Does anyone still like Bjork?

[Dirty Boy]

I mean, she's great obviously, but recent albums have left me a bit cold (although i really liked Vulnicura when it was released).
I tend to think of Medúlla as her last truly amazing record, Volta being half good and half meh and i can't get into Biophillia at all. I liked Utopia, but can't conceive of wanting to listen to it more than once a year.

I don't want to sound like an early-stuff-was-better type grouse, but the first five albums, in particular the trilogy of Homogenic>Vespertine>Medúlla still knock my balls off. I just hope she'll shove my words up my  arse with her next one.

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

One of my students really looks like Bjork. Last night she had me in fits of laughter, due to her telling me about the time she went on honeymoon with her mum,while her then freshly betrothed husband stayed at home with his playstation, cos he really doesn't like travelling.
Technically, I've responded to the question, haven't I ? I mean, it mentions Bjork.

Haven't heard her last couple of albums, got her stuff up to a few years ago, even got an album's worth of stuff she did when she sang in an Icelandic jazz band when she was about 12, or something.

[Phoenix Lazarus]

I liked the Big Time Sensuality video, but I wouldn't approach her at an airport, in case she was having a bad day.

[Beagle 2]

Pretty much can't be arsed with any of her albums after the first three, but she remains the most stunning live performer I've ever seen.

[Norton Canes]

Don't want to sound like an old fuddy duddy, I mean I love a bit of avant-garde electronica as much as the next Autechre fan, but Björk jumped the geyser after those first three magnificent albums when she stopped actually writing any tunes.

[Glebe]

I've only listened to bits of pieces of Bjork's work since the early days, long before her face turned into a Star Wars creature squid and she started playing flutes and that.

[sevendaughters]

on my other forum we're doing a week-by-week on Bjork (including KUKL and Sugarcubes). I'd never heard a full album all the way through in ages so it was fresh ears on everything. Her 1977 debut is sweet and slight. The jazz collab before her debut proper is like Christmas in hell.

In the albums "proper" I think Debut is just fine, grabbing at multiple zeitgeists and sticking the landing now and again. Post has a super run of tracks late on. Homogenic has a super run of tracks early. Vespertine is a proper masterpiece-level work that I think doesn't get enough credit for how much people have lifted from it. Medulla is interesting but represents a proper jump into 'leftfield' music properly, rather than being a weird adjunct to the mainstream. Volta is fine, underrated, though the 'pop' songs are not great. Biophilia is a lovely, mostly-stripped back, almost medieval record. Anyone from that forum should look away now - Vulnicura is maybe her best? A total depression lot of a record but so weighty and original. The last one was cool, very light-hearted and feminine approach to the avant-garde, if a little long.

Selmasongs is nice, Drawing Restraint 9 is awwwwwwwwwwful.

so I never liked her before, but I do now.

[holyzombiejesus]

I still like her. It's quite amusing going to see her live and betting on how long it will be before some female in the crowd shouts "I love you". Last time, in Manchester, it happened before the first song.

[BlodwynPig]

The best thing she's ever done ;)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0tigrmpyfnx6qmm/Hidden_Tentacles.mp3?dl=0

[massive bereavement]

I still love that picture of her with the Sugarcubes in her green tights with all of her thighs on show.

[Phoenix Lazarus]

Just seen the first contemporary photo of her I've seen in about twenty years.  Oh dear...

[Fried Egg Sandwich]

[Natnar]

I think she peaked with Selmasongs and ever since then she's been faffing around with experiments, although i don't think her song writing has evolved at all really.

[sevendaughters]

It's not uncommon for a performer to refine their voice after finding it. I respect that she sticks to her guns and like how it maps onto different perspectives she acquires in her life, like here's the woman trying to prove she isn't a product of cool male producers, here's the person fascinated with voices and avant garde, here's the artist going through a painful divorce. It's a malleable sound and it's more or less unique to her.

[alan nagsworth]

some female in the crowd shouts "I love you". Last time, in Manchester, it happened before the first song.

"Some female" lol. What a strange thing to remark on.

I can't really be arsed with her, personally. Funnily enough last week I realised I hadn't given her any attention in like ten years, so I went through her albums from the start. Man, "Post" has not aged well, has it? And after that one I just found myself constantly getting bored. She's not my sort of artist at all. "Medulla" blew me away when it first came out but even that one now is only about half decent and half fluff to me. And it goes without saying that her most recent stuff is complete and utter waffle. Soz.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Just seen the first contemporary photo of her I've seen in about twenty years.  Oh dear...

Is there really any need for that?

[alan nagsworth]

Is there really any need for that?

Both his posts in here scan as sexist crap.

[sevendaughters]

And it goes without saying that her most recent stuff is complete and utter waffle. Soz.

can't believe a usually thoughtful poster like you would be this dismissive about something like 'Stonemilker'.

[alan nagsworth]

Unless that's the name of a blackened sludge metal band I'm not arsed fella

[sevendaughters]

i await your climbdown on the reboot of this thread in 2025 *wink emoji*

[Neomod]

Back in the 90's B-jork once gave me her untouched vodka and tonic outside Madame Jo-jo's due to her cab driver telling her she wasn't "fackin bringing that in ere".

True story..

I'll get me broom.

[Phoenix Lazarus]

Back in the 90's B-jork once gave me her untouched vodka and tonic outside Madame Jo-jo's due to her cab driver telling her she wasn't "fackin bringing that in ere".

Are you sure he wasn't saying that to her about you?

[phantom_power]

Man, "Post" has not aged well, has it?

Wha? Whaaaaaaaaaaaa? It is still a fantastic album. Hyperballad is as stunning as the first time I heard it. The only one I skip is It's Oh So Quiet but that is more because it has been played to death

[Better Midlands]

Hyperballad is as stunning as the first time I heard it.

I'm not a Bjork fan by a long stretch, but I agree with this - it's a beautiful track that still sounds futuristic now.

[Neomod]

Are you sure he wasn't saying that to her about you?

Nah, I was busy chatting to Burt Bacharach.

*CLUNK*

[Head Gardener]

The best thing she's ever done ;)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0tigrmpyfnx6qmm/Hidden_Tentacles.mp3?dl=0

I'll have that on the show tonight, cheers!

[alan nagsworth]

Wha? Whaaaaaaaaaaaa? It is still a fantastic album. Hyperballad is as stunning as the first time I heard it. The only one I skip is It's Oh So Quiet but that is more because it has been played to death

Heh, I was actually thinking about "Debut" - silly me!

"Hyperballad" definitely hasn't aged well, though, when you think about it: one big advocation for littering en masse. Chucking half a car in the ocean? She should be fucking ashamed of herself. David Attenborough's least favourite song of all time, I bet.

[sevendaughters]

glitchy laptronica sounds are passe in the way that Linn drums and Korg M1s were a decade or more ago, it'll pass and be seen for what it is.

[phantom_power]

I think Debut if fucking great as well tbh. Anchor Song and Airoplane are amazing songs. That fusing of jazz and pop but not in a Jamiroquia way is really interesting. It does have that early house sound to it but I think it sounds of its time rather than dated, if that makes sense. I really like the way There's More To Life Than This sounds like it was recorded in a sweaty club somewhere. And One Day is just beautiful

Glitchy laptronica? Is that talking about Hyperballad or Bjork in general?

[olliebean]

I really like the way There's More To Life Than This sounds like it was recorded in a sweaty club somewhere.

IIRC, it was.