bjork vs radiohead

accessible, tasteful and warm! just what i want ;)

i think there's a good case for "weird fishes" as their very best moment

skip from Hyperballad to Isobel to unlock maximum 'greatest mini-album that never was' power

― imago, Tuesday, March 14, 2023 11:22 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

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.

I don't really put Björk and Radiohead on the same artistic plane. Radiohead is a decent band with some consistency. None of their albums approach Björk's work, so a ranking would start with at least 7 Björk albums, then maybe Amnesiac / OKC.

Listening to Hail to the Thief now, I think 2+2=5 was the first Radiohead song I heard, and Where I End and You Begin was a favorite, but I think my most powerful emotional reaction to Radiohead is polite attention.

And for that reason, no Radiohead album sounds significantly worse than the others to me. Björk on the other hand has some real up and downs (like 80% up 20% down).

I would be much more charitable towards Radiohead, but this is essentially otm. At the end of the day, Radiohead is a very good rock band. Bjork is . . . something else. I've probably known as many people who can't stand her music as people who adore it, but no one who is indifferent. It's sui generis.

it's some of their best & most accessible songwriting with rich, tasteful arrangements. nothing even close to a dud on it and a lovely warm sound too

otm

good ranking too ufo

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.