Today we start a special coundtdown that will go for nearly the next two months. We open the list of my favorite albums of my life with the quite unique journey of sound that is “Silent Shout,” by the ever mysterious and strange Swedish duo that call themselves the Knife.

It was a rainy night in Louisiana, and my friends and I were on our way from New Orleans back to Lafayette after seeing a show. My friend had mentioned earlier if I had ever listened to the Knife before. I informed him I had heard a little bit, but had never checked out a whole album. The rest, as they say is history.

Almost from the opening beats of the perfect title track, you can tell it’s very different from much of the electronic music around. The beats are slow, cold from a distant planet, and it perfectly sets the mood for any late night adventure where you have no idea when or where the road will end. Following the opening track, we’re invited to a world where everything exists as a possibility and this type of music is the only thing you need to get by. The second track, “Neverland” works so well in fact, mostly because it’s so different not only from the opening, but most of the other songs found on the record. It’s more upbeat, and from my point of view, is a song about the greed of money and man, and how it can meddle in lives.

Much like the building of the first track, “Silent Shout” sends you to a cold, futuristic world. Not many albums, especially electronic ones can make you feel alone, and minimal, but Shout truimphantly makes the distant world bearable in a way most other albums simply can not. The beats eminating from the speakers as the song “The Captain” slowly bleeds into your system like a good, but slow growing excitement are perfect. Karin Dreijer Andersson and her brother Olof manage to construct not only a thought provoking record that can be many things all at once, but also can bring you new sounds and worlds we hadn’t seen in this type of music.

That’s why this band is so vastly important to the electronic world they’ve been a part of. So many different things come to my mind when this record is on exhibit. One minute I’m imagining the album existing in the brilliant but dystopian world of “Blade Runner,” but in the next song we’re on a barren ice world struggling to survive another harsh winter. The Knife bring the needed warmth in their detail to the music that we desperately need to not only survive, but thrive.

One of my favorite songs on the album is “We Share our Mothers Health.” The beat is rocking in a way most of the other album just isn’t. Karin’s voice is deliberate and weaves in and out like a worm. In a good way though. My wife and I like the band so much we even dressed up as th Knife for Halloween one year. It was pretty great, but barely anyone knew who we were.

That’s probably another reason this album has remained a favorite of mine over the years since I was first exposed to it. My now wife and I used to listen to it all the time, and it’s one of the first albums I would say we shared and loved together. The album may not be the most romantic thing ever recorded, but it’s an album and time I remember fondly, when I was still falling in love with a pretty great woman. If I ever get to see this band live, I hope that she’s by my side.

The next highlight on “Silent Shout” comes in the form of a beautifully down tempo gem known as “Marble House.” Much like the lyrics in the song, it’s a journey of epic proportions, and the author of the song is yearning for a new start, or perhaps it’s all happening in a parallel universe. With this band, things are rarely cut and dry, but this song has such a stronger story to it that I can’t help but be attracted to it. “Marble House” is where the band really shines, and I could gladly go on listening to this amazing track over and over again, but the album has so many tricks up it’s sleeve it would be silly to dedicate your life to just one track.

“Like a Pen”, the next track begins with what I’ve always thought of as the sound of a bubble popping and it’s one of the few songs found here that resembles anything else happening in the edm scene. That’s not to say the song is bad by any means, but if the Knife were to decide to make lame electronic music they could easily do it. They have the ability to appeal to large masses, but I get the impression they take music extremely seriously, and could easily still be doing what they do without any notice from the outside world.

The Knife’s “Silent Shout” not only remains one of the best albums of the aughts, but also demonstrates how interesting and thought provoking electronic music can actually be. It’s a marvel of modern music, and nearly a decade after it arrived in our atmosphere, it’s still light years ahead of most other music. I’m so glad my friend gave me a glimpse into the world they created, and it will likely remain an album I go back to over the years and find new things to love about it.

I look forward to seeing you on Wednesday, when we discuss the number 19 favorite album of my life. It’s an album from a bunch of dudes from Australia, who made an album so influential and ambitious it’s taken them over 14 years and a second album still has yet to surface. Thanks for reading!