bjork vs radiohead

2012

inspired by listening to "karvel" + thinking about vocal catharsis via chic electronica

who am i why am i here

2012

*throws money*

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9Mse62NFl4

I've listened to Radiohead much more on the whole. Biophilia >>> King of Limbs though.

i don't mean who's better, i mean talk about these cats

jesus

http://www.alison-anderson.com/wp-content/uploads/cat_talk.jpg

2112

o_O these threads have reached new limits

can't we just have a burger v pizza thread and call it a day

tru answer: bjork

Radiohead. There's five of them against only one of her.

if you mean in a fist fight or a basketball game or something, both already happened, and she won both times.

now in all lowercase letters, for more slouching ignominy!!!

I'd give the 90s to Björk by a nose and the 00s/10s to Radiohead by a landslide.

Love both of them but this is easily Björk.

I'd give the 90s to Björk by a nose and the 00s/10s to Radiohead by a landslide.

― Melissa W

I haven't managed to get into a Bjork album since Vespertine.

wtf a radiohead

doesnt make no sense

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_dilemma

At this point I'd rather investigate DMB than listen to anything by either artist

"Post" is a really great record and "Pablo Honey" too

I listened to Kid A for the first time last year. I don't know what made it any better than say, Dave Matthews Band or something. I made a remark about it at the time, but I can't find it in search, so my exact impressions are lost to me. Why, oh, why did I change usernames so many times? Never again.

Anyway, is fake plastic trees really a mournful elegy to breast implants? Does Bjork have any songs about breast implants?

I just discovered that I have OK Computer in my itunes library. No idea how or when that got in there. Maybe I'll listen to it before voting! Does anyone think it's better than Debut, Post, or Homogenic?

It has two really good songs iirc and they are the first two so that's convenient

I've listened to it much more than Post or Homogenic (and have never heard all of Debut). Not sure if it's 'better' though.

I haven't managed to get into a Bjork album since Vespertine.

― I wish to incorporate disco into my small business (chap), Saturday, October 13, 2012 8:47 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark

man I still rep for Kid A; National Anthem, How to Disappear, In Limbo = still my shit

still

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

ok, just listened to half of Medulla for the first time. enough to know that I'll be listeninv to it again. Where Is The Line is fucking massive!

Now going to see how much of Ok Computer I can cram in on the rest of my ride down to DC. So far (Airbag) it reminds me of a better U2 or something.

Now onto Paranoid Android, which may have been the whole reason I never got this album in the 90s despite all the hype. Wasn't interested in any songs about my least4 favorite character from a book I read when I was 10.

Whoa, at about 2:00, it shifts to some go-go sixties sounding shit. Not looking good for you, Radiohead.

@ about 4:00. I've heard THIS part before. Was it in a movie or something? Not bad. A little bleaty.

Kinda liked SHA in a NPR rock kinda way until it got all U2 again with the "Uptight!" bit. Like, that could have been done like the Beatles or U2. They made an artistic decision. Fine.

Really feeling like I would have had to have been there in 1997 for this album. Like, watching some xfiles with some frineds. then we all smoke a bowl and someone puts this on.

White-knuckled it through Exit Music for a Film. Stop mumbling and look at me when you're speaking or I won't understand you.

I liked all the bleeps that emerged at about 3:45 or so in Let Down.

wow

Far too brief though.

Oh, I've heard this next one somewhere before too.

OK Computer hasn't aged particularly well, but I still think of it as one of the most important records in my career as a music fan. The Bjork album I've enjoyed and listened to the most is, strangely, Telegram.

I liked Karma Police. "Fitter Happier" is fine. Reminds me of that Leonard Cohen song.

Whoever said upthread Bjork for 90s and Radiohead for 00s is OTM.

Amazed that you've never heard OKC before. Seeing it liveblogged in 2012 is just wtf.

Yeah, I'm a weirdo. Electioneering was pretty exciting.

Amazed that you've never heard OKC before. Seeing it liveblogged in 2012 is just wtf.

yeah totally. the context of OK Computer coming out in the wake of so much cheeky/cheery 3-minute Britpop stuff made it a pretty mindblowing album for 17 y/o me at the time. It really felt next-level in a way that is impossible to parse in 2012, mostly because OKC had such a huge impact on what it came to inform in terms of arty/indie-type rock over the years. Love it or hate it, there's no denying that it shaped a whole universe of stuff that followed it, particularly Pitchfork-type stuff (Animal Collective, Dungen, In The Aeroplane Over The Sea) - not that these are taking direct cue from OKC, rather that it reopened the doors for this kind of art-school rock/pop with avant-garde and electronic undertones, as opposed to Britpop, grunge etc...

Was Karma Police on side 2 or side 1? I'm liking the second half of 4the album a lot better. Climbing the Walls was great.

The two songs I never enjoyed were Let Down and Electioneering. Although the Easy Star Allstars interpretation of Let Down with Toots singing on it is the highlight of Radiodread.

Ok, I have 1 song left. I liked most of the second side. That's more than I was able to say about Kid A.

Funnily, these were my two favorite acts in high school (mid-1990s), and yet I would never have thought to compare them, and don't really see any points of comparison. I would assume Bjork influenced Yorke a lot toward his desire to make non-rock, electronic-rooted music; but obviously to me, he never got close to the level of electronic brilliance...

If I were forced, I guess I'd go...

Homogenic
Medulla
Post
A Moon Shaped Pool
Vespertine
Kid A
Vulnicura
OK Computer
Debut
The Bends
Amnesiac
Biophilia
In Rainbows
Drawing Restraint 9
Fossora
Pablo Honey
Selmasongs
The King of Limbs
Volta
Utopia
Hail To the Thief

The only ones I dislike would be 'Volta,' 'Utopia,' and (the only one I hate) 'Hail To the Thief' (which just about put me off Radiohead permanently).

I really can't compare the two, there are superficial similarities (instantly identifiable singers & songwriters who have both been intensely influenced by electronic music, and have incorporated it but aren't bound by it), but I'm just glad they both exist and got that '90s/early '00s music industry $$$ to do what they've done.

Selmasongs

was surprised no one had mentioned this so far, considering the thread subject!

'Hail To the Thief' (which just about put me off Radiohead permanently).

fun h8r detected

i love radiohead and bjork. i will say that the exact opposite of fun, mathematically, is the song "we suck young blood". i like that song, even, but it is impossible to have fun with that one on lol

after being rly unfun it goes really fun out of nowhere for 20 seconds! SURPRISE FUN

Beavis: What’s going on? How come they just don’t play that surprise fun part through the whole song? Hehe?”

Butt-Head: “Well Beavis, if they didn’t have like a part of the song that was the opposite of fun, than it’s like, the other part wouldn’t be as cool.”

Beavis: “Really? You’re pretty smart Butt-Head.”

(this is a reference to the beavis and butthead segment on creep, back in the day! just wanted to make that clear because on anywhere other than ilm that would probably be deeply misunderstood)

i do like how after the wild surprise fun part, it goes straight into Won't let the creeping ivy / Won't let the nervous bury me / Our veins are thin / Our rivers poisoned / We want the sweet meat / We want young blood

yes, it is very theatrical. gr8 fun

CAAL trying to ditch Army Of Me from Post is another direct attack on fun and I shan't have any of it

Army of Me is good, I like it a lot, it still doesn't fit anywhere on Post and certainly not as the first track.

See also: Burn The Witch.

I usually skip "we suck young blood" but turning the general vibe & structure of Mingus' "Freedom" into a Radiohead song was not a bad concept to try.

first two tracks of In Rainbows don't rly fit on it either, but I'd rather keep them and ditch the rest lol

Do modern-day Bjork fans consider the Sugarcubes irrelevant? I don't think they've been mentioned once in this thread. I'd rank Life's Too Good just after Vespertine, but at least three Radiohead records above both.

I have a Sugarcubes album (forget which one) but it didn't really hold my attention when I played it.

I've never been able to get through one :/

Maybe you had to be there (Iceland)

variety is the spice of both life and björk's post

it is not a "cohesive" record and that is one of the reasons why it rules

it's even called post ffs, totally exploded shards of modernism sitting in tension and dissonance with each other

This seems crazy to me because Hyperballad into The Modern Things and You've Been Flirting into Isobel are the best bits of sequencing on the album.

― Gavin, Leeds, Wednesday, March 15, 2023 3:10 AM (eight hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

otm, also suggesting "enjoy" is skippable is just very wrong

“I’ve seen it all” at the center of the venn diagram

yeah 'enjoy' is good, i apologise to 'enjoy'. agree with Brad on why Post is a great album

There’s only two fun songs on HTTT and they’re the best ones: Myxomatosis and Backdrifts

flamenco drop (BradNelson) at 6:47 15 Mar 23

it's even called post ffs, totally exploded shards of modernism sitting in tension and dissonance with each other

The opening 1-2 punch is my idea of fun, but 'Backdrifts' is my favorite song on the record so yeah.

The second half doesn't even do this anyway

one of the last three songs is "i miss you"!

^

Bjork is the real deal, Radiohead are trend chasing fuckwads.

I don't find I Miss You to be jarring at all, both in its placement on the LP and as a track.

As long as we're talking about Radiohead, Phil Selway's new solo album is actually very lovely and has a lot going for it (mostly in the arrangements, production, and drumming by Valentina Magaletti rather than his singing, but still).

Agree with nabozo, jimbeaux. I like Radiohead a lot but Björk is on a different level. With Radiohead every artistic influence and/or sound seems very conscious and deliberate on making the “cool” choice. With Björk it seems to come naturally… she’s preternaturally cool and her artistic choices sometimes fail because they aren’t as carefully planned but she’s on that very small plateau of truly original artists.

Wow, I don't get that sense at all. To me Radiohead have become more and more themselves in a quietly confident way, and you could just as easily accuse Bjork of cool-hunting by hiring hot young producers to keep updating her sound.

I'd counterargue she merely hires the producers who can keep up with her, but YMMV

I thought Moka's point was about freedom VS constraint (not producers). Which isn't a bad way to compare them. Björk is constantly breaking through the electronic envelope, the music she uses can take any form or shape because she constantly experiments with it. Radiohead writes songs within the electronic casing / design, and it's often the same one that gives them their identity, and it's more about finding a perfect balance between songwriting and textures.

Also the number of songs that are truly based on electronic elements are way outnumbered by the number that aren't, I think those elements have just gotten a disproportionate amount of attention. But yeah I agree that Bjork fits her production to her songs in an almost sculptural way, and Radiohead doesn't experiment with form in as obvious or dramatic ways.

I'm not sure if it's a good or a bad thing that such a meaningless question prompted such an enjoyable discussion

i don't really care for post's relative lack of cohesion but there's plenty to love about it anyway. only thing that's truly out of place is "it's oh so quiet" though

Radiohead doesn't experiment with form in as obvious or dramatic ways.

they certainly did on kid a & amnesiac

Do modern-day Bjork fans consider the Sugarcubes irrelevant?

― Halfway there but for you, Wednesday, March 15, 2023 6:37 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Maybe you had to be there (Iceland)

― change display name (Jordan), Wednesday, March 15, 2023 6:42 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

...or maybe you had to be then (1988)

Radiohead only wish that they'd gotten a member of Gentle Giant to produce their record, though.

Just realized my first three non-Queen CD purchases were Bjork's Post, Radiohead's The Bends and NIN's Broken.

Okay I'll bite. My Bjork + Radiohead top 10:

Homogenic
OK Computer
Post
Kid A
The Bends
Hail to the Thief
Vulnicura
Vespertine
Debut
The Smile

I guess this is my somewhat disagreeable top 5 for each:

Vespertine
Post
Homogenic
Debut
Medulla

Kid A
OKC
TKOL
AMSP
IR

Yes I’m sorry for loving Medulla and TKOL above other albums and for thinking Post is slightly better than Homogenic and for thinking TKOL is better than even AMSP or IR.

Small caveat: I’m considering Supercollider and Staircase as part of TKOL which cements it as my third favorite RH album.

it's even called post ffs, totally exploded shards of modernism sitting in tension and dissonance with each other

― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Wednesday, 15 March 2023 18:47 (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

despite falling in love with this album when I was 13, I too always thought that is what the album title meant and was vaguely disappointed to learn some years later that it's "post" as in "postcards sent home".

I think the album flows very well FWIW.

i thought it was intended as both meanings mentioned

at reading festival back in the day, iirc, I heard her do a drum & bass version of army of me that was way more thrilling than the one on the record which I've always thought somewhat plodding & lumpen.

there's that whole locrian mode theory about Army of Me too

There is a flattened fifth in the verse bass line but the normal fifth in the chorus vocal melody makes it more Phrygian than Locrian

I feel like I’d need an x-y graph to rank Bjork and Radiohead albums. I love Biophilia and TKOL but they’re on a different spectrum. It’d be more of a map than a list

Not what you’re looking for but there’s this analysis of Radiohead albums and songs by sadness:

https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/3/2/14726996/radiohead-sadness-data-analysis

more of an emotional landscape