The Knife

Infobox musical artist
Name = The Knife

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Img_capt = The Knife performing at Sónar in 2006
Background = group_or_band
Origin = Sweden
Genre = Electronic
Electropop
Electroclash (early-mid)
Years_active = 1999 – present (on hiatus)
Label = Rabid, Brille, Mute
URL = [http://www.theknife.net/ official site]
Current_members = Karin Dreijer Andersson
Olof Dreijer:"For other uses of the term Knife, see Knife (disambiguation)".The Knife is 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.

History

The group became prominent 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 "". In August 2007, "Heartbeats" was featured on an episode of the HBO series "Entourage". [cite web|url=http://www.hbo.com/entourage/music/season04/episode52.html|title=Entourage Music: Season 04: Episode 52 "Snow Job"|publisher=HBO|accessdate=2008-07-04]

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" was named the best album of 2006 by Pitchfork Media. [cite news|url=http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/40007/Staff_List_Top_50_Albums_of_2006/page_5|title=The 50 Albums of 2006|date=2006-12-19|publisher=Pitchfork Media|accessdate=2008-07-04]

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.Fact|date=November 2007

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. Recently the group has shown themselves in public wearing masks formed as birds' beaks, similar to those used by medieval doctors.

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. 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. Also in 2003, The Knife was featured as Artist of the Week at HitQuarters, which helped them gain greater attention in the worldwide music community.

Influences

The Knife has listed David Lynch, Aki Kaurismäki, Korean cinema, "Trailer Park Boys", "Donnie Darko", and "Doom" as inspirations for their work. [cite news|url=http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/37270-interview-the-knife|title=Interview: The Knife|last=Pytlik|first=Mark |date=2006-07-24|publisher=Pitchfork Media|accessdate=2008-07-04]

Discography

Albums

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)
* "Na Na Na" (2007)

DVD

*"Deep Cuts" (2004)
*"" (2005)
*"" (2006)

Other

Karin Dreijer appears as guest vocalist on:
* "Slow" (dEUS) (2008)
* "What Else Is There?" (Röyksopp) (2005)
* "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 remix of "Me, I'm Not".

Production

* "Who's That Girl?" (Robyn) (2005)

* "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)

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)

hort films

*"When I Found The Knife" (story by Frau Rabid, animated by Vardag) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsTynS-NyYU&feature=related] (2004)
*"When I Found The Knife Again" (Amy Engles=Amy Leech [http://videos.antville.org/stories/1420374/] , [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_aIHHt-Aoo] ) (2006)

Concert film

*"" (2006) (Marius Dybwad Brandrud)

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"

ee also

*Honey Is Cool

References

External links

* [http://www.theknife.net Official site]
*
* [http://www.myspace.com/theknife The Knife] at MySpace
* [http://www.last.fm/music/The+Knife The Knife] at Last.fm