soundtrack intends to. The Big Blue is highly recommendable film about free diving in ocean, and as its title suggest it takes its turns around the big blue sea – and so does this album. Elaborate themes and melodies lets you dive into a watery world of whale sounds, floating strings and harmonic treasures that all have just as much depth as the sea.

The opening track “The Big Blue Overture” introduces a distinct theme that is characteristic for the album; light-weight and beautiful yet long enough to contain its emotional power. It’s played by a saxophone at first, then later in a quieter piano version on “Water Works” and both versions are catchy lead-ins to what is to follow. It is easy to call this a time typical album as for the sound, because it’s dominated by long synthesized strings, drums and percussion with significant use of reverb, and a general tendency to mimic sounds with electronic synthesizers rather than using the real thing. These elements create a compressed and somewhat artificial sound, but even though this could sound negative, it’s actually a good thing. Because of the sound, the album swells in a special atmosphere that truly marks the inspiration from the sea. The ringing percussion, the deep whale sounds or the submarine like sounds do a great job on setting the right mood, and already by the second track I’m eager to watch the movie again to see if the story that the music tell is the same as on the screen.

From the first track and onwards, you’re captured by the spirit of this album. Éric Serra’s melodies and ideas are often complex and rich with content, but when listening to them, they’re very accessible. The album compromises a subtle and beautiful vibe that is easy listenable, and for starters of this perhaps synthesized sound universe, it will definitely be appealing. The movie speaks for itself, but so does the soundtrack. This album has moods, feelings and even colors (blue perhaps?). It’s delightful to listen to the audio side of the movie, because it itself has a great story. Let Éric Serra take you to the sea and show you the many beautiful sides of the Big Blue and you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

by Emil

Ibrahim Electric is a strong trio made of three very talented musicians. They combine guitar, drums and Hammond organ in an explosion of joyful and creative music. With inspirations from blues, funk, psychedelic rock and surf, they never stay inside their label, because they keep expanding their own playground of jazz. The amount of the creative output is astonishing, and this album seizes some of these true qualities.

The album cover could seem odd at first, but when met with the music that the album contains, it gives much more sense. As the band name suggest, it would be a person named Ibrahim that is depicted. This man is middle-eastern, and is certainly not what you would associate with jazz. But in way, this proves how very far away Ibrahim Electric takes the jazz. By blending elements of blues, funk and world music, a very energetic and living sound is achieved. All the numbers have great swing, which proves how this is team play at its best. They manage to balance the three instruments to perfection, so that everything gets the right attention – even the small, but indispensable details. Their mastery of the respective instruments is also impressive, proven especially by numbers like “Fela”, a blazing guitar driven funk number attributed to the late afrobeat musician Fela Kuti, or the catchy Balkan styled shuffle “Kirketjenervikar”. As opposed to some jazz music, the technical skills of the band don’t fill this album up with endless jazz-solos – they tend to move on before things get too stagnant. This is what keeps this album alive, because it makes the music much more appealing. The music pulses forward, steadily from number to number with the result of the listener being greatly entertained.

Ibrahim Electric is a band with many interesting musical ideas. Their genre-breaking creativity shines through their music, as it’s both charming and inviting. Jeppe Tuxen’s smooth Hammond B3 coupled with Niclas Knudsen’s edgy guitar and Stefan Pasborg’s energetic drums is a combination sent from above; get ready to be moved by a crazy, but genius trio that takes jazz to a whole new level.

by Emil

The talented hip-hop producer Brian Burton aka Danger Mouse became known after the release of his internet-famed bootleg album ”The Grey Album” in 2004. By fusing Jay-Z and the Beatles, he created a unique album with a fresh concept that made him a true underground hero. In 2006, the magic of Danger Mouse was met by a strong male vocalist named Cee-Lo, who previously worked with the hip-hop group Goodie Mob, on an innovative album that pleased both the mainstream hit lists and the somewhat underground music scene that the two members both came from. “St. Elsewhere” sparks with hyperactive rhythms and dangling melodies; a musical explosion with a rich palette of sounds, colors and expressions.

When listening to “St. Elsewhere” it feels like entering a world. The strange universe of Gnarls Barkley is made up of very diverse types of sounds, and it would certainly be impossible to list all the influences that this album so rich on. All of the different impressions that the songs give are also impressive, partly because of the music, but certainly also because of the presence of Cee-Lo. His characteristic voice is eager to tell a story with great passion and he’s not afraid to scream and act out the feelings connected to the song. There are both songs with deep souly vibes, poetic lyrics and expressive singing or other more rocking songs with lighter and more humorous but clever lyrics, but they all seem connected in a strange way. “St. Elsewhere” is so versatile yet splitted at the same time; everything from spaghetti westerns to groovy R&B is thrown in the blender to make a great cocktail of strange yet satisfying songs.

The production techniques of Danger Mouse are really a thing to admire. The songs are so uniquely built that they compare to paintings for their full range of different colors, that all tell something – and especially the big picture shows something very complete and refined. He uses elements from psychedelic rock, abstract hip-hop, acidic techno and the purest soul in crisp mix of beautiful disturbance. Many of the numbers are in fact only based on just a hook or two, but because they’re so precise and expressive, they all work out perfectly.

A true highlight of the album, “Just A Thought”, is a great showcase of the extreme diversity of Gnarls Barkley. It makes no compromises in telling a sad but strong story; attacking with hard-hitting drums that peak and scream in a strange, but beautiful way while the ambient backdrop warps and delays forever in your ears. Meanwhile, Cee-Lo’s furious and intense voice enlightens you: “Life is a one way street, ain’t it? If you could paint it, I’d chalk myself going in the right direction.” A gentle classical guitar is put in to complete this bold composition, and the track escalades into a psyched-out outro that puts a massive end to this impressive song.

I can only say that this is what it must be like entering St. Elsewhere. Gnarls Barkley isn’t comparable to anything because of their extremely unique style. If you take all the colors you can find and mix them together, you will end up with a brown color. With St. Elsewhere, Gnarls Barkley just did otherwise. They made thousands of new colors by mixing the existing, even though it seemed unrealistic. The result is a colorful musical universe, just as the beautiful album cover suggests.

by Emil

Saint Germain des Prés is a place located in the 6th arrondissement of Paris. It’s near the Pont Neuf Bridge that leads to Île de la Cité, from where the famous Notre Dame cathedral is visible. Just as the rest of the city, Saint Germain des Prés is a beautiful and charismatic place. It is old and somewhat fragile, but amazingly enough it still works in its modern context. This is exactly the case of this album, whose artist took the name from the same place: To make the great things from the past work with modern surroundings. St. Germain plays dusty jazz with modern electronic elements; fusing the old with the new in a way that pulses and sparkles with modern beats and sounds, but still swings just as good as those old jazz records.

With dry and snappy house beats you get moved forward as you listen to the songs of this album. Many of them have strong rhythmical themes that get repeated throughout the songs, and it certainly has an effect for the listener. Every specific track gets the time to really dig out that specific mood that it tries to capture by this repetitive, but effective form. This could be a point of critique for some, but luckily many of the songs are so gently and easy-listenable that there’ll be a song for everybody – even the skeptics. “Sure Thing” is an example of the more smooth tracks that could please more than just the regular house fanatic. It has a pulsing and fat vibe almost like the soundtrack of a greasy porn flick (maybe a French one?), but it is in fact more interesting than the average sounds of the like. By sampling the late bluesman John Lee Hooker, St. Germain adds a special spice to his already achieved sleek and pleasant sound that softly pulses away. The small guitar licks and the haunting vocal is perfectly in balance with the ongoing theme of superb smoothness, and it almost tells you to sit back and relax to this wonderful music.

As an unusual artist on the Blue Note record label, St. Germain is a proof of modern innovation in terms of music. As opposed to the many great jazz musicians on Blue Note record, he has stated that he isn’t a musician, and that “I’m best with a computer mouse”. This is perhaps the essence of his innovation, because a person like Ludovic Navarre aka St. Germain is able to create such a modest and modern jazz album so different from the traditional style. He uses other musicians as listed in the credits, and acts as a conductor for the music, but one important thing is still his major work on the computer. You could say that even though he isn’t a musician, he’s a great computer technician – and could that perhaps be called a modern musician?

by Emil