News about the upcoming Björk album Volta.

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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

oh ffs.

I was trying to say that people who are tepid were probably expecting a little more than "an enjoyable set of songs" is all. I wasn't criticizing your writing skills.

― fandango, Monday, 14 May 2007 10:47 (seventeen years ago) link

Many things have happened as a result of Volta...I'm finding myself listening to alot more of Medúlla. Mainly just to compliment it all.

Oh, and I love the boats after Earth Intruders. People listening in though may wonder why they hear it three times a day.

― o-ess, Monday, 14 May 2007 11:18 (seventeen years ago) link

I can't understand how people think of Medulla as anything like "some nigh-unlistenable concept piece". I'd understand if the album were a full LP sounding like the one track with the piano and the woman barking--but that track was the chink in the albums armor, not the whole damned suit. On the whole, Medulla was far more melodious, far less experimental (and in this case the better for it), and far catchier (see "Where Is the Line," "Triumph of the Heart," "Oceania" et al) than Bjork'd been in the better part of a decade. It's as though people read the hype about "ooh, an all-vocals album, how experimental" and failed to notice that in fact it had great beats, actual hooks, and a relatively pithy pop-record running time.

Anyway--I'm hardly a Bjork apologist. 'Drawing Restraint' has only a couple moments, 'Vespertine' could've been halved and would've been twice as strong. Unfortunately, even the "best" moments of Volta merely provide pale shadows of earlier tracks, and on the whole it feels like a floaty, ponderous mishmash. I'm pretty disappointed, because yeah, a "summer album" full of hot beats and pop hooks could've been just the right next step for Bjork, and all of the great collaborators were underutilised.

― Soundslike, Monday, 14 May 2007 11:21 (seventeen years ago) link

It struck me the other day that the 'boats' after Earth Intruders reminded me an awful lot of the communication between the earth dudes and the spaceship right at the end of Close Encounters, when the earth dudes are playing tones on the big light keyboard and the spaceship is blasting back these big, spacefoghorn rumbles.

― Scik Mouthy, Monday, 14 May 2007 12:30 (seventeen years ago) link

having not quite yet digested 'medulla', but seeing the potential for something to jump out at me, i don't think i'm quite ready for this new one.

if i ask myself a few tough questions, i'd probably admit that there is always something minor that prevents me from liking all of bjork's records on an uncondtional level. after all these years, i might just think that 'debut' is the best representation of her talents.

― Charlie Howard, Monday, 14 May 2007 12:36 (seventeen years ago) link

I still think Debut is probably my favourite start-to-finish.

― Scik Mouthy, Monday, 14 May 2007 12:46 (seventeen years ago) link

yeah! and it's a strange thing for me to come to terms with, given how much she's diversified and tried to test the boundaries of her capabilities.

― Charlie Howard, Monday, 14 May 2007 12:51 (seventeen years ago) link

I do listen to Debut the least, I think. Homegenic Live is really getting alot of my attention

― o-ess, Monday, 14 May 2007 13:13 (seventeen years ago) link

Medulla really works when you get your way around the whole beatboxing thing (which, at first listen, easily sounds like a Police Academy re-run). Liked it alot more than Vespertine. As for Volta, it feels like every new Björk record takes longer to digest. I kinda like it, but it still gets little play time on expense of Orbital and Autechre. Will probably play it in September and love it.

― the Dirt, Monday, 14 May 2007 13:52 (seventeen years ago) link

Come on then, Volta's had long enough to sink in, someone start a best Bjork album poll. (Not me, I am lazy.)

― ledge, Monday, 14 May 2007 13:55 (seventeen years ago) link

Volta wouldn't win anyway. It's Homogenic or Debut.

― the Dirt, Monday, 14 May 2007 13:59 (seventeen years ago) link

in order

homogenic
debut
vespertine
volta
post
medúlla

though that's v fluid...it's more like homogenic way out in front, and then the other five pretty much level

― lex pretend, Monday, 14 May 2007 14:04 (seventeen years ago) link

Though I'm glad Volta is what it is. Declare Independence is basically perfect.
Medúlla did produce Triumph of a Heart, Oceania, Mouth's Cradle...I'd rank as up there with her best songs.
Volta has yet to hit me in that way, but I do expect it will.

― o-ess, Monday, 14 May 2007 14:19 (seventeen years ago) link

Umm...how on earth could you put "Post" second-to-last?

― brightscreamer, Monday, 14 May 2007 23:56 (seventeen years ago) link

For me

Vespertine
Homogenic
Medulla
Debut
Volta
Post

― admrl, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 00:02 (seventeen years ago) link

All in fact very close

― admrl, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 00:03 (seventeen years ago) link

lex pretend's got it right.

― Drooone, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 00:06 (seventeen years ago) link

Homogenic
Post
Debut
Medulla
Volta

Vespertine

― Melissa W, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 00:20 (seventeen years ago) link

hmm...dont get the love for Debut, i'll have to revisit that one.

Homogenic
Vespertine
Post
Volta
Medulla
Debut

― ryan, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 03:43 (seventeen years ago) link

Medulla
Volta
Homogenic
Vespertine
Post

Debut

― Cliftonb, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 04:03 (seventeen years ago) link

Can someone help me understand the hatteration on "Post"?

― brightscreamer, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 04:31 (seventeen years ago) link

i'm big into Debut

http://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=41&threadid=56027

― Surmounter, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 04:46 (seventeen years ago) link

I can't fathom Melissa hating Vespertine?!

― Scik Mouthy, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 06:51 (seventeen years ago) link

there was a massive thread about it!

― lex pretend, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 06:57 (seventeen years ago) link

Yeah? Perhaps when I wasn't around much. What was her reasoning?

― Scik Mouthy, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 08:19 (seventeen years ago) link

http://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=41&threadid=1779

― lex pretend, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 08:27 (seventeen years ago) link

Just heard a few tracks yet, but my impression is positive. It seems like the all the good elements of those hip producers (great use of technology, some interesting beats) are being preserved while the less good elements that they tend to have (too much rap, lack of melodies, exaggerated R&B vocals) are luckily gone for archetypical Björk instead. Which surely makes it a lot better than, for instance, Amerie.

― Geir Hongro, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 08:42 (seventeen years ago) link

Vespertine had some golden moments, but it almost felt, uh, a little too coherent for my taste. Doesn't have as many outstanding tracks as some of the other albums, and all in all, it's the one I've listened the least to (from the standard studio albums).

Homogenic
Debut
Post
Medulla/ Volta(?)
Drawing Restraint 9
Vespertine
that Dancer in the Dark Soundtrack (great film btw)

― the Dirt, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 09:05 (seventeen years ago) link

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