对于Fever Ray，我想很多人对并不熟悉，但他最近很火，原因很简单，这是Karin Dreijer Andersson的首张solo专辑，而Karin是电子界顶顶大名的The Knife的主唱，你说他能不红么？
留意到这张专辑已经有一段时间了，主要是听到他的首发单曲《If I Had A Heart》。在这张专辑里Karin Dreijer Andersson依旧保留着一些The Knife原有的感觉在其中，但并不多，个人感觉《Fever Ray》比起以往的专辑要显得沉重了一些，可能是因为背景音乐渲染得要格外的厚重、另类的原因吧，但无法否认这些都非常的漂亮。如果把这张和The Knife以往的专辑放在一起做比较的话，你会发现他们较为明显的共同点——明快的节拍。我非常喜欢这样的感觉，就像很亮的颜色用在很黑灰的画上一样，很容易提升整体的风格。正因为这样的节拍，很好的缓解了背景音乐的给人带来的沉闷感，反而让这些不良的感觉起到了反作用力，神秘之外，让整张专辑显得特别的前卫、另类。Karin的声音依旧是亮点，他的声音我还是比较熟悉的，《Heartbeats》、《Silent Shout》这些大快人心的单曲，依旧让我记忆犹新。我一直都觉得他的某几个声部挺有Bjork的味道，就像很多北欧名玲一样，都会或多或少的有这样的感觉。奇异的风格，是整张专辑的另一大特色之一，我觉得这应该算是一种民族风，无论是碎碎念也好，高亢宣泄也吧，奇特，诡异，婉转的调子总是有雕刻的感觉，一些沧桑，一些诡异，Karin诠释地都非常的完美，就像图腾一样，让人有一种漫步在历史的感觉。

Last April, Swedish electronic duo The Knife returned after seven years with their fourth studio album, Shaking the Habitual. Fortunately, there won’t be quite as lengthy of a wait for their next project. On June 17th, the duo will release a new mini-album entitled Shaken-Up Versions, featuring reworked tracks from throughout their discography.

As a part of The Sonnets – a Malmö-based blue eyed soul pop quintet – Magnusson and his bandmates quickly attracted support from the likes of BBC 6 Music, Dazed & Confused and Vogue Italia. Successful releases and an impressive tour schedule saw the band whisked to far flung destinations. So when the time arrived for a moment of reflection upon the adventures endeavoured with the band, Magnusson embarked upon a soul-searching voyage, and it was in Kenya that the inspiration for his new project would be blown into his path.
“I saw a leopard in a tree. I played football with the local kids,” he reveals. “I hung around the streets of Mombasa. After seeing so many amazing things and the exhaustion it brings, I spent two weeks on a beach, overlooking the Indian Ocean. That’s when it dawned on me. I wanted to make music that sounded like the scenery in front of me. Dark as the looming clouds in the sky, but with the same glowing edges. The name was found on a pack of cigarettes in the sand. »Sportsman«.”
With sought after Swedish production duo Montauk – Johan Cederberg and Victor Holmberg – brought on board, the initial, romantic and evocative vision of the project was able to be brought fully to life. Working alongside the pair, as well as featuring a guest appearance from Those Dancing Days’ Linnea Jönsson, Sportsman hasn’t turned out to be a purely solo effort as much as a solo vision executed by one inspired individual and a handful of carefully selected kindred spirits.
Art and the heart are given the opportunity to collide on Magnusson’s debut single ‘Rally’, a duet performed with girlfriend Jönsson, a Swedish singing starlet in her own right. “I am so happy she wanted to sing on it,” says Magnusson of the collaboration. “I think it’s brilliant that people get to hear her voice again. Objectively, I think she has the most beautiful voice there is. And it seemed like a romantic thing to do, a memory to share and keep.”

Fall Into Fire is Rosenqvist's first album since the self-inflicted conclusion to his Jasper TX nom de plume in 2013 with the stunning An Index of Failure LP (HANDMADE BIRDS). While no longer veiled behind a moniker Rosenqvist fittingly presents his most personal and arrestingly raw release to date. There are threadbare echoes of loss, fleeting moments of rage, and a restless undercurrent of remorse that Rosenqvist presents with few concessions. Fall Into Fire finds Rosenqvist at his most achingly radiant while displaying some of the most contrastingly vast passages of any of his discography. Fall Into Fire was mastered for maximum dynamics, all perceived silence is intentional.

新世纪音乐 > 古典跨界

It is a really long time ago that I heard a good Viking metal album. The last time that I heard Viking metal was at a genius concert of Thyrfing in the Biebob. For me Manegarm is not a stranger so I am happy that I have to write a review about their latest album. Below you can read my analysis regarding this band.
Over eight years ago this Swedish band was formed. Their intention was to play fast and primitive metal with lyrics in their native language. Indeed they play fast and primitive but the lyrics are also in English. In the meantime these gentlemen have two demo's and two full-length albums on their name. Their third album is for sale at the better music shops from the 28th of august. And if you are fast you can buy one of the thousand digi-packs. The artwork is done by well-known Kris Verwimp ( Marduk, Immortal, Thyrfing) and looks really pretty. The artwork fits also really good with the album title ''Dodsfard'' (Death Journey).
The artwork and the album title say enough about the lyrics. Manegarm is inspired by Viking legends. You can find subjects like sagas, myths and trolls back in the lyrics. They produced an album with a lot of folk influences and less black metal then we can hear on the previous albums. I would describe the band as a more rawer and faster version of Vintersorg. The tracks are well balanced. Each track is different and there are many unexpected moments in the tracks. This album contains a lot of variety; clean vocals, folk influences, black metal influences, fast parts and melodic parts. The high point is the low boredom factor.

99年6月，Lake Of Tears开始着手第四张专辑《Forever Autumn》（永远的秋），Christian Saarinen的加入使这专辑多了更丰富的键盘音乐元素。专辑所有的歌曲都出于Daniel Brennare之手。这张专辑已经不太金属了。里面出现了许多非常慢速抒情的曲调。这也许是Lake Of Tears心情历程的写照吧。

A compilation of various unreleased songs.

A remix of "Habits (Stay High)", alternatively titled "Stay High" or subtitled "Hippie Sabotage Remix", was released on 3 March 2014 as the third single from Truth Serum. The song features record production duo Hippie Sabotage. "Stay High" peaked at number thirty two on the Swedish Singles Chart. However, the song was a lot more successful elsewhere, peaking within the top ten of the charts in Norway, the United Kingdom and New Zealand as well as peaking in the top twenty of the charts in Australia.

"Masquer is the new sideproject of Kicki Halmos (Lowood, Idoru) and Pelle Lundqvist (Idoru). The Stockholm-based duo creates dark cinematic soundscapes by mixing shimmering electronics, sweeping melancholic melodies and dreamy shoegaze guitars. Kicki's haunting vocals might bring to mind the Cocteau Twins and Siouxsie & The Banshees, but the whole package is beamed straight out of The Cure's Pornography.."

Lykke Li will release her new album I Never Learn on May 6 in North America and May 5 internationally via LL/Atlantic. Today, she's shared the album's tracklist and a video for new song "Love Me Like I'm Not Made of Stone". Directed by Tarik Saleh, it's a close-up portrait of Lykke. Read the lyrics to the song here.
The album was co-produced by Björn Yttling (of Peter Björn and John), Greg Kurstin, and Lykke. It's the final entry in a trilogy, which includes 2008's Youth Novels and 2011's Wounded Rhymes.

Lykke Li (born Li Lykke Timotej Svensson Zachrisson on 18 March 1986 in Ystad, Sweden) is a Swedish singer-songwriter. Her music often blends elements of pop, indie rock and electronic; various instruments can also be found in her songs, including violins, synthesizers, tambourines, trumpets, saxophones and cellos. Li possesses the vocal range of a soprano.