News about the upcoming Björk album Volta.

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I wanted to like this record more, and was hopeful given Timbaland's involvement (not because she needs his beats, but because it would be good if she worked with someone who has better pop instincts than herself--someone to help her hone down her ideas into better songs) (this was not an issue on her first couple solo records, which are pop triumphs in my view)... I find it kind of dud-ish for the most part, a couple nice tunes, a lot of rambling, moody beats, and some slightly irritating noisy stuff. The two uptempo Timbaland tracks sound kind of unfinished, too.

― sw00ds, Monday, 7 May 2007 14:44 (seventeen years ago) link

This album made me decide to not go out of my way to bother with her anymore--it's too much work, not enough pay-off.

― sw00ds, Monday, 7 May 2007 14:46 (seventeen years ago) link

after caning this over the weekend i have finally decided that i unreservedly love it :D

― lex pretend, Monday, 7 May 2007 14:53 (seventeen years ago) link

I relistened to the first two albums this wknd, and was stunned by just how better they were...it was a depressing realization, actually.

― sw00ds, Monday, 7 May 2007 14:55 (seventeen years ago) link

this is a hard listen, harder than medulla, which was purposefully difficult, I felt; this seems to straddle a weird line b/w the two. I like bjork best when she's doing the pretty (vespertine) and this really doesn't fall in line with that. It's good, but it's going to take a while.

― akm, Monday, 7 May 2007 18:30 (seventeen years ago) link

Post would be perfect if it didn't have "Army of Me" on it so I'm not sure it's totally fair to compare ANY of her albums to that one.

― HI DERE, Monday, 7 May 2007 18:31 (seventeen years ago) link

Yeah, I sound like one of those guys who can't get over the fact that not every album can be as great as an artist's greatest work... That said, I don't think the new one is a mild dip in quality, so much as one of a long-running series of dips.

"Army of Me" is great, though; Post would be perfect if it didn't have that awful jazzercise song.

― sw00ds, Monday, 7 May 2007 19:06 (seventeen years ago) link

i love 'army of me' and the jazzercise (if you mean 'i miss you'). post[/i[ could do without 'headphones' but it's at the end and dull rather than really bad so i can live with it. i don't think post is bjork's best album by any means but it is the most stylistically similar to volta in that it's a total scattershot affair rather than single-minded exploration of one theme.

[i]volta isn't tough going as in difficult to listen to but it's true that the tunes didn't exactly manifest themselves immediately (possibly a consequence of the MEGA tunes of the best few tracks rather than their own failings). 'pneumonia' is the only one which drifts past unnoticed now.

― lex pretend, Monday, 7 May 2007 19:31 (seventeen years ago) link

The Volta packaging is unforgivable really, after painstakingly scoring down the centre of the giant sticker-Bjork using a needle and a ruler I found that my copy is lacking an inlay booklet, although there is a little flap for such a booklet to live in, possibly.

I don't really mind though because of the lovely tipsy sonorousness, I love love love the softy brass all over this, the Wanderlust/Dull Flame segue is double-take startling/thrilling. The middle section of this album does the same slightly wafty thing that the second half of Vespertine does but with lovely warmy brass instead of twinkly chilly glissandi (or whatever) and the unbeat-y things seem conspiciously less structured than Medulla, which always strikes me as pretty much uber-tightly-wound and neatly regulated throughout.

― hoot, Monday, 7 May 2007 19:34 (seventeen years ago) link

I just wish she'd work on writing catchier vocal hooks. They get less and less memorable as time goes on, sounding more improvisatory than ever.

― Turangalila, Monday, 7 May 2007 20:17 (seventeen years ago) link

"Vertebrae by Vertrebrae" is breathtaking. It's what I hope the 3rd Portishead album sounds like.

― The Brainwasher, Monday, 7 May 2007 20:22 (seventeen years ago) link

I quite like VbV. Lovely brass arrangements.

― Turangalila, Monday, 7 May 2007 20:24 (seventeen years ago) link

I love this album. I'm eh on not having more to contribute than that at this point, but yeah, it is astounding.

― nickalicious, Monday, 7 May 2007 21:13 (seventeen years ago) link

Plenty of thoughts but.. no time! except, broadly... quite, quite disappointed. Not an irredeemable record by any means (and one that still may catch me out as a grower) but a fairly shocking dip in her own standards. I find the lack of overall agreement on exactly which are the lame tracks a bit curious though....

― fandango, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 15:42 (seventeen years ago) link

I liked this a lot on first listen. I'll be playing this far more often than Medulla. Like others, I'll say more after repeat plays.

Also I had no trouble in peeling off the sticker and re-positioning it on the RH panel without damaging it. And the sticker on the shrink rap came off easily as well, so I put that one near the top of the LH panel. Sorted.

― Jeff W, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 16:14 (seventeen years ago) link

Medulla >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Volta

― Turangalila, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 18:24 (seventeen years ago) link

Mark P pretty much OTM, to be honest.

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/42768-volta

― StanM, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 18:56 (seventeen years ago) link

Maybe, but Declare Independence is not "transcendent" in any sense. Try listening to it alongside the Paula Sheppard performed "Me and My Rhythm Box" from the soundtrack to Liquid Sky (1981). They are pretty much the same song.

― Turangalila, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 19:03 (seventeen years ago) link

What, this? Not hearing it, I'm afraid.

― StanM, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 19:30 (seventeen years ago) link

Mark P's review is great (and pretty much in line with a review I filed myself yesterday, though his review is way more detailed and eloquent--I couldn't even get interested enough to say anything about this album). He does single out my two least favourite songs as being two of the best (that horrid Antony duet, and "Declare Independence," which, as someone said above is just "childish"), but aside from that, I'm totally with him.

― sw00ds, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 19:39 (seventeen years ago) link

it's kind of silly how much better the full album version of "earth intruders" is. like, why release a single that's so vastly inferior?

this is very good on first listen.

― Emily Bjurnhjam, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 22:49 (seventeen years ago) link

i like that on my copy that i just ripped it's labeled as "the bull flame of desire."

― Emily Bjurnhjam, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 23:01 (seventeen years ago) link

I don't think Declare Independence needs slamming by way of obscurer reference points! It'd be enough to say that when the intention was to make some NOIZE and you don't even bother to get Lightning Bolt dude on board for it? :'( I don't it lyrically fwiw, but yeah, disappointed that it's far tamer than anticipated.

― fandango, Wednesday, 9 May 2007 10:10 (seventeen years ago) link

It is odd though, about the tracks which are supposedly poor "I See Who You Are" is a tranquil lullaby without much of a melody at all. it's actually my favourite track so far! And for a track with "no melody" I seem to find myself humming it unexpectedly a great deal of the time...

― fandango, Wednesday, 9 May 2007 10:16 (seventeen years ago) link

Overall, I think it's amazingly well produced but... empty. I'm not feeling it.

― StanM, Wednesday, 9 May 2007 10:18 (seventeen years ago) link

i have finally filed my own review PHEW, and now i get to read mark's...i agree and disagree at the same time! i am definitely with him on the standout tracks, and it took quite a while for me to come round to some of the others, but i have come round - and i think his point about the collaborators being underused is massively in the album's favour. she's keeping them in their place, she's using their ideas to make the album brilliantly scattershot but not letting all the big names weigh it down/turn it into a mess.

i think the fact that everyone disagrees about which the strong/weak tracks are is an indication of its quality...

― lex pretend, Wednesday, 9 May 2007 10:25 (seventeen years ago) link

The first Antony duet is horrendous. And how long is it?! I was listening to it in a car on my own and after it had been on for what seemed like half an hour I just had to shout JESUS CHRIST!

Vertrebrae is a plural</pedant>

― ledge, Wednesday, 9 May 2007 10:28 (seventeen years ago) link

xpost - I agree with the lex's last sentence... kind of. I'm finding the highpoints to be some of the tracks coming in for a bruising, and inversely some of the more celebrated ones... not much to shout about.

I don't think it deserves a slating (not in ref: to mark p's review fwiw), and were anybody else to put this record out I think the reaction would be v.v.different & more in it's favour.

What I'm not though, is knocked out, or even particularly fascinated... it's not usual.

― fandango, Wednesday, 9 May 2007 11:06 (seventeen years ago) link

weight of expectation is worse for the consumer than the artist!

― lex pretend, Wednesday, 9 May 2007 11:07 (seventeen years ago) link

well she's certainly downgrading my expectations with this one...

― fandango, Wednesday, 9 May 2007 11:19 (seventeen years ago) link

hmmm... listening this afternoon got me thinking that apart from the deliberately BIG songs and obvious singles. Might be way, way too early to call this one :-/

― fandango, Wednesday, 9 May 2007 19:08 (seventeen years ago) link

The first three tracks are fucking incredible (my first listen).

Also "The Dull Flame of Desire" is 7:30.

― HI DERE, Friday, 11 May 2007 23:28 (seventeen years ago) link

Haven't got an opinion on the album as a whole yet- it'll take a few more listens, as I've been too busy to get through it all in a single sitting and the, well, quieter bits haven't made much of an impression- but I LOVE the foghorn brass on "Wanderlust," it just sounds so heavy and portentous.

― Telephone thing, Saturday, 12 May 2007 01:34 (seventeen years ago) link

"Dull Flame of Desire" outstays its welcome and Antony is k-annoying. Other than that, I love this. I'm kind of cooling on "Earth Intruders", but "Wanderlust", "Innocence", and "Declare Independence" are just as good to better, so no love lost.

― The Reverend, Saturday, 12 May 2007 09:52 (seventeen years ago) link

Now that I'm in the correct thread...does "Dull Flame of Desire" remind anyone else of "Stairway to Heaven"?

― brightscreamer, Sunday, 13 May 2007 01:18 (seventeen years ago) link

YES

― ryan, Sunday, 13 May 2007 01:30 (seventeen years ago) link

It's a fantastic EP with lots of padding. I'm not sure if I like Wanderlust - is 'make something really schmaltzy while 'offsetting' it with really jarring beats' still considered interesting these days?

― Matt DC, Sunday, 13 May 2007 01:35 (seventeen years ago) link

Also The Dull Flame Of Desire could really do with having two or three minutes lopped out of the middle where Bjork and Antony are transparently wandering around in search of some momentum. It's a great song but would be twice as powerful at two thirds of the length.

― Matt DC, Sunday, 13 May 2007 01:37 (seventeen years ago) link

DFOD is too long by a bit, but anthony is SO good on it! wasn't really a fan before...

wanderlust is a sad sad self-parody of a björk song indeed, and I prefer the intro... also mark bell's beats letting the side down (tho' björk has final say & should know better. feels like she's just lost her ear for a good/fresh beat all round tragically)

Innocence still f-awful... but I actually love the maligned middle stretch of I see.../Vertebrae by vertebrae/Pneumonia (less said about the next track the better). I wish the rest of the record felt so genuine & heartfelt :/ especially the forlorn attempts at björk-pop that don't really feel hmmm, much good.

overall, I'm enjoying it but yeah. Masterpiece it's not. Could still see myself liking it by the end of year though. It's a nice, but small, very diminished Björk record.

― fandango, Sunday, 13 May 2007 10:34 (seventeen years ago) link

i have really started to like this. innocence is not great but not so bad i have to skip it. everything else is pretty wonderful.

― ryan, Sunday, 13 May 2007 19:40 (seventeen years ago) link

"Innocence" has a great beat!

― Tape Store, Sunday, 13 May 2007 19:59 (seventeen years ago) link

her voice is the best it's been since the sugarcubes on "innocence"

― funny farm, Sunday, 13 May 2007 20:19 (seventeen years ago) link

I'm wondering what the people who are hating on or are tepid about this album were expecting from it. Bjork's entire career has been defined by self-indulgence and I think she funnels it pretty well here into an enjoyable set of songs.

― HI DERE, Sunday, 13 May 2007 20:21 (seventeen years ago) link

could you put that any more blandly?

― fandango, Sunday, 13 May 2007 20:45 (seventeen years ago) link

Could you fuck off if you're not going to respond to a simple question?

― HI DERE, Sunday, 13 May 2007 20:51 (seventeen years ago) link

Personally, I'm just happy for anything that isn't some nigh-unlistenable concept piece a la Medulla. To me, she's reigning in her self-indulgence.

― The Reverend, Sunday, 13 May 2007 22:21 (seventeen years ago) link

Not feeling this at all so far.

Problems the same as last time, i.e.
(a) too many guest stars;
(b) general air of lack of urgency (as opposed to Kate Bush's patience.
(c) Kid A-type facade of modernity and adventure but falls precisely because she has nothing to lose by doing it.

Or, to put it another way, in adventurous pop terms the new Amerie album is kicking the arse of the new Bjork album out of the ballpark in Jonny Wilkinson style.

― Marcello Carlin, Monday, 14 May 2007 10:28 (seventeen years ago) link

the amerie album is great!

― lex pretend, Monday, 14 May 2007 10:31 (seventeen years ago) link

A lot better than I was expecting - good Grauniad write-up, Lex, btw.

― Marcello Carlin, Monday, 14 May 2007 10:37 (seventeen years ago) link

'crush' is so, so amazing. stevie's interview with her was great too. perhaps this should be taken to an actual amerie thread...

― lex pretend, Monday, 14 May 2007 10:41 (seventeen years ago) link

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