News about the upcoming Björk album Volta.

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[i]And since when has Bjork not been about a kind of musical ethno-tourism?[i]
Well, yes. But I meant a cheap, frosted-on kind of musical ethno-tourism. I meant the Damon Albarn sort of musical ethno-tourism.

Anyway, yeah, fandango OTM. I wanted burning distorto mbira funk with phat drums, man. This just sounds like a very average pop song with "cool"& "ethnic" stuff attached to it peripherically.

― Turangalila, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 01:31 (seventeen years ago) link

I nominate "Innocence" as singularly most revolting vocal melody by Björk ever. :(

― Turangalila, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 17:18 (seventeen years ago) link

I'm not listening those tracks yet (live, youtube perchance?). I can wait. I still have good hopes for the album. Though I did listen to a tiny bit of one of the Anthony duets, and liked it! After seeing a few photos of them together, and live on stage I'm starting to think they actually make a great couple (musically speaking) weirdly. I couldn't have imagined it before.

― fandango, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 17:27 (seventeen years ago) link

the amazing amazing chorus of 'earth intruders' >>>>> the pretty fierce beat of 'earth intruders' >>>>>>>>>>> (&c &c) >>>>>> the verses of 'earth intruders'

― lex pretend, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 21:41 (seventeen years ago) link

if you can call phoning in completely random 'poetic' words verses in the first place

i am harsh, i do love 'earth intruders', the chorus brooks no argument

― lex pretend, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 21:45 (seventeen years ago) link

haha, Lex I'd either reverse that, or put the beat last of all.

The chorus is just there, it hardly exactly inspires! Not compared to the turrrmoil! etc parts

I don't think the lyrics are random at all, they're just underworked and underwhelming. I'm being harsh too, but from Björk I've come to expect so much more, even at it's best, this is amongst her worst work.

― fandango, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 22:09 (seventeen years ago) link

the chorus is quite banging!

― lex pretend, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 22:18 (seventeen years ago) link

that synth annoys the shit out of me... even more than that bloody gremlin in "Ancestors"

I dunno, I guess there's nothing fundamentally or unforgiveably wrong with Earth Intruders that can't be accomodated except for the entire thing just sounding like ass?

Everyone's excited and riffing on the musical collisons here but I can't think of another single (except Army Of Me) that ever sounded this bad, bland, and slightly dull? I feel like I'm missing something here.

― fandango, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 22:22 (seventeen years ago) link

i like 'army of me' loads!

― lex pretend, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 22:23 (seventeen years ago) link

"army of me" is epic, son!

― rps, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 22:25 (seventeen years ago) link

'army of me' and 'earth intruders' are both...bjork at her most propulsively pop, i guess.

― lex pretend, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 22:25 (seventeen years ago) link

god I've posted far too much on this now. Hurry up and leak (the rest)!

― fandango, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 22:27 (seventeen years ago) link

I think Army of Me accomplished exactly what it set out to accomplish. Earth Intruders doesn't seem to have had a game plan at all. It's like an ersatz imitation of Post-era Björk.

― Melissa W, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 22:47 (seventeen years ago) link

aw that youtube link is down

― river wolf, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 23:35 (seventeen years ago) link

while it lasts there's a interview pertaining to this album (it's from a podcast, but don't have that link) up here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdD3VMouqKs

― fandango, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 23:42 (seventeen years ago) link

army of me gets better and better with age.

― Surmounter, Thursday, 12 April 2007 04:46 (seventeen years ago) link

army of me was immdeiately ace, and indeed was the song that converted me to bjork. (possibly because the riff it was essentially early soundgarden on synths)

earth intruders...not so much. it's kind of flat and predictable. but I also think it's difficult to judge, as it suffers mightily from being crappily streamed via youtube.

― m the g, Thursday, 12 April 2007 07:22 (seventeen years ago) link

yeah even the mp3 i have of the extended version is suboptimal, and i can't listen to the shonky youtube mess. dunno how people can put up with such bad quality...i think the production will def come into its own once i hear it properly.

― lex pretend, Thursday, 12 April 2007 08:14 (seventeen years ago) link

Yeah I think people dismissing it for sounding muddy when the MP3 is this poor are being a little unfair.

― Matt DC, Thursday, 12 April 2007 09:00 (seventeen years ago) link

Why is the lex all of a sudden ranting everywhere about mp3 sound quality. I personally prefer low quality mp3's as they fit on my mp3 player more. I don't really hear any difference, does your whole opinion of an album hinge entirely on imperceptable to most people issues sound quality. Essentially, you know what it sounds like, the difference a high quality mp3 will make is so miniscule I can't begin to possible think about imagining how to fathom hearing the difference.

I only say this because when I read this thread the Lex's opinion is the one I really listen to and this seems a bit weird. But not that weird when you really think about it.

On the topic of Bjork though, I really think I like this remix I have of Earth intruders (I think its the official one from the single) a little bit more, but then I haven't heard the extended version.

― I know, right?, Thursday, 12 April 2007 09:41 (seventeen years ago) link

the Lex's opinion is the one I really listen to and this seems a bit weird.

yes. yes it does.

― m the g, Thursday, 12 April 2007 09:49 (seventeen years ago) link

afaik, what I have is an aac straight from iTunes, converted to mp3.

I heard about 5 or 6 different versions of that initial rip and they were ALL shocking. Honestly, I'm as fussy about audio quality as anyone but I think there is something amiss in the way it sounds (arrangements, production, mix) here that goes WAY beyond mere fidelity. I'd like to be wrong though.

― fandango, Thursday, 12 April 2007 10:31 (seventeen years ago) link

We are the earth intruders
We are the earth intruders
Muddy with twigs and branches

Turmoil!
Carnage!

Here come the earth intruders
We are the paratroopers
The beat of sharpshooters
Comes straight from voodoo

With our feet thumbing
With our feet marching
Grinding the skeptics into the soil

Shower of goodness coming to end the doubt—pouring over
Shower of goodness coming to end

We are the earth intruders
We are the sharpshooters
Flock of parachuters
Necessary voodoo

I have guided my bones through some voltage
And love them still
And love them too

Metallic
Carnage
Furiousity
Feel the speed!

We are the earth intruders
We are the sharpshooters,
Flock of parachuters
Necessary voodoo

There is turmoil out there
Carnage! Rambling!
What is to do but dig
Dig bones out of earth

Mud graves
Timber
Morbid trenches

Here come the earth intruders
There’ll be no resistance
We are the cannoneerers
Necessary voodoo

And the beast with many heads and arms rolling
Steamroller!

We are the earth intruders
We are the earth intruders
Muddy with twigs and branches

Forgive this tribe!

We are the earth intruders
We are the earth intruders
Muddy with twigs and branches

We are the earth intruders
Muddy with twigs and branches

We are the earth intruders

We are the earth intruders
Muddy with twigs and branches
Marching!

We are the earth intruders
Muddy with twigs and branches
Marching!

March

March

March

We are the earth intruders
Muddy with twigs and branches
Marching voodoo!

the bizarre thing about this is how UP it sounds... and yet it's really not the most positive of songs, I don't think it's explicit enough (I guess she doesn't want to come over all Bono but still) it just doesn't feel properly thought through to me.

― fandango, Thursday, 12 April 2007 10:40 (seventeen years ago) link

something amiss in the way it sounds

OTM. It's either like a shoddily downmixed surround track or else it's done on purpose and Our Mere Human Ears Have No Reference Point (i.e. like that attention whoring left/right mix on the last Low album (which is a great album, but come on, that mix is pointless) ).

― StanM, Thursday, 12 April 2007 10:44 (seventeen years ago) link

i have to say, i'm listening to this again, and i think i sounds great. i think it's a really fun, playing-around take on like Post, Debut and Homogenic.

i really don't know re: the lyrics to EI, but they're growing on me. and the density of the noise on all the tracks is really great. i love the beats.

― Surmounter, Thursday, 12 April 2007 14:10 (seventeen years ago) link

and btw mp3 quality or whatever, it does make a difference! i can't imagine listening to some albums' crappy leaks, it would ruin em

― Surmounter, Thursday, 12 April 2007 14:11 (seventeen years ago) link

I dunno, I don't mind it in total... but I can easily wait for the CD single over the extra 00.3% fidelity I might enjoy getting a sodding .aac (ack?) to tide me over the next month :p

― fandango, Thursday, 12 April 2007 14:21 (seventeen years ago) link

I want PLUTO vocals and heavier beats

I think the EI lyrics stand up pretty well against Pluto. But Pluto is pretty fucking fantastic.
It sounds exactly how I was hoping it all would! Now that she is back playing festivals it makes alot of sense. Opera houses couldn't really contain it.

― o-ess, Thursday, 12 April 2007 16:23 (seventeen years ago) link

Yeah, I think o-ess is right, Vespertine live was really beautiful (at least it is on the DVD, sigh.) but it seems like Bjork is really going back to something, I don't know what. I remember on the Medulla DVD she says something about going back to a certain time when she was listening to a lot of metal especially Swans and wanting to recreate a certain feeling etc. It just feels like there's a new type of energy that wasn't there before, less glacial, more fiery.

I remember now, she was talking about becoming a mother, that's when she got all hardcore, when she was pregnant. And being pregnant againd...

But there's something earthier about this one, I think. Something about the way she can sing so beautifully, but her voice is aging a bit now, I listened to Birthday the other day and you can just hear how her voice could just do anything, not exactly disciplined, just kindof expanding or, I don't know. But now, her voice can't do everything. I just think its the first album since she realised she had to start trying harder, that it wasn't all as natural, that it just has this burst

I can't wait to see it outdoors, I hope it lifts off.

― I know, right?, Friday, 13 April 2007 22:11 (seventeen years ago) link

is it nu rave?

HOW DO I SHOT GUARDIAN?

― fandango, Friday, 13 April 2007 23:56 (seventeen years ago) link

AND NME, ONE BULLET...

― fandango, Friday, 13 April 2007 23:59 (seventeen years ago) link

I like EI, but I'm struck by how much the opening drums sounds like this drum loop I have on a loop CD from a few years back.

― Michael F Gill, Saturday, 14 April 2007 07:19 (seventeen years ago) link

live performances on the Debut live DVDs have a similar vibe to them. Quieter though...
EI still feels separate from the rest of her songs in my collection, which is great. onwards to volta.

― o-ess, Saturday, 14 April 2007 22:59 (seventeen years ago) link

I like EI, but I'm struck by how much the opening drums sounds like this drum loop I have on a loop CD from a few years back.

-- Michael F Gill, Saturday, 14 April 2007 07:19 (15 hours ago)

that's timbaland for ya!.
but, yeah, this song still kick ass. can't wait to hear it within the album.

― funny farm, Saturday, 14 April 2007 23:06 (seventeen years ago) link

Bjork's gonna be on Saturday Night Live on April 21st I think

― curmudgeon, Sunday, 15 April 2007 13:19 (seventeen years ago) link

OMG 'DECLARE INDEPENDENCE'

― lex pretend, Monday, 16 April 2007 17:58 (seventeen years ago) link

regardless of fidelty, and the quality is quite shockingly bad, almost like a cheapo, bodiless hip hop or R&B mixdown, the song itself doesnt really stand up. its modern 2007 timbo on autopilot sadly, not really moving that much away from what hes been giving everyone else lately. its just another timbo beat+ bjork which is something that should have been much more special and unusual and peculiar than what the actual thing is.

― titchyschneiderMk2, Monday, 16 April 2007 18:05 (seventeen years ago) link

i might agree with that, you know, the idea that we shouldn't have to settle for something "ok, i guess i like it"

given that it IS these 2 artists.

haha i'm trying to speak.

― Surmounter, Monday, 16 April 2007 18:40 (seventeen years ago) link

Why reduce this to a Timbaland thing? He obviously did part of the beat, but the konono thumb piano stuff isn't his, and it's pretty obvious Bjork took a segment of his beat and tweaked it. Playing it off as his, or weak because part of it is his, isn't really a fair assessment of him or Bjork (or anyone else who contributed, ffs!). I think it sounds a little light as a first single because there's nothing that really punches through (repeating "earth intruders" in a sing-songey voice followed by Bjork vocal screaming, repeat) to be catchy. I think it works fine, sound-wise.

― mh, Monday, 16 April 2007 19:06 (seventeen years ago) link

just saying that given bjork and timbaland, it seems like it could have done more than "work fine, sound-wise."

personally, i think the sound of the song is really beautiful. i just think the lyrics are crap, and the melody isn't that spectacular either.

― Surmounter, Monday, 16 April 2007 20:05 (seventeen years ago) link

but timbos identity is all over it. its not just that he contributed to it subtly, the whole track is basically built around one of his beats and it sounds like it. its not as integrated as her interview on PFM made it sound. i thought it was going to be something like timbalands beat being ripped to its skeleton and bjork and co kinda rebuilding it to make it more melodic or song-y or something, but its basically like timbaland beat+bjork+ a bit of musicianly adornment. im dissapointed, personally.

if you guys wanna hear timbo working with someone out of his usual realm, check out the remake of diamond dogs he did with beck. thats how a timbo+pop auteur-type artist should go IMO.

― titchyschneiderMk2, Monday, 16 April 2007 20:14 (seventeen years ago) link

yeah the melody is what i found most dissapointing, but then what can you do, when the beat is pretty regimented.. its hard to tell properly with this mp3 but bjork doesnt really sound that inspired to my ears.

― titchyschneiderMk2, Monday, 16 April 2007 20:15 (seventeen years ago) link

no she doesn't really. i mean i don't really get what the song is about. it's like she's just talking about how humans are invading the earth?

that seems so uninteresting to me, like cliche, redundant uninteresting.

for me it's the vocals at large that i don't like. the lyrics, the voice quality, the melody. none of it on this track excites me very much at all

― Surmounter, Monday, 16 April 2007 20:22 (seventeen years ago) link

the beat and the adornment i think sound great tho.

― Surmounter, Monday, 16 April 2007 20:23 (seventeen years ago) link

yeah, its almost like bjork heard it, knew it was redundant and timbo had already shot his load with everyone else (and even with them, hes done it all before and better), but went ahead with it anyway and fed offf timbos own lack of inspiration channelling that same ennui into her own performance.

― titchyschneiderMk2, Monday, 16 April 2007 20:30 (seventeen years ago) link

ok so the album is pretty damn sweet!

'dull flame of desire' is an absolutely amazing 7 1/2-minute ballad feat. antony, whose singing i really enjoy for the first time (restraining the tremolo &c) - builds up to astonishing climax of drumming.

'declare independence' is the other standout on a couple of spins - this is the NOISE one i think, it is dedicated to greenland and the faroe islands, it reminds me of 'pluto' most - hardcore squawking, "DECLARE INDEPENDENCE! DON'T LET THEM DO THAT TO YOU! RAISE YOUR FLAG! HIGHER HIGHER!"

the other two timba tracks are 'innocence', which is a bit banging, clearly meant to be another big pop moment, and 'hope' which is a lot more laid back and which i kind of prefer - actually sounds more like a neptunes beat (from back when they were good), there's that drum loop i don't know how to technically describe but it reminds me of...'good stuff' by kelis and 'ride wit me' by nelly! and there is harp over the top, it's laidback and beautiful.

diff mix of 'earth intruders' which somehow sounds muddier than the low-bitrate mark stent edit i've been listening to.

on first listen i was like "hmm where are the tunes then" but then i remembered that i'm usually like this for most albums - after a couple of listens the tunes are beginning to sink in.

― lex pretend, Monday, 16 April 2007 20:32 (seventeen years ago) link

caveat = i have listened to it TWICE and inevitably will rescind everything i think now in five months' time :D

― lex pretend, Monday, 16 April 2007 20:33 (seventeen years ago) link

//skips album review for now//

"the whole track is basically built around one of his beats and it sounds like it."

utter bollox. though I wish it did.

― fandango, Monday, 16 April 2007 20:34 (seventeen years ago) link

"Earth Intruders" is yoga flame. u r all teh sux

― The Reverend, Monday, 16 April 2007 21:46 (seventeen years ago) link

"but timbos identity is all over it. its not just that he contributed to it subtly, the whole track is basically built around one of his beats and it sounds like it. its not as integrated as her interview on PFM made it sound. i thought it was going to be something like timbalands beat being ripped to its skeleton and bjork and co kinda rebuilding it to make it more melodic or song-y or something, but its basically like timbaland beat+bjork+ a bit of musicianly adornment. im dissapointed, personally. "

I always find this critical line a bit amusing - if Bjork went to all the trouble to commission a Timbaland beat only to have it "ripped to its skeleton", why bother getting Timbaland in the first place? There's only so much you can really do to someone else's groove until it gets to the point where you may as well have just started from scratch by yourself. Why wouldn't a Bjork + Timbaland collaboration sound like... Bjork + Timbaland?

As it is it does sound very different to any other Timbaland based single, it's very rare that one of his beats will be so buried in the mix. It could have been, e.g. "Say It Right" with Bjork singing on top.

― Tim F, Monday, 16 April 2007 22:24 (seventeen years ago) link

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