Fever Ray is The Guardian’s music critics’ second favorite album of the year!

“The stage name, the costumes, the masks, the voice distortion – all these things contributed to the mystery and, to some degree, the artistic distance created by Fever Ray, aka Karin Dreijer Andersson. But the themes on the Knife frontwoman’s debut solo album were unerringly close to home, and the music was so visceral that you couldn’t help but be drawn into her isolated world.”

Read more here. See the full list on the Music Blog.

Well respected Electronic Music site Resident Advisor has named Fever Ray as its second favorite album of 2009:

“You read it all often, but the word that resonated most with Fever Ray was “ritual.” Maybe it was the beat on album opener “If I Had a Heart,” which plodded softly while a theme played over and over and over again. Or perhaps it’s Karin Dreijer Andersson’s renowned live shows, which made such haunting use of lamps and costumes. Whatever it was, we spent 2009 ready and willing to practice it.”

“Green lasers cut through the darkness, hard and green, like lightning harnessed. Bodies move in the darkness, illuminated by glowing lamplight – men with the faces of birds, a figure clad in flowing red like a masked Red Death. And there, shifting and bobbing in the gloom, is a mossy monolith that conceals one Karin Elisabeth Dreijer Andersson. “If “I had a heart I could love you,” she moans, her voice pitched down to a zombie groan. “If I had a voice I would sing…”

The mix is available to stream on the BBC iPlayer now for the next 7 days. Click here to listen back now! More information at the 6 Music website.

Winter Solstice Mix 2009

“the winter solstice occurs some time between December 21 and December 22 each year in the northern hemisphere, during either the shortest day or longest night of the year. Though the winter solstice lasts an instant, the term is also colloquially used like “midwinter” to refer to the full 24-hour period of the day on which it occurs.”

1. Laurie Anderson – White Lilly
2. Electrelane – The Valleys
3. Sonic Youth – Shadow Of A Doubt
4. Plastikman – Disconnect
5. Silverbullit – Winter Coat
6. Fennesz -Transit
7. Charlotte Gainsbourg -IRM
8. Stina Nordenstam – Parliment Square (The Knife Remix)
9. Lydia Lunch -Some Boys
10. Afrirampo – Natsu Ga Kita
11. Martin Rev – Mari
12. Skriet – Fåglarna
13. Tomahawk – Omaha Dance
14. Laurie Anderson – Radar
15. Goblin – Suspiria
16. Converge – Worms Will Feed, Rats Will Feast

Fever Ray is Resident Advisor readers third favorite live act of 2009!

“Mysterious, mystical, thrilling. There was no shortage of adjectives used to describe Fever Ray’s live show in 2009. Taking its cues from Karin Dreijer Andersson’s other group, The Knife, Fever Ray performances were heavy on atmosphere, perfectly encapsulating the sense of dread and unease of the music that her band unleashed each night on stage.”

See the full list here.

iTunes USA have named Fever Ray as their favorite electronic album of 2009 in their Rewind 2009 feature.

MySpace and RCRD LBL are giving away the J-Wow remix of Now’s The Only Time I Know. Download the remix for one day only at: http://www.myspace.com/rcrdlbl

“This booming raindance exclusive comes courtesy of J-Wow of Buraka Som Sistema and transforms Fever Ray‘s original occult appeal into a ghetto-tech electro ballad fit for for the stickiest of floors.”

Fever Ray has been named at no. 72 in The Times’ list of the best albums of the 00′s:

“A feeling of spikiness mixed with earth … like sucking in woodchips,” opined an awed Florence (& The Machine) Welch on hearing this. Welch’s words are well chosen. Played out in the electronic shadow-world of this solo debut, Karin Dreijer Andersson’s panicked pop noir meditations are breathtaking”

See the list here.

“Anyone starting a band should be forced to study Fever Ray at great length for a lesson in how to do things properly. From album artwork to music videos and appearance every corner that could have been cut by Karin Dreijer Andersson has instead been laboured over and treated with conceptual love resulting in a beautiful and awe-inspiring project which, in the live arena, achieves a celebratory climax.”

Read the full review here.

Fever Ray makes The Sunday Times top 100 albums of 2009 at number 3 in the new artists section:

“The Knife’s Karin Dreijer Andersson responded to motherhood with an album of glacial sonic architecture, its unforgiving expanses conjuring up sleep-deprived mental churning. An electro classic.”

See the full list here.