Bjork?

Woebot

Woebot

Well-known member
That last album completely passed me by. What happened to this lady? Did she completely fall off the map?
 
M

michael

Bring out the vacuum
Um, she tried being all "experimental" by doing an album of almost entirely vocals, with lots of warbling and gurgling and Mike Patton being "serious". The pop listeners who would normally like her stuff didn't, and the pop machine that would normally talk it up couldn't find much to say.

That's my uncharitable assessment.

At some point, having been a vague fan, I got really damn over Björk. In some ways her list of collaborators is way more interesting / impressive than listening to her music.

She did sing the opening of the goddamn Olympics last year. Big Xenakis vocal swoops in the backing track and the swell and thud of tracks you'd find on 'Homogenic'. That was fairly nuts. :eek:
 
X

xero

was minusone
michael said:
At some point, having been a vague fan, I got really damn over Björk. In some ways her list of collaborators is way more interesting / impressive than listening to her music.
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the 'avant-garde' madonna, voice sounds exactly the same on every record but the backing music changes with the times
 
N

Ned

Ruby Tuesday
The last album was extraordinarily good if you ask me. And it's not true that her voice sounds the same on every record, compare Vespertine (which is all intimate whispers) to Debut (which is all happy wailing).
 
E

egg

Dumpy's Rusty Nut
Bjork is unassailable, fantastic, inspiring and amazing. If she died tomorrow it would be a cultural disaster, not as much as Peel but towards the same lines. Although we would still be able to hear her work to date.
 
S

seahorsegenius

It's just me.
i don't know why it didn't work for me, but her newest album i felt just had about 3 good tracks (and those were all the poppy ones). maybe when i heard her album was all vocals i was totally looking for something more natural and...campy? either way it just felt dull.
 
G

gabriel

The Heatwave
saw a thing the other day (in the guardian i think) advertising for remixers to rework army of me and send it to bjork's label or something for consideration for an entire album of remixes of army of me. love that track, could be an interesting project.
 
hint

hint

party record with a siren
it's already done and dusted - album of 20 remixes is out soon. all profits to UNICEF.
 
R

Rachel Verinder

Well-known member
Liked Vespertine a lot but not Medulla - it would seem that, as with too many artists these days, she's opted to make records for Wire readers.
 
S

stelfox

Beast of Burden
she's lovely and great and fantastic and one of the few artists i consider not to have made a bad record. that said, i'm willing to concede that i appreciate medulla rather than love it.
 
R

robin

Well-known member
i heard medulla for the first time the other day
i quite enjoyed it,but it didnt seem amazing in the way that some of her stuff is
i suppose it might take a bit more effort to really get into it though
 
F

fldsfslmn

excremental futurism
Rachel Verinder said:
Liked Vespertine a lot but not Medulla - it would seem that, as with too many artists these days, she's opted to make records for Wire readers.
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If that's the case I wish more people would follow suit, even if Medulla does fall victim to its own process.
 
J

jimet

Active member
I love Medulla as a pure pop record, tho'. This may be a set and setting thing; I first heard it driving into Cornwall last summer on a gorgeous day on the shit stereo in my old car, and it just sounded sumptous and perfect for the moment.
 
G

gumdrops

Well-known member
the new bjork single is interesting though it reminds me a bit of vespertine with snares that make me think of coki's intergalactic. and the ending is idk, a bit dated isnt it? i knew when i read reviews saying it was a bit like squarepusher that it would be though. not sure why that was added to the end. not exactly necessary.
 
H

hopper

Well-known member
ditto gumdrops, sounded like it was lifted straight out of IDM and not in a great way, almost like a slight bad aftertaste. Otherwise great song though
 
C

CrowleyHead

Well-known member
Coming from someone who finally realized music is more than background noise off of "Homogenic", the new single is fairly shit, and Bjork has been for some time.

Let's be clear, Bjork IS an artist, but she's not someone who can produce herself and/or should be in control. It's kinda telling that the only good things she did on the last album involved Timbo (who was already kind of beyond the point of being able to tell people what they should and shouldn't do, but go figure!)

This whole thing with the apps in order to hear the songs... As far as I'm concerned, she's just gone straight up her ass with no regard as to how to be approachable for anybody who might want to hear her, as opposed to her dozens of clones who end up with all those movie soundtrack gigs.
 
G

gumdrops

Well-known member
i think she might have now become the type of artist - like bowie and prince in the late 90s or so - whose most interesting work/ideas are about how their music is presented and pushed than the music itself. i still need to see her live.
 
S

Sick Boy

All about pride and egos
gumdrops said:
i still need to see her live.
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I saw her live at Olympic Island in Toronto and it was probably one of the best live musical performances I've ever seen. Pyrotechnics, multiple elaborate costume changes, a string quartet, Matmos live sampling, Zeena Parkins on harp, and as if that wasn't enough, she'd arranged fireworks half a mile behind the stage so that when lit during her encore, the explosions formed a halo around the stage.
 
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