Niki N. Phaser

          Yeah, this time it was for real, Peter Steele, iconic frontman of metal band Type O Negative has really died. It happened two weeks ago, but we all know that with Lord Steele we have to wait a little bit and be sure that we are not supposed to laugh at yet another dark joke of his. It is only appropriate that we should remember Type O’s Everything Dies, from 1999′s World Coming Down, a perfect song to qualify them as more than a metal band, but an alternative (and loud) way to deal with universal themes of death and love and fear of all that these two can bring. Still, this is not what you would call a mainstream track, but you can definitely spot a genuine ballad behind all the grunting from the intro, combined with something which sounds like a Hitlerjunge convention. It was just like Type O Negative to go for weird mixing choices, but this is one of those songs that you have to listen with one hand on the volume. That haunting piano from the verse is so addictive that you just have to hear it better and then the chorus kicks in, loud and celebratory, as if hailing death as the one thing in life that is certain — the grounds on which you can build your existence. RIP P.S.

Everything Dies here

              Mazzy Star’s best known song, Fade Into You, is not a very complicated track, it hardly ever crosses the acoustic border. Hope Sandoval’s vocals are also pretty steady all over. The structure is simple, the production minimal. Yet maybe it’s just these things that make Fade Into You the perfect soundtrack for that moment we all take once in a while, those few minutes when we just stop. It provides the distance we all need sometimes when looking at our lives. It might be mistaken for a love ballad, but Fade Into You just seems more like an ode to closeness. Lyrics like “I look to you and I see nothing, I look to you to see the truth” are as truthful and cynical as any relationship, no matter what are the circumstances. The demystifying of love is exactly what gives it strength and before happiness there is the warmth of a comforted heart. But then again, I’m really just guessing here, hear for yourself:

FADE INTO HERE

     Well, unlike most bands I write about in this section, Swedish experiment-pop duo, The Knife, would probably prefer to be ignored. They have the media-phobia of Terrence Malick, but sure enough, they do qualify as excentric geniuses. Just like they don’t care too much (or at all) about promotion, they are really not trying to please anyone else but themselves. Karin Dreijer Andersson and Olof Dreijer create a new, experimental brand of pop, that is as catchy as can be, but still strange and eluding mainstream. Pass This On, from sophmore album, Deep Cuts, will make you understand better what this is all about. The steel-drums hook will make you wonder why does this sound so familiar (it’s a normal reaction to songs you’ll love for the rest of your life), while the voice, the lyrics will conjure a fascinating uncomfortableness, convincing your mind that there is something wrong here, but you can’t help closing your eyes and falling in the melodic whirpool of this weird pop. It’s a rather instinctual review of a song, I know, but that’s the way this Knife ‘cuts’.

PASS THIS ON HERE