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Does anyone still like Bjork?

Started by Dirty Boy, January 23, 2019, 11:33:16 AM

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VelourSpirit

I love Debut too. One Day is one of my favourite Bjork songs. I absolutely love the feeling of the album.
Debut to Vespertine feels magic, instantly adored them. I do find it a bit harder to get into her newer work but they feel warmer with each listen. Stonemilker is one of her best.

Quote from: phantom_power on January 25, 2019, 10:50:50 PM
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

I love the bit where it's like Bjork shuts you in a room and tells you about her little 'jhetto' blaster


Ferris

Yes, she's amazing, are you mental.

phantom_power

Quote from: olliebean on January 25, 2019, 11:48:22 PM
IIRC, it was.

Yeah I half-remembered that. My point was that it actually sounds like it as well, rather than being over-produced and mixed to death. It is very evocative and still fits in with the rest of the album. It is a very organic-sounding album all round

sevendaughters

Quote from: phantom_power on January 25, 2019, 10:50:50 PM
Glitchy laptronica? Is that talking about Hyperballad or Bjork in general?

there's bits of it from Hyperballad onward really, even on the mostly acoustic Biophilia it breaks out in some slightly dated IDM toward the end of a couple of tracks.

Mr. Internet

Quote from: Phoenix Lazarus on January 23, 2019, 12:02:22 PMI wouldn't approach her at an airport, in case she was having a bad day.

By that reasoning, I hope you worked out how to get through airports without approaching absolutely anyone. There's a whole world of Bad Day bombs, out there in life's tapestried terminal lounge and bar, oh Lazzy lad.

Anyway, I've found my excuse next time I want to skip customs.

Mr. Internet

Quote from: FerriswheelBueller on January 26, 2019, 03:52:46 AM
Yes, she's amazing, are you mental.

This man's got sense.

I agree with sevendaughters on Vespertine being a masterpiece. For me, it's the one album where her voice seems to work in perfect tandem with the instrumentation. I love the warmth and intimacy of it, which is maybe an odd thing to say about something that is often pegged as 'cold' and 'wintry'. I mean, yes, there's something icy and ethereal about it, something quiet and calm, but it's also sensual and loving.

The whole experience is breathtaking, and, more to the point, it all just sounds fucking cool.

Squink

I would love it if she hooked up with Matmos again. And not in a retro way, I think both her and they have moved on considerably since that time.

grassbath

I am a Bjork non-convert and feel shitty as fuck today, and properly listening to 'Hyper-ballad' and 'All is Full of Love' for the first time - not just suspiciously glossing over them, but giving them the time of day, reading about them and finding out what they're about - has helped a lot. So even though this is an inherently Bjork-suspicious thread, thanks for that.

alan nagsworth

I think her stuff in The Sugarcubes is way better, to put it succinctly.


Jockice

Quote from: alan nagsworth on January 26, 2019, 05:53:25 PM
I think her stuff in The Sugarcubes is way better, to put it succinctly.
So do I!

sevendaughters

People who say Sugarcubes are better than Bjork haven't sat through Stick Around For Joy or Vulnicura and are acting hard online.

purlieu

I still enjoy Debut, Homogenic and Vespertine a lot. Post I never got into that much, it always seemed strangely quiet and not very direct to me. 'Hyperballad' is obviously incredible, and I like 'Isobel' and 'The Modern Things', but I find most of it strangely forgettable.

Medulla has some gorgeous moments, and a number of experimental-for-the-sake-of-it pieces. Not a criticism - I admire the bravery of the album - but it doesn't make for repeat listening in the way her best stuff does. I've still never given Biophilia or Volta a proper listen, and should do something about that. Vulnicura is beautiful, but something about Arca's production makes the songs feel very slippery to me, and I just can't pin them down at all, so I'm yet to feel like I've actually 'got into' the album. This, combined with the excessive runtime, has meant I've not even approached Utopia yet.

Ferris

Quote from: sevendaughters on January 27, 2019, 12:09:26 PM
People who say Sugarcubes are better than Bjork haven't sat through Stick Around For Joy or Vulnicura and are acting hard online.

pigamus

She can be a bit cutesy for some tastes. Like a mental Icelandic Josie Long.

"I hate all that 'I'm a little pixie' shit she does," as John Peel memorably said.

VelourSpirit


Jockice

Quote from: pigamus on January 27, 2019, 04:25:22 PM
She can be a bit cutesy for some tastes. Like a mental Icelandic Josie Long.

"I hate all that 'I'm a little pixie' shit she does," as John Peel memorably said.

A wacky little pixie, just to make it even worse

greencalx

Quote from: TwinPeaks on January 26, 2019, 12:00:29 AM
I love the bit where it's like Bjork shuts you in a room and tells you about her little 'jhetto' blaster

That was exactly the bit that popped into my head as I was reading this thread. I've not listened to the older albums for a while, will have to give them a spin soon. I seem to remember Vespertine being more coherent as an album than Debut or Post.

Norton Canes

I've decided to re-familiarize myself with the oeuvre of an artist who I've neglected over the last few years and so last night I went FULL BJORK, deleting everything from my mp3 player, loading it up with her studio albums from Debut to Vulnicure and whacking it on random.

First one up this morning was One Day from Debut, which is actually pretty much my favourite Bjork track of all, so a nice gentle start. Then it was Sun In My Mouth from Vespertine - pretty good, short and sweet, not too challenging. Then it was Immature from Homogenic; well, along with Debut this is the Bjork album I know really well and had in fact only played it a few days ago, so again, very pleasant but nothing learned. Hope from Volta was next, which I dimly remember but I couldn't recall the lyrics, which are obviously the strong point of this one. Nothing like a good moral conundrum expressed in song, so full marks there. Finally there was Hollow from Biophilia, which was fucking awesome. Are all the tracks on that LP played with an orchestra?

In all I liked all the tracks I was presented and can't wait for my Bjork odyssey to continue.

Norton Canes

One thing that did get me listening to Homogenic the other day was how many great lines there are in the lyrics.

"I'm so bored/With cowards/That say they want/Then they can't handle/You can't handle love..."
"I'm no fucking Buddhist/But this is enlightenment"
"I thought I could organize freedom/How Scandinavian of me"


etc.

Also the way she pronounces 'luminous' in All Neon Like.

sevendaughters

Quote from: Norton Canes on January 28, 2019, 12:37:29 PM
Finally there was Hollow from Biophilia, which was fucking awesome. Are all the tracks on that LP played with an orchestra?


It's more stripped back on the whole, simple lines, intertwining /tufnel

sevendaughters

as part of the full journey through Bjork I also listened to the entire KUKL and Sugarcubes discographies. KUKL were interesting in that post-Crass anarchist mid-80s pantheon where they're trying to find a way forward from ratty intellectual punk to something a bit more musically weighty. neither of their albums are classics but you could meld the best songs from each into something good. Bjork is mixed down on them too - one of the band rather than a star. They sound like they'd be killer live though.

'Gibraltar (Copy Thy Neighbour)' - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEqPqqO4y8Y

Listening to the Sugarcubes was a total fucking chore. 'Birthday' is their sole good song and their output slides downhill from there. They get wacky and irritating really quickly. Bjork does her level best but they're not interesting musicians and they have nothing particular to say for themselves. They sound like a sitcom version of a quirky pop band:

'Eat The Menu' - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RE5nBOw6mhU

Also I just do not get the weird paterno-sexualising thing that goes on with Bjork whenever it comes up. People either see her as a magical child or they remember wanking over her.

poodlefaker

Quote from: sevendaughters on January 23, 2019, 12:32:21 PM
The jazz collab before her debut proper is like Christmas in hell.

Does that mean it's good or bad? I really like Gling Glo, and only discovered it on Spotify a few years ago, having been a Bjork fan for about 25 years. Come on, Kata Rokkar is fantastic: there's such joy in that voice.

Norton Canes

Quote from: sevendaughters on January 28, 2019, 01:07:10 PM
Listening to the Sugarcubes was a total fucking chore. 'Birthday' is their sole good song

Not sure about that

sevendaughters

Quote from: poodlefaker on January 28, 2019, 01:33:22 PM
Does that mean it's good or bad? I really like Gling Glo, and only discovered it on Spotify a few years ago, having been a Bjork fan for about 25 years. Come on, Kata Rokkar is fantastic: there's such joy in that voice.

They're all amazing musicians but it is nails down a blackboard for me.

hummingofevil

Quote from: alan nagsworth on January 25, 2019, 06:42:11 PM
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.

https://youtu.be/-W5OfUzwyyw
https://youtu.be/6ctClN6Bp-o

I think seeing the Björk/Mark Bell Hyperballad with Freak live might just me the best moment of my life. Was insane. Place went absolutely mental with joy.

popcorn

Quote from: Norton Canes on January 28, 2019, 12:43:51 PM
One thing that did get me listening to Homogenic the other day was how many great lines there are in the lyrics.

"I'm so bored/With cowards/That say they want/Then they can't handle/You can't handle love..."
"I'm no fucking Buddhist/But this is enlightenment"
"I thought I could organize freedom/How Scandinavian of me"


I think Matt Bellamy of Muse is one of the worst lyricists of all time, but more than once it has occurred to me that if you imagine Bjork singing his lyrics instead, they suddenly work. "Embedded spies / brainwashing our children to be mean". Can't you imagine her singing that?

Quote from: hummingofevil on January 28, 2019, 03:35:24 PM
https://youtu.be/-W5OfUzwyyw
https://youtu.be/6ctClN6Bp-o

I think seeing the Björk/Mark Bell Hyperballad with Freak live might just me the best moment of my life. Was insane. Place went absolutely mental with joy.

That's crazy energy in the second video, must have been awesome HOE.

I always thought Mark Bell produced Hyperballad, only recently saw that it was Nellee Hooper.

Blinder Data

Quote from: Phoenix Lazarus on January 24, 2019, 11:00:23 AM
Just seen the first contemporary photo of her I've seen in about twenty years.  Oh dear...

If this is a comment on her looks, you can fuck right off. Seriously. Fuck off.