On 8 December, Rabid/Brille are releasing physical formats on Vinyl & CD of Shaken-Up Versions, a mini album of classic Knife tracks reworked especially for the band’s recent North American leg of their Shaking The Habitual Tour. The Shaking The Habitual show was a rejuvenating experience for the mind and soul, inspiring TIME Magazine to demand it as “mandatory viewing for music fans.” Reverb Magazine proclaimed, “A performance of this scale is rare. And, it wakes us to the fact that not only is art far from irrelevant, but in the form of The Knife, we can be reminded again of its force.” This force will end with these upcoming autumn live dates as The Knife have announced this is their last tour with the Shaking the Habitual show. Here are their words on the subject.
“In the autumn we will round up the Shaking The Habitual Show Tour with a number of European dates. After the touring last year we reworked the show during the winter. The performers, previously known as dancers, learnt how to sing and play instruments, the stage got three levels, Shannon Funchess joined us and the show became more fun and shiny. We performed it in the US in the spring and now we would love you to join us in our dance for some last shaking moves.
A handful elf pee
That’s my soul
Spray it all over
Fill the bowl
Legs astride
An axe to grind
Generous actions with the speed of light
Without you my life would be boring
See you on the dance floor…” Olof and Karin, The Knife
FINAL SHOWS:
- *NEW SHOW* 30 Oct Annexet Stockholm, Sweden
- 31 Oct Annexet Stockholm, Sweden – SOLD OUT
- 1 Nov Film Studios Gothenburg, Sweden SOLD OUT
- 3 Nov Arena Berlin, Germany
- 5 Nov Academy Manchester, UK
- 6 Nov Brixton Academy London, UK SOLD OUT
- 8 Nov Iceland Airwaves Festival, Reykjavík
Shaken-Up Versions Tracklisting:
- We Share Our Mother’s Health (Shaken-Up Version)
- Got 2 Let U (Shaken-Up Version)
- Bird (Shaken-Up Version)
- Without You My Life Would Be Boring (Shaken-Up Version)
- Pass This On (Shaken-Up Version)
- Ready To Lose (Shaken-Up Version)
- Stay Out Here (Shaken-Up Version)
- Silent Shout (Shaken-Up Version)
Praise for Shaking The Habitual album:
- ‘Startling, periodically brilliant work... Shaking The Habitual is racked with lust, anger and urgent, quaking rhythms’ ‘Album Of The Week’ The Observer
- ‘Thrilling, West African endebted rhythms, distorted vocals and ear-tilting soundscapes... Instinctive, physical. detached and intellectual’ ‘Album Of The Week’ 4/5 Daily Telegraph
- ’The things that matter in life you have to work for. Put in the effort, and The Knife will reward you with a whole new paradigm’ ’Album of the Week’ 4/5 Time Out
- ‘Truly dazzling’ 5/5 The List
- ‘Both challenging and beautiful... their darkest masterpiece’ 9/10 ‘Album of the Month’ Loud & Quiet
- ‘An intense, hypnotic affair’ ‘Album of the Month’ Diva
- ‘This is an ambitiously deranged wasteland of pagan-industrial electro experiments... It’s inscrutable and inspired, and this time mystique has got nothing to do with it’ Wire
- ‘The Knife’s startling new album Shaking The Habitual puts plenty of water between them and the pretenders to their throne. It proves they can still write bizarre, inventive, oddly moving songs... electro-pop, only in its most primitive, punkish sense’ The Guardian Guide
- ‘Shaking The Habitual will challenge you more firmly and cut you more deeply than anything else you’ll hear this year’ 9/10 Vice
- ‘A barrage of grotesque gamelan, ultra-violent electro and industrial-strength synths doused in acid colours... This duo’s songs are genetic pop mutations, scampering out of control’ 9/10 Uncut
- ‘Brave, immersive and high-risk music’ 4/5 Mojo
- ‘The Knife still create a world like no one else’s’ 4/5 Q
- ‘Brutal but quite often brilliant’ 4/5 The Times
- ‘Strange, disturbing, uncomfortable, challenging. But it never fails to fascinate’ 4/5 Independent on Sunday
- ‘Impractical but fabulous... forboding, apocalyptic and strangely exhilirating’ 4/5 Financial Times
- ‘The duo’s unique mythology hasn’t faded... it’s a confounding, irresistible concoction’ 4/5 Metro
- ‘A fearless piece of work with its own logic, one that shears away all safety nets. Invention, stark and undiluted’ NME
- ‘You’ll find yourself enveloped by its bold experimentation and the way they execute it. Karen Dreijer Andersson and Olof Dreijer still sound like no one else around’ 8/10 DIY
- ‘4/5’ The Skinny