The Knife - Shaking The Habitual

[Janszoon]

Listening to it for the first time right now and loving it. The only other Knife album I own is Deep Cuts, which I like, but which I find very uneven. This one feels a lot more cohesive and has a great mood to it, very spare and atmospheric. This is late night music for sure.

[sidewinder]

Originally Posted by Janszoon

Listening to it for the first time right now and loving it. The only other Knife album I own is Deep Cuts, which I like, but which I find very uneven. This one feels a lot more cohesive and has a great mood to it, very spare and atmospheric. This is late night music for sure.

You definitely need Silent Shout.

[Justthefacts]

Originally Posted by sidewinder

You definitely need Silent Shout.

Can't really call yourself a fan of the Knife until you give Silent Shout a go.

[Janszoon]

Originally Posted by sidewinder

You definitely need Silent Shout.

I definitely just got it based on this recommendation.

[sidewinder]

Originally Posted by Janszoon

I definitely just got it based on this recommendation.

I'm definitely happy you did that. You will definitely like it.

[RVCA]

Originally Posted by sidewinder

I'm definitely happy you did that. You will definitely like it.

Hmm, I wouldn't be so sure, Janszoon. If Silent Shout is the slightly edgy older sister who drops acid every once in a while and reads Huxley religiously, Shaking the Habitual is the younger brother who went off the deep end and joined a Scientology-esque cult of gender neutrality and intense drug use. My point is that Silent Shout is poppy and easily digestible, while STH is almost entirely not, so liking one is no guarantee of liking the other.

That being said, I didn't like Shaking the Habitual, and not partly because the Dreijers seem to have lost all pop sensibility about their music. That's probably the main reason, but the second reason is the bloatedness-- it's as if they had no road map for their songs and instead of taking them somewhere, they just let them ramble for 8-10 minutes at a time. It was a trial in patience and though it was interesting at first, I think they could have cut the whole thing in half and been better for it. But even if it was a nicely shaped, 40-minute package, it still wouldn't be something I could foresee myself listening to again at any point in the near future. The synth-tribal-industrial-funk just isn't my cup of tea.

2/5 - dislike

[Justthefacts]

Originally Posted by RVCA

Hmm, I wouldn't be so sure, Janszoon. If Silent Shout is the slightly edgy older sister who drops acid every once in a while and reads Huxley religiously, Shaking the Habitual is the younger brother who went off the deep end and joined a Scientology-esque cult of gender neutrality and intense drug use. My point is that Silent Shout is poppy and easily digestible, while STH is almost entirely not, so liking one is no guarantee of liking the other.

That being said, I didn't like Shaking the Habitual, and not partly because the Dreijers seem to have lost all pop sensibility about their music. That's probably the main reason, but the second reason is the bloatedness-- it's as if they had no road map for their songs and instead of taking them somewhere, they just let them ramble for 8-10 minutes at a time. It was a trial in patience and though it was interesting at first, I think they could have cut the whole thing in half and been better for it. But even if it was a nicely shaped, 40-minute package, it still wouldn't be something I could foresee myself listening to again at any point in the near future. The synth-tribal-industrial-funk just isn't my cup of tea.

2/5 - dislike

Now a positive review

Shaking The Habitual is completely unlike the rest of the Knife's discog. Deep Cuts it's not. Oh no, it's an outrageously different beast altogether. If Silent Shout was the door leading into experimentalism, STM is the 3-story mansion they enter. Track after track are filled to excess with noises, detailed layers of sounds interweaving every which-way. Not to mention ambient, droney landscapes that almost make me think of Godspeed! if they were an electronic band. The Knife really take a left turn on terms of how different it really is from their other previous releases.

All In All, Shaking The Habitual is a challenging piece of music, it really takes a lot to fully digest. But once it hits you, it's unlike any album you'll ever have the pleasure to listen too this year.

4.5/5 - love

[sidewinder]

Originally Posted by RVCA

Hmm, I wouldn't be so sure, Janszoon. If Silent Shout is the slightly edgy older sister who drops acid every once in a while and reads Huxley religiously, Shaking the Habitual is the younger brother who went off the deep end and joined a Scientology-esque cult of gender neutrality and intense drug use. My point is that Silent Shout is poppy and easily digestible, while STH is almost entirely not, so liking one is no guarantee of liking the other.

I was also basing my post on his liking of Deep Cuts, to some extent. That's more pop than Silent Shout, IMO, which is pretty dark. Either way, I have a feeling he will appreciate it. Even if not immediately.

[Janszoon]

Originally Posted by sidewinder

I'm definitely happy you did that. You will definitely like it.

I'm definitely listening to Silent Shout right now and I'm definitely enjoying it. Good call!

[Engine]

Originally Posted by Mankycaaant

I think it just proves that bigger isn't always better. Most of the album is self indulgent ambient wankery. It's just too much to sit through and it neglects the things I liked about Deep Cuts and Silent Shout such as the catchy poppy hooks.
It was a real effort to get through the album last night and I can't imagine completely getting behind this unless I was out of my mind on drugs and/or time was moving really fast.

Originally Posted by Mankycaaant

Also - one track is just the girl going 'eeeeeeeeeee' like she's a retarded child making mouth noises and another track sounds like a gaggle of geese.
A flaming pile of overproduced sh*t that hipsters will still maintain is a fantastic record.

EDIT: my two out of five rating was overly generous.

Originally Posted by Mankycaaant

this album sucks and you all know it. you just are scared that maybe you don't understand it so you vote positively regardless.
It does suck. There's nothing to 'get'. Horrible, horrible album. It sucks, if you pretend to like it, you suck. See sense. Bad album.

Save this bullshit for open-mic comedy night. You're hyperbole comes off as a joke. I'm not kidding, you can make some material out of this is how you truly feel. It could be funny.

Originally Posted by Mankycaaant

What the f*ck do you guys like about this?!?!?!?!

Which part of the droney shi*ty noises and samplings of geese do you love so much?!* Is it not possible that this album just sucks?


(it does)

*Bolded the material you should use in your comedy act, if you decide to actually do a bit about The Knife.

I haven't listened to the album enough times to cite precise moments of the album that I enjoy. In fact, I hardly ever even listen to The Knife. But it's hard for me to believe that anybody who likes the band at all would think that this album is worthless crap. It's peppered with catchy & poppy beats throughout. Maybe the ambient parts are self-indulgent and more appropriate for Olaf's solo work but they still usually work for me. I don't find the ambient/retarded vocal parts to be annoying. Again, I can't cite specific examples off the top of my head but it's not new for those sounds to show up in The Knife's work. You make it sound like they've gone avant-garde. I don't hear that, myself. I wouldn't even call this "experimental"

I find this new album more lively than Silent Shout, and more interesting than the other one. In any case, this isn't a large departure from their previous work. I'll probably listen to it more than Deep Cuts or Silent Shout, which I definitely feel is a little bit boring in comparison. I'm giving it a 4. I'll reach for this one first on the rare occasions that I feel like listening to The Knife.