Artist: Cilihili
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"Happy without the boy" directly confronts all old maid/independent woman stereotypes, prejudices and presumptions to say that, yes, a woman can be happy by herself. She does not need a man to complete her, nor does it make her gay or weird or anything else. Absolutely nothing worth fretting over. Of course, people talk and let's not even get into women who decide to forgo children, that's a whole 'nother rat-hole. Cilihili (aka Cecilia Nordlund from Souls/Monkeystrikes, also live w/Fever Ray) has always been a strong, pro-female artist both on and off stage (she also works with Popkollo for instance), but even better that she lays it out in song in no uncertain terms. Better than that, it's by far the highlight of her album "Not listening".
Cilihili - Happy without the boy
Unsurprisingly, the new P3 Ström collection "Musiken vi hatar" ("Music we hate") isn't really good per se, as much as it is an interesting musical exercise. Really, what do you expect from a collection of artists covering the music they despise? There are limits to how much you can polish a turd and even then, it will never really shine. Of all the selections contained therein, Cilihili and DaBook's take on Enya's dreaded "Orinoco flow" is the one that made me most curious, besides maybe Andreas Tilliander's dubbed-out take on "All that she wants" by Ace of Base, yet another popular track that people love to hate. The latter of the two removes all the pep of the original, leaving nothing but suck, however the former is a stupendously fun reimagination of a much-reviled classic. Like many great covers, any adherence to the original is thrown out the window, so we the listener are instead treated to cut-up disco beats and a reinvigorated chorus melody. Also: "What the fuck is 'Orinoco flow'? What does it mean?" Seriously!
Cilihili and DaBook - Orinoco flow
Håkan Lidbo and the folks behind Swedish Radio electronic music program Ström have put together a collection of new music for national mourning, sent music into space and now they've gathered a crew of some of Sweden's finest electronic artists to cover the music they hate. Instead of paraphrasing, let's cut + paste:
In 2009, the radio show Ström gave an assignment to Swedish artists that make electronic music.; to make an interpretation of a song that they really do not like, sometimes even hate. The purpose was some sort of musical regression therapy. By making a cover of a song they dislike and make it into their own, the artists could get in touch with their musical origin, the place in their soul where the creativitiy is coming from. And by doing so, get a deeper understanding of themselves as humans - and as artists. The influential songs are easy to point out, and easy to cover, but the hated ones can be shameful and hard to confront. Sometimes those can partly explain why the artist sound the way he or she does.
The result: "Musiken vi hatar", due out June 10. Tracklist:
01. Fever Ray - Here Before (Vashti Bunyan)
02. Roos - Polly (Nirvana)
03. Andreas Tilliander - Dub that she wants/All That She Wants (Ace Of Base)
04. Familjen - Mine Øyne De Ska Se (Lis Sørensen)
05. Little Jinder - Femme Fatale (Velvet Underground)
06. Cilihili & DaBook - Orinoco Flow (Enya)
07. Ebb - Trash (Suede)
08. Trig - Ice Ice Baby (Vanilla Ice)
09. Lisa Nordström - LIke To Get To Know You Well (Howard Jones)
10. Håkan Lidbo - Born In The USA (Bruce Springsteen)
11. Alf Tumble - Klubbland (Håkan Hellström)
12. Vaerelsen - Diska!/Washing Up (Tomas Andersson)
13. Den Finska Nikotintanten - 122 Hours Of Fear (The Screamers)
14. Roll the Dice - Motorcycle Emptiness (Manic Street Preachers)
See the comments area for a track-by-track breakdown of why each artist chose the song they did.
Here's the playlist for this week's radio show Sirius XMU:
01. Bruket - Stockholm kallar
02. TALK 1
03. The Skull Defekts - Knives, birds, stones & pyramids
04. Cilihili - Happy without the boy
05. Elenette - Kär (imaginär) pensionär
06. TALK 2
07. Existensminimum - Sound of music
08. Volcanic Places - Goo
09. Sonjagon - Aristocrat
10. TALK 3
11. Superfamily - Let's go dancing
12. The Scrags - TV messed up mind
13. Bastard Priest - Merciless insane death
14. Bacchus Tapes - Hold on Magnolia
15. TALK 4
16. Halph - Cheap points
17. Vadadi - 10 seconds before
18. Wired for Mono - The man behind the wall
19. TALK 5
20. Tomas Halberstad - Travel as I wait
Reminder: my show airs every week on Sundays and Mondays at 11pm ET on Sirius XMU. That's channel 26 on Sirius, 43 on XM and 831 for DirecTV subscribers.
Cilihili's brand new video for "Happy without the boy" is online: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90J0fvF9zaQ
Cilihili, the new pseudonym of Cecilia Nordlund (ex-Monkeystrikes, Souls), finally released her debut album "Not listening" and you can preview a few tracks at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/cilihili
Fever Ray, the solo project of Karin Dreijer Andersson from The Knife, has revealed that her debut album will be released on March 18 via Rabid Records in Sweden, March 23 in Europe via Cooperative Music and on March 24 via Mute in the US and Etc Etc in Australia/NZ. The album was produced with assistance from Christoffer Berg and Van Rivers & The Subliminal Kid and will include a guest appearance from Cecilia Nordlund (Souls, Monkeystrikes, Cilihili). The first single "If I had a heart" will be officially released on December 15 and an Andreas Nilsson-directed video will be ready sometime before the end of the year. Oh, and look for a tour to kick off in Sweden at the end of March as well.
Cecilia Nordlund (ex-Monkeystrikes, Souls) will finally release her debut solo album under the name Cilihili on January 14 via Margit Music. Preview at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/cilihili