the dillinja "cover me" is v good yes
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Thursday, 19 April 2018 14:56 (six years ago) link
I think of Post vs. Homogenic sort of the same way Stevie Wonder referred to Talking Book vs. Innervisions. The former, in each case, is a collection of great songs that maybe doesn't quite hang together as an album.
― Uppercase (Eric H.), Thursday, 19 April 2018 15:01 (six years ago) link
Post is good but doesn't really hang together as an album and only Hyperballad really reaches the peaks of Vespertine and Homogenic
― ufo, Thursday, 19 April 2018 15:06 (six years ago) link
i don't think that's true at all
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Thursday, 19 April 2018 15:08 (six years ago) link
album has "possibly maybe" and "isobel" on it ffs
What you might be missing about "Post" is that you have to put it into the context of her career. When you listen to it now, it might sound scattered, but when it came out, it suggested 11 different and distinct possible future directions for her. Much of the thrill of listening to it was anticipating her next move, hearing so many different possibilities on display
― nevertheless, he stopped (flamboyant goon tie included), Thursday, 19 April 2018 15:27 (six years ago) link
I mean, "Homogenic" was titled as such almost as a reaction to "Post"'s eclecticism. Eclecticism looks good on a Bjork album imo! Vespertine's best moments imo ("Cocoon", "An Echo, A Stain") are the songs that diverge from the album's thesis
― nevertheless, he stopped (flamboyant goon tie included), Thursday, 19 April 2018 15:28 (six years ago) link
i think that's still possible to hear now, or at least that's the vibe i accessed when i put it on immediately after debut xp
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Thursday, 19 April 2018 15:29 (six years ago) link
singular bjork (debut) becomes multibjork (post) becomes hypercompressed multibjork (homogenic)
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Thursday, 19 April 2018 15:31 (six years ago) link
fgti is otm but i still prefer the consistency of homogenic or vespertine, then and now
― after party for the apocalypse (Ross), Thursday, 19 April 2018 15:31 (six years ago) link
Biophilia is better than Volta
Yep even though it's not represented in what I voted for, this has been my big realization from this thread, and I've enjoyed discovering Biophilia.
Gonna listen to this today (Vespertine b-sides):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-whnnJ6WKRA
― change display name (Jordan), Thursday, 19 April 2018 15:34 (six years ago) link
Debut is also hugely eclectic. I just feel like Post is a few amazing tracks and the rest are not exactly filler, but just not up to the standard of the LPs before and after.Vespertine and Volta are the LPs I missed at the time (aside from the singles) and now sound wonderful and fresh.
― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 19 April 2018 15:39 (six years ago) link
I think Talking Book similarly intended to carry on with Music of My Mind's sense of boundless possibility/eclecticism.
― Uppercase (Eric H.), Thursday, 19 April 2018 15:40 (six years ago) link
volta was such a huge disappointment. caught the tour and she was on fire though, declare independence was way more of a rave-up live and she was doing cool stuff with tech and kaos pad like devices at the time. wanderlust in my top bjork songs ever tho
― after party for the apocalypse (Ross), Thursday, 19 April 2018 15:41 (six years ago) link
Debut begins eclectic, and then starts to sound stylistically monothematic-- I said so upthread-- "The Anchor Song" appears like whaaat? after a run of relaxing-in-a-hotel-lobby songs
― nevertheless, he stopped (flamboyant goon tie included), Thursday, 19 April 2018 15:41 (six years ago) link
I hate "Declare Independence" as much as I hate "My Girls"-- corny individualism masquerading as romance
― nevertheless, he stopped (flamboyant goon tie included), Thursday, 19 April 2018 15:42 (six years ago) link
dunno, declare independence at least sounded fun, unlike the rest of volta which is laboured af - i mean drawing restraint 9 came before it which is basically trash
― after party for the apocalypse (Ross), Thursday, 19 April 2018 15:43 (six years ago) link
Or in Bjork's case, protest song
In the wake of a financial crisis in which Iceland milked millions of dollars from German, English and Dutch small businesses (via IceSave) to essentially finance their own zero-emission geothermal paradise, with a Range Rover in every driveway, a song by an woman from that blessed country of 350k people claiming that we should all declare independence from our respective states and make our own flags really made me wanna take a literal shit on a physical copy of that album
― nevertheless, he stopped (flamboyant goon tie included), Thursday, 19 April 2018 15:44 (six years ago) link
Uh sorry, when I dislike a song I really kind of pull no punches
I love Bjork she rules
― nevertheless, he stopped (flamboyant goon tie included), Thursday, 19 April 2018 15:45 (six years ago) link
passion makes this place great so i'm all for it bud
― after party for the apocalypse (Ross), Thursday, 19 April 2018 15:46 (six years ago) link
The main problem with "Declare Independence" is that it's not "Pluto." At all.
― Uppercase (Eric H.), Thursday, 19 April 2018 15:47 (six years ago) link
Declare Independence has very corny lyrics but it's easily the standout of Volta anyway.
― ufo, Thursday, 19 April 2018 15:50 (six years ago) link
my response to lyrical approach on volta is, like, “oh, ok, REALLY?” for almost the whole thing
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Thursday, 19 April 2018 15:50 (six years ago) link
still vividly remember staggering up to a coffeeshop counter in disbelief upon first hearing "Pluto"
"is this.... Bjork??"
― sleeve, Thursday, 19 April 2018 15:50 (six years ago) link
biophilia’s clunky sjon lyrics about cells dividing were a real relief
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Thursday, 19 April 2018 15:51 (six years ago) link
the song on volta about terrorism is clumsy
― after party for the apocalypse (Ross), Thursday, 19 April 2018 15:55 (six years ago) link
Haven't been paying attention to the lyrics on Volta, just the instrumentation. Declare Independence is perhaps the worst track on there.
― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 19 April 2018 15:55 (six years ago) link
the lowest point for me on volta is "innocence" which sounds like a track timbo and danja couldn't even get onto loose
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Thursday, 19 April 2018 15:58 (six years ago) link
innocence sounds dated on arrival
― after party for the apocalypse (Ross), Thursday, 19 April 2018 15:59 (six years ago) link
this is wonderful
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viX7tcKXehY
― after party for the apocalypse (Ross), Thursday, 19 April 2018 16:01 (six years ago) link
What really sold me on this song was Lotic dropping the instrumental in his Boiler Room mix, it sounded insane in that context
― change display name (Jordan), Thursday, 19 April 2018 16:11 (six years ago) link
I love Timbaland's production on "Earth Intruders" and "Innocence" but feel the songs are too weak for me to want to listen to them. I had no songs from "Volta" on my ballot. When it came out I found myself wanting to like it, to defend it, but happily, subsequent albums made me realize that it was a misstep in her latter-day arc and that I can safely forget about it
― nevertheless, he stopped (flamboyant goon tie included), Thursday, 19 April 2018 16:15 (six years ago) link
i feel like one of the ideas on volta (homogenic but horns instead of strings) is really good, but when combined with the other way less good ideas it just makes for a really confused and confusing record
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Thursday, 19 April 2018 16:17 (six years ago) link
it wasn't a bad idea but none of the tracks that went for that really live up to the idea, like Wanderlust is just tedious.
― ufo, Thursday, 19 April 2018 16:22 (six years ago) link
It was cool to see an all-female brass band in full costume on that tour, and the reworkings of non-Volta tracks was great
In fact, any reworking of a catalog track with "this year's touring lineup" is always a highlight for me, she could really just put together a tour with all new instrumentation and no new album and it'd be prob her best-ever tour
― nevertheless, he stopped (flamboyant goon tie included), Thursday, 19 April 2018 16:27 (six years ago) link
i love Bjork but i'm not voting, more interested in the rollout to dig into the decent chunk of her career that I didn't follow closely.
our son is a fan of Bjork ever since we were in line at the Amoeba buy counter and a woman in front of us who was selling her son's CD collection at his request noticed him staring at the cover of Volta which was on top of the box, and she asked him, "Would you like this CD?" We listened to it in the car and he was amazed. He also really likes this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFTliOnoNSk
― omar little, Thursday, 19 April 2018 16:32 (six years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ao5Sd6BCK4
this is a nice rework - harpischord version of Aurora in Icelandic, according to comments her daughter is in the choir too
― ufo, Thursday, 19 April 2018 16:37 (six years ago) link
Does anyone rep for the Dirty Projectors collab?
(I enjoy it)
― change display name (Jordan), Thursday, 19 April 2018 16:49 (six years ago) link
ok Vespertine b-sides are amazing
― change display name (Jordan), Thursday, 19 April 2018 17:21 (six years ago) link
yes they are
― sleeve, Thursday, 19 April 2018 17:24 (six years ago) link
Foot soldier! Mother heroic
― after party for the apocalypse (Ross), Thursday, 19 April 2018 17:44 (six years ago) link
The Bjork/DPs collab features some of my favourite DPs songs ("Beautiful Mother" i.e.) but despite the largeness of Bjork's name on the record I don't think of it as a particularly Bjork-y album
― nevertheless, he stopped (flamboyant goon tie included), Thursday, 19 April 2018 18:13 (six years ago) link
True, I think I remember reading that Longstreth wrote it (with her in mind)
― change display name (Jordan), Thursday, 19 April 2018 18:23 (six years ago) link
vespertine shares a dynamic with radiohead's amnesiac for me, in that 1) both records might be my favorites by their respective artists 2) the songs that didn't make each record are better than many of the songs that did
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Thursday, 19 April 2018 18:45 (six years ago) link
"Kinetic" and "Worrywort" were the best Radiohead ever did at trying to make a Bjork track. Better than anything on 'Kid A' or 'Amnesiac'.
― Soundslike, Thursday, 19 April 2018 19:53 (six years ago) link
I'm so here for Björk singing "Aurora" in her living room backed by bored schoolchildren while reading the lyrics from a piece of paper, and then curtsying at the end.
No, seriously, I love it. I wish she sung in Icelandic more often on her albums. BTW that's Jónas Sen on harpsichord and Ólöf Arnalds on koto.
― ˈʌglɪɪst preɪ, Thursday, 19 April 2018 21:13 (six years ago) link
so much bjork that I love but all these opinions are exhausting
― ogmor, Thursday, 19 April 2018 21:55 (six years ago) link
lol
― Dan S, Thursday, 19 April 2018 22:15 (six years ago) link
well opinion THIS: a bjork supercut with all the different times and ways she has sung "e-mo-tion-al"
― Karl Malone, Thursday, 19 April 2018 22:18 (six years ago) link
Vulnicura really is a bookend to Vespertine, isn’t it? A kind of negative refraction. Listening to them in close proximity makes that clearer to me
Utopia feels like the most shrouded of all of her albums, with the middle section almost completely submerged, but it is also maybe the most compelling for me, the one I most want to revisit
I think the relative inaccessibility of those two albums has made them underrated, but they are both really beautiful
― Dan S, Thursday, 19 April 2018 22:33 (six years ago) link