MTV Buzzworthy Blog › Fever Ray

(Credit: Sony Records)

Scandinavia has been very, very good to us lately. Over the last couple of years, Sweden, Denmark and Norway have been pumping out a variety of musical acts worth playing on repeat. Think of The Knife and its sister band Fever Ray, Lykke Li and now Oh Land.

Hailing from Denmark, but now calling Brooklyn, New York, home (not unlike other Denmark-to-BK transplants and MTV Posted Artist of the Month, New Politics), Oh Land combines the mystical ambiance of Fever Ray with the pop smarts of Lykke Li to create a lush, eerie and melodic sound.

As is the case with both of the aforementioned artists, Oh Land's clip for "Sun Of A Gun" is visually ravishing. Over chiming, jangly electro pop, singer Nanna Øland Fabricius finds herself in a winter wonderland, pulling some really girl-from-"The Ring"-style dance moves.

It's a gorgeous video to go with an enchanting track. Check out Oh Land's "Sun of a Gun," below. The song comes from Oh Land's self-titled EP, which is out now. And look for Oh Land's debut album March 15.

Tags Buzzworthy Obsession, Fever Ray, Lykke Li, Oh Land, The Knife, video

(Credit: Gregg Delman/MTV)

We recently hipped y'all to "No Hassle," a new track from Swedish dancing queen Robyn. At the time, we figured it must be an early single from the long-awaited follow-up to her 2005 self-titled album, which spawned dance-pop hits like "Konichiwa Bitches" and "With Every Heartbeat."

Well, we were right—sort of. Robyn will be releasing one album this year. ... And then she's gonna release two more. According to an interview in the Swedish magazine Bon (spotted via Pitchfork), Robyn is looking to make up for lost time with three LP efforts.

Expected among this flood of new material—which will apparently be released seasonally, with albums dropping in the spring, summer and fall—are collaborations with the likes of Snoop Dogg, Röyksopp and Diplo, who produced "No Hassle."

Be sure to check out Pitchfork's take on the Bon Magazine interview and read what Robyn has to say about Lady Gaga (she's not a fan!), Fever Ray and Barack Obama.

Tags Diplo, Fever Ray, Lady Gaga, Robyn, Royksopp, Snoop Dogg

Kanye West may be currently working on his new album, Good Ass Job, in Hawaii, but his newest video finds him in a Nordic state of mind. "Coldest Winter," which is just the latest in the seemingly endless stream of vids ("Paranoid," "Amazing," etc.) taken from Yeezy's 808's & Heartbreak, is a rich and atmospheric, high-end production.

With everything that's happened to West over the course of last two years—from the death of his mother, the end of his long-term relationship with fiancée Alexis Phifer and several public meltdowns—it wouldn't be hard to imagine that "Coldest Winter" clip is some sort of reflection West's inner-self.

Armchair psychology aside, director Nabil Eldkerkin said he didn't want to get too,"literal" with the video, instead relying on steady stream of slow-motion imagery, namely what appears to be a princess in peril, running through a forest while being chased by some ominous, Druid-looking dudes.

Some critics, like LA Times blogger August Brown, have noted the similarity between "Coldest Winter" and Royksopp's "What Else Is There" clip. I would add that there seems to be a bit of Fever Ray influence at work, as well.

Tags Fever Ray, Kanye West, Royksopp, video

Full disclosure: this post is going to give you nightmares. So, check it out: Fever Ray (seen being weird and awesome, above), which is the wonderful, slow motion goth-pop solo project of The Knife's Karin Dreijer Andersson, was recently presented with an award at Sweden's P3 (feel free to click on that link if you can read Swedish) public radio gala.

Andersson, in either an act of homage, mockery, or one-upmanship, approached the stage wearing a red dress and veil similar to the one Lady Gaga wore at the 2009 MTV VMA' when she accepted her award for Best New Artist. Ok. So far so good...

Then things got really weird... like "watching Dune backwards while drinking Robitussin" weird. See, when Andersson lifted her veil... HER EFFING FACE WAS MELTING OFF!! And if the makeup job didn't make you scream/cry/ralph/explode, she started moaning into the microphone like an absolute lunatic. All while the ever polite Swedish crowd applauded. Sweden! And you thought Bjork was odd!

Watch Fever Ray's "acceptance speech" below, as well as the Gaga speech it borrowed from. God, I wonder what Tracy Morgan and Eminem would have done if Gaga had tried to pull this off.

Tags Eminem, Fever Ray, Lady Gaga, LOL, The Knife, video, WTF video