Seeing as that lazy workshy fop Deathprod hasn’t bothered to release an album this year, a huge gap opened up in the spooked-out minimal electronic composition field.  Deaf Center’s Svarte Greiner (a.k.a. Erik K. Skodvin) saw his opportunity, and has taken it brilliantly with grammatically challenged new record Knive.

“The Boat Was My Friend” sets the tone: a guitar chord screams into the void, violin and female voice (think the vocals on Arve Henriksen’s Chiaroscuro) shout back from miles down; the gulf between them is ragged and scarred.  The sinister cracks and clicks spew from here onto and over the following two tracks, and re-occur later on “An Ordinary Hike” – in my head I see someone scrambling around backstage at an opera assembling a bomb, with wire cutters and lighters (thankfully for those who find themselves on my cull list at any given time, I have no idea how to assemble a bomb, and am far too lazy to learn).  The nine minutes of “The Black Dress” are among the best nine minutes of recorded music of 2006, with delicate bell rhythms emerging from a chrysalis of elegiac Part-like strings.

My opening paragraph was a bit unfair, to be honest.  Despite the superficial Sten-ilarity, Svarte Greiner has made a terrifyingly good album which sounds little like anything else this year, and surpasses even his work with Deaf Center (bear in mind that this praise comes from someone who loves Pale Ravine).  Stabby.  Woundy.  Knive leaves its mark.

Listen to an mp3 of “The Boat Was My Friend” here