THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)
Fun Stuff => BAND => Topic started by: alongwaltz on 05 May 2007, 13:31
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I've only heard the two songs she did on SNL but they were pretty great and the Timbaland connection intrigues me.
I still haven't heard Medulla but I have all her other proper solo albums so I'll probably pick this up on Tuesday.
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Apparently Timbaland was involved so early in the record's life cycle that Björk just decided to fuck around with his tracks and the resulting songs, though still bearing a Timbaland touch, are nothing like they started out as. I think this is for the best.
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Yeah, she laid it out in an interview (http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/42181-interview-bjrk), key part is that she says that they laid down the basics of 7 tracks in 3 hours, then she edited "the fuck out of them" for a year.
I got into Bjork via a couple of songs she did on the 808 State album 'Ex:el', then the Sugarcubes remix album (excited about the remixers), then when 'Debut' came out I was curious because it was produced by the guy from Soul II Soul... seems sorta indicative of my interest in her full stop - she often ropes in interesting collaborators.
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Has this album leaked yet??
I still haven't heard Medulla despite the fact I bought the special edition for my best friend. Anyway, I love Bjork and will probably pick this up eventually.
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Leaked? It's been released.
I like what I've heard so far, but a more informed opinion will come in a couple of days when I've had a chance to pick up the album and give it a couple of proper listens.
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It's not released until Monday/Tuesday, depending on where you live. It leaked a bit over a week back. I've yet to listen to it, but I'm excited.
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The radio was telling me that last saturday was the eve of it's release. Whatever.
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Well, my local record store has it on their "new releases" blackboard, which means they've got it in stock. And if a record's by a non-Australian artist is out in Australia, then it's pretty much guaranteed that it's going to be out in the rest of the English-speaking world.
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Yeah, it's supposed to be out this Tuesday.
Nobody releases albums on a Saturday.
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The Joanna Newsom E.P. was released here on a Saturday.
So was the latest Feist album.
So was Neon Bible.
So was Wincing the Night Away.
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Is this the album Earth Intruders is from?
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The Joanna Newsom E.P. was released here on a Saturday.
So was the latest Feist album.
So was Neon Bible.
So was Wincing the Night Away.
Where do you live?
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Is this the album Earth Intruders is from?
Yes.
Where do you live?
Inlander wrote a couple of messages up:
Well, my local record store has it on their "new releases" blackboard, which means they've got it in stock. And if a record's by a non-Australian artist is out in Australia, then it's pretty much guaranteed that it's going to be out in the rest of the English-speaking world.
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Actually, albums are pretty much always released on a Saturday in Australia, much in the same way that movies are always released on Thursday. It means we sometimes get albums before the rest of the world!
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As much I love Bjork, the new songs have done nothing to excite me. I'll listen to the whole thing, but probably end up sticking with Debut and Post.
I'll continue to defend Bjork no matter what she releases because of all her past exploits and the fact that she's cute as a button.
She has, up to this point managed to achieve plenty of mainstream success without compromising her artistic vision.
If you didn't like any Bjork before this, you could still enjoy it. If you don't really like this, you could still love the younger Bjork.
If you haven't already, give her a shot, she deserves it.
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Actually, albums are pretty much always released on a Saturday in Australia, much in the same way that movies are always released on Thursday. It means we sometimes get albums before the rest of the world!
Or when I was a young'un, on a Saturday several months after the rest of the world.
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I can't really get into the new album. I think discovering Debut and Post at age 17 spoiled late-period avant-Bjork for me.
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Actually, albums are pretty much always released on a Saturday in Australia, much in the same way that movies are always released on Thursday. It means we sometimes get albums before the rest of the world!
Hmm. Yeah, everything comes on Tuesdays here. When I worked at the local indie record shop, we didn't even get deliviries on Saturday. Just Tuesdays and Thursdays. Something about the government not working on weekends.
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I absolutely loved it at first, and then I really got into and realized that half of the tracks were kind of boring.
However, Earth Intruders, Innocence, Wanderlust, and Declare Independence are all quite brilliant
I think that part of my lack of enthusiasm is that I am comparing this album to Post and Homogenic, which are nearly impossible to beat
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Also this Tinymixtapes review of Volta (http://www.tinymixtapes.com/Bjork,3428) is one of the most hilariously awful pieces of music writing I have ever read.
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I read that a couple of times and all it told me was that the reviewer really likes Bjork and thesauruses (-ri?)
Re: Björk, for someone who's managed to make it this far without really paying attention to her, is this CD as good a starting point as any?
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Deeeeeefinitely not.
Start at the beginning with Debut and work your way forward.
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This packaging is really bad. It has no durability. I just took the cd out, put it in a jewel case, and I'll probably just leave the actual packaging on the shelf.
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Also this Tinymixtapes review of Volta (http://www.tinymixtapes.com/Bjork,3428) is one of the most hilariously awful pieces of music writing I have ever read.
I got to 'prognosticate', cringed, and gave up. That's seven words into the thing.
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I read that a couple of times and all it told me was that the reviewer really likes Bjork and thesauruses (-ri?)
Re: Björk, for someone who's managed to make it this far without really paying attention to her, is this CD as good a starting point as any?
Seriously, the giant words don't even really fit with the context
but, as far as starting points go, I'd pick Homogenic or Post, mainly because those are my favorite Björk albums
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ok 'Homogenic' has a cool name so I will get that and 'Debut', thanks guys :police:
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Oh man amok if I have your tastes pegged correctly you're going to love Homogenic.
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I think I'll leave it at "It's not bad, but it's not Post".
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Goddamn, I really, really love this CD (Homogenic). Thanks for the tips people, I'll grab the other recommended albums soon. <end derail>
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Don't go into other albums looking for crunchy semi-industrial beats though... 'Homogenic''s the most consistent, IMO, because it has the same producer on all of it, Mark Bell. From memory he hasn't produced any other stuff with her before or since (although he did do an amazing mix of Possibly Maybe on her fairly shit 'Post'-remix album).
Thinking about it, she has quite a history of teeing up remixes and then getting those people back to do some collaboration later...
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There's a Mark Bell remix of one of the songs on Volta.
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http://www.bjork.com/facts/lyrics/ (http://www.bjork.com/facts/lyrics/) volta liner notes
got to see her live in coachella and it was my first time listening to "declare independence".. it completely rocked the house... grass area.. whatever.
anyhoo, i'm admittedly a long time bjork fan and this woman can do no wrong in my book.
exceptional tracks:
earth intruders (kudos on it getting some much deserved radio play! fun song... it's unfortunate though that there's very little to be heard of Konono No.1 on this track... there's so much going on. i prefer Mark Stent's mix of this track)
wanderlust (homogenic greatest hits formulated for easy digestion... i didn't really care for it much at first but it's growing on me)
dull flame of desire (with antony from antony and the johnsons. a full hearted 7 minute duet. it's a stand out track that overwhelmed me the first time i heard it on the headphones)
i see who you are (lovely aquatic beats)
hope (it's lyrically one of her most interesting works yet. many people seem to either love it or hate it...)
declare independence (you can't go wrong with an eletro-punk song for Greenland :lol:)
i'm not really into innocence. i do enjoy vertabrae by vertabrae, specifically because of it's little backstory:
It's a long story. I hope I can squash it into a radio show, it's a really long story. But part of it for me was having a daughter, because I had had a son before, and I heard from a lot of my friends that when you have a child the same sex as you suddenly a gate opens. Like I had a daughter, and suddenly I understood my mom better, and her mom, and her mom, and her mom. You get this kind of line. I've heard fathers say that about the first son they have, and they suddenly realize the relationship between them and their fathers, and back back back back. And suddenly you get this gate opening way to the beginning of mankind. And I started reading a lot of books sort of about that stuff, and again being slightly influenced the Iraq war, how organized religion is not a very good idea, for me at least. Like with what was happening before this organized religion thing happened, when we were more in touch with the right side of our brain, more intuitive and impulsive. Things like natural medicine, and wasn't like you were a witch, and you weren't burned. And this came into the fact of how I'm going to explain to my daughter stuff about women and their position in the world, and things that are pretty female. I mean, at the end of the day I still think we're all both male and female, but...
But it sort of became this joke-song, kind of like a b-movie soundtrack to, "the Earth Mother, RISES back from the mud!" Like the earth goddess as a zombie. [laughs] And she's going to go vertebrae by vertebrae, back on her hind legs, the beast is back! Also taking a little piss on how scared organized religion is of nature, they're just terrified. And I just find it so hilarious, I mean what's so scary about it? For example: the fact that in the year you have thirteen full moons, and women thirteen times a year become red. And they made the months into twelve months, and every year everybody's still like, "Oh, is there 28 days in February, or 29, or...?" Everyday you have to calculate instead of just having it 28 days and thirteen months, I mean come on. It's kind of stubborn with organized religion how it's like, "No, we control, and we're not part of nature, and we're Christians!" Or whatever, Muslims, Jews, all that stuff. "We're gonna act outside of all that, and we're not gonna take part of all that." And I live in a flat in New York that happens to be on the twelfth floor, and there's no thirteenth floor. There's no thirteenth floor in all of the skyscrapers in Manhattan, and I'm like, "You're not THAT scared of nature?!" You know, 'Friday the 13th' and nature is just like some horror movie. So basically this song is sort of the earth goddess rising up on her hind legs, grabbing a crayon, and crossing out all the fourteens in Manhattan and writing thirteen. The beast is back!
oh, just found out that pneumonia was inspired by Pan's Labrynth (and bjork having pneumonia for two weeks).
other news: Michel Gondry is up for a video, but not sure if its "Declare Independence" or "Wanderlust".
my butt itches. i must scratch it.
/bjork post.
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Well, as bad as the album supposedly is, the videos are sure to be brilliant. The Bjork/Gondry pairings are never anything less. Actually, all of Bjork's music videos are fantastic. From memory, the weakest was the Spike Jonze 'It's All So Quiet' video, but that choreography in that is superb. Fuck, Bjork was jumping all over the place and was several months pregnant, only the really wild backflips were a stunt double.
This thread is now about Bjork's music videos. Which is a whole other topic.
Oh, and since nobody seems to have sig quoted this from gabbly, here's an emilio gem.
Darryl: I bet Bjork is nuts in bed.
Emilio:I bet halfway through she'd put on a swan costume and rape you like Zeus raped Europa.
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Story...
I tried and I tried but I could not read that without a cute accent in my head.
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From memory, the weakest was the Spike Jonze 'It's All So Quiet' video, but that choreography in that is superb. Fuck, Bjork was jumping all over the place and was several months pregnant, only the really wild backflips were a stunt double.
you're, like, totally mixing up two completely different videos therrrre.... about 7 years apart.
she was 9 months pregnant in the "It's in our hands" video
DRAWPPEN TEH INFOZ
*breakdances*
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I thought there were a few most FREAKIN' excellent tracks on this CD, most of which have already been mentioned, so I won't repeat. The problem, however, is that there is equally as much aimless filler. Why are there, like, two or three songs with disjointed jazzy sitar solos as the ENTIRE PREMISE to the track? That said, I really like the album overall, aside from a few tracks, so yah know. Thumbs up.
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It's a long story.
It was all in English but I understood maybe a quarter of it.
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It has Antony from Antony And The Johnsons on two of the tracks, which made me smile because I love that guys voice. A very emotive, vulnerable sounding tone his throat does posess. Also, getting Brian Chippendale to play drums on a track, on which he doesn't do very much? He could have been given a little more space to do something, I feel, considering some of the outlandish things he does in his day job.
But, then it would have been a Björk And Brian Chippendale album then, so I guess that's a bad point to pick out.
I've only listened to it twice, but none of the songs so far strike me as unlistenable, bar maybe the Mark Bell remix which doesn't sound any different from the original. No more quirky or weird than any other thing she has done in my opinion.
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Pssh, she's just Joanna Newsom without pretension.
...WAIT
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SOMEONE HELP
I'M TRYING TO PULL KHAR FROM THE RIFT HE CREATED IN THE UNIVERSE