Cuts Like The Knife
So I’m heading to Scandinavia at the end of the month and I’m trying to tease my palate with some tasty Swedish and Finnish pop in preparation. I’ve been nibbling Nicolai Dunger, chomping on Club 8, and partaking in Pelle Carlberg.
One of my favorite albums in 2005 was Veneer by Swedish-born (but of Argentinian parentage) Jose Gonzalez. The track Heartbeats was featured in a marvelously whimsical (or was it whimsically marvelous?) advertisement for Sony, but it wasn’t until recently that I noticed that the song was a cover. Fellow Swedes, brother-sister duo The Knife, recorded the original, a much livelier synth-pop version, as if Madonna fronted the Human League, on their 2004 release Deep Cuts.
- Jose Gonzalez – Heartbeats (MySpace)
- The Knife – Heartbeats
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Did you like your nibble of Dunger? I had to spit it out. It felt like chewing on aluminum with fillings. But I have developed a taste for José Gonzalez. Does that sound gay?
I’ve been listening to The Knife’s version of “Heartbeats” and I really like it. Both versions are great. The original reminds me of a Cyndi Lauper song and it’s interesting to note that many of her songs lend themselves to folksy covers, too (“True Colors”, I’m thinking of you.). I think it’s time for a heartfelt, folk cover of “She-Bop” or “Goonies (Are Good Enough)”. José? Sam Beam? Oooo, how about Lambchop?
[…] Now we’ve talked about The Knife before, specifically their excellent 2004 album Deep Cuts and Heartbeats which Jose Gonzalez covered wonderfully on his equally great, but for an entirely different reason, Veneer (You download both versions here and here). But when I stopped in at Pet Sounds in Södermalm on my recent visit to Stockholm, the kids in the store were rocking out to The Knife’s newest, Silent Shout, which had just been released. As I thumbed through the Pelle Carlberg and Wan Light, I remembered that scene in High Fidelity except I moved it to Scandinavia in and put myself in the store… using only the power of my mind! ROB I will now sell 4 copies of Silent Shout by The Knife. […]
[…] The project of Wakinyan Yellow Thunder Woman and Robin Davey (who also collaborated on the documentary, The Canary Effect) the Bastard Fairies sound like Suzanne Vega shtupping The Knife. Which, if you think about it for just a moment, is pretty enticing. […]