Bjork: DEBUT vs. HOMOGENIC

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I'm also a little suspicious about the nature and motives of anyone putting Medulla first, and about how exactly they appreciate her music basically.

What do you mean by this? I like it the most, is it that hard to believe?

― The Brainwasher (Twilight), Thursday, 25 January 2007 18:03 (seventeen years ago) link

is under-regarded

― surmounter (rra123), Thursday, 25 January 2007 18:03 (seventeen years ago) link

i think he means that it's a very particular and different thing for her, like a lot of what bjork is doesn't include medulla

― surmounter (rra123), Thursday, 25 January 2007 18:04 (seventeen years ago) link

That isn't true at all, though.

― The Brainwasher (Twilight), Thursday, 25 January 2007 18:08 (seventeen years ago) link

wow, no question homogenic. nearly ten years on and it still sounds fresh. not that i don't like debut... but in terms of nearly everything (songwriting, production, sheer innovative power) it's no competition.

― Emily Bjurnhjam (Emily Bjurnhjam), Thursday, 25 January 2007 18:12 (seventeen years ago) link

I think it's suspicious that I like her most mainstream album best, but I do.

― R_S (RSLaRue), Thursday, 25 January 2007 18:13 (seventeen years ago) link

i love the songwriting on debut! and i love the production, how clean it is, crisp yet detailed.

i think homogenic feels more like a landscape (didn't she record it in the mountains?) and debut is more about songwriting

― surmounter (rra123), Thursday, 25 January 2007 18:14 (seventeen years ago) link

oh i've never thought about it in those terms - mainstream. i mean it's way better than mainstream i feel

― surmounter (rra123), Thursday, 25 January 2007 18:15 (seventeen years ago) link

I'd like to say more about what I didn't like about Homogenic, but I can hardly remember what it sounds like. Basically, the textural play and whatnot was't enough to make up for the lack of more traditional musical elements. Plus I don't love her voice or her singing, so that's not a thread I can hang onto through her more experimental moments.

x-post

Well by mainstream I sort of meant just what you said: it's more focused on songwriting, less on soundscape. That might actually make it outside the mainstream at this point though. I don't know.

― R_S (RSLaRue), Thursday, 25 January 2007 18:16 (seventeen years ago) link

i think she's pretty classic all across the board. it depends on my mood as far as which i would prefer at any given moment.

― roger goodell (gear), Thursday, 25 January 2007 18:16 (seventeen years ago) link

(You can dance to Debut, you can easily walk around humming at least some of the tunes. That's what I mean by mainstream.)

― R_S (RSLaRue), Thursday, 25 January 2007 18:18 (seventeen years ago) link

soundscape, thanks for the word.

yeah i love homogenic, like a whole lot, but sometimes the soundscapiness is a little bloated for me

― surmounter (rra123), Thursday, 25 January 2007 18:18 (seventeen years ago) link

homogenic. but i really like debut.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Thursday, 25 January 2007 18:18 (seventeen years ago) link

yes and i love the dance aspect - i wish she incorporated a bit more dance/that kind of sensibility later in

mix some of that with the soundscape

― surmounter (rra123), Thursday, 25 January 2007 18:18 (seventeen years ago) link

i have to say though the beginning of bachelorette kills me every time

― surmounter (rra123), Thursday, 25 January 2007 18:20 (seventeen years ago) link

(lol: "bloated soundscapes")

x-post

Well maybe I will like this new one. I'd like to hear it at least.

― R_S (RSLaRue), Thursday, 25 January 2007 18:20 (seventeen years ago) link

ooh i'm excited

― surmounter (rra123), Thursday, 25 January 2007 18:24 (seventeen years ago) link

I don't like that she's working with NOIZE DUDEZ, otherwise I'm excited for the new album.

― The Brainwasher (Twilight), Thursday, 25 January 2007 18:26 (seventeen years ago) link

Debut is so spare that it almost sounds like home recordings, which, in retrospect, is a large part of its charm. I love them both for different reasons but, at present, Debut ranks a bit higher because I still remember how GREAT "Big Time Sensuality" and "Violently Happy" sounded in clubs.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 25 January 2007 18:26 (seventeen years ago) link

xpost - yep, that

and there seems to be a large difference between the pre- and post-Homogenic audiences as far as how much they value her more "innovative/ground-breaking/uncommercial" side over absolutely anything else about her music.

I don't think she has deliberately fostered this slightly anti-pop, ass-backwards tendency in her followers (although Medulla/DR9 haven't helped dissipate it either!) but god it grates when it's completely antithetical to what she stands for musically.

Anyway I'm not really aiming that at you personally Brainwasher. I respect Medulla immensely but I don't feel like the final package came together nearly as well in reality as it probably did in her imagination. Her reach exceeded her grasp a bit for once. It's a great album but no slam dunk compared to most of the others.

― fandango (fandango), Thursday, 25 January 2007 18:29 (seventeen years ago) link

ME TOO THOSE 2 TRACKS IN PARTICULAR

i love the sparseness

― surmounter (rra123), Thursday, 25 January 2007 18:30 (seventeen years ago) link

actually i think big time sensuality might be my favorite bjork song, out of pure nostalgia. i know what you mean fandango, about the harping on her groundbreakingness thing

― surmounter (rra123), Thursday, 25 January 2007 18:31 (seventeen years ago) link

homogenic is one of my favourite albums by anyone ever.

homogenic >>>>>>> debut >> vespertine > post > selmasongs > medúlla

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Thursday, 25 January 2007 18:32 (seventeen years ago) link

I feared the Timbaland connection might lead to too neat & polished a studio confection overall, so the prescence of noisy duders is a-ok with me.

Besides frantic drumming != Merzbow or anything. Unless you're a real UGH! NOT ROCK poptimist cheesehead I can't see what the worry is...

― fandango (fandango), Thursday, 25 January 2007 18:33 (seventeen years ago) link

if bjork goes cheesy the world is gonna end

― surmounter (rra123), Thursday, 25 January 2007 18:39 (seventeen years ago) link

sadly ramzi(?) it's only 'cos I'm OLD enough to remember it not always being such a THING. I like her as pop, as "avant-garde" (quote marks) and as whatever the hell else she comes up with... boxing her in to what she does (according to opinion) "best" is just corny & really, really unnecessary.

― fandango (fandango), Thursday, 25 January 2007 18:41 (seventeen years ago) link

mmm. and yes that is my name.

― surmounter (rra123), Thursday, 25 January 2007 18:42 (seventeen years ago) link

; )

― surmounter (rra123), Thursday, 25 January 2007 18:42 (seventeen years ago) link

but i mean maybe that's because these days what most people hear most often is SOOOOO NOT avant-garde that to hear ANYTHING as refreshing as her stuff is like a huge occasion

― surmounter (rra123), Thursday, 25 January 2007 18:43 (seventeen years ago) link

Medulla = The Dreaming
??????? = Hounds Of Love

I've got high hopes for this new one!

― fandango (fandango), Thursday, 25 January 2007 18:44 (seventeen years ago) link

HAHAHAHAHAHA

Debut

― surmounter (rra123), Thursday, 25 January 2007 18:44 (seventeen years ago) link

at least the cloudbusting suite is debut

― surmounter (rra123), Thursday, 25 January 2007 18:45 (seventeen years ago) link

and i'm sorry but though they're similar, The Dreaming kicks Medulla's ass

― surmounter (rra123), Thursday, 25 January 2007 18:45 (seventeen years ago) link

My love for Medulla has nothing to do with it's 'weird'ness, really, I mean, I called Homogenic a perfect album upthread so I'm obviously not on some WEIRD BJORK = ONLY GOOD BJORK kick or whatever you're talking about, it's just my favorite for reasons I can't really explain.. sometimes Vespetine is my favorite... I think Medulla gets unfairly slept on because of the presumed "weirdness" of it when it isn't that odd of a record. Songs like "Oceania" "Where Is the Line" and "Triumph of a Heart," "Vokuro," wouldn't sound out of place on her earlier stuff, her songcraft is at it's best, and really it's just an incredibly beautiful, life-affirming album. The way people talk about you'd think it's this jarring, unlistenable record, I don't see how it's any less 'pop' than her other stuff...

― The Brainwasher (Twilight), Thursday, 25 January 2007 18:49 (seventeen years ago) link

And the soundscapes painted by the more off-kilter songs like "Oll Birtan," "Pleasure Is All Mine," "Ancestors" and "Submarine," are just stunning to me... I'm terrible at describing music so...

― The Brainwasher (Twilight), Thursday, 25 January 2007 18:51 (seventeen years ago) link

i hear ya

― surmounter (rra123), Thursday, 25 January 2007 18:53 (seventeen years ago) link

My rank would be something like:

Medulla = Vespertine > Homogenic >> Post = Selmasongs >> Debut

Medulla and Vespertine are like companion albums to me...

I feel like one of those crazy Bjork fans from the 4um lol.

― The Brainwasher (Twilight), Thursday, 25 January 2007 18:55 (seventeen years ago) link

u like that twee fantastical bjork dontcha

― surmounter (rra123), Thursday, 25 January 2007 19:03 (seventeen years ago) link

remix of 'oceania' with kelis >>>> everything else on medúlla (which i pretty much love, at a distance)

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Thursday, 25 January 2007 19:07 (seventeen years ago) link

There's nothing you can hum on Medulla, therefore it's my least favorite.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 25 January 2007 19:07 (seventeen years ago) link

yeah, I hear ya too.

I wasn't trying to make you fit with that cliche (like I said, not personal) but I've seen it played out far too many times now...

Medulla is -always- far easier to go back and listen to than I imagine, and the sequencing is often effective enough but somehow it just doesn't flow like it could have(?) overall. It takes a bit more effort than her other records, it's not without it's rewards though. Maybe the songcraft took a bit of a back seat to the sonics (for me) in too many places. I dunno, it IS a great album regardless!

― fandango (fandango), Thursday, 25 January 2007 19:08 (seventeen years ago) link

oh c'mon you can hum 'Oceania' fine.

― fandango (fandango), Thursday, 25 January 2007 19:09 (seventeen years ago) link

i can hear that too, for sure, fandango - i was listening to medulla once and thinking, this is soo great and crafty, i just wish there was a little bit more attention to the sonics

― surmounter (rra123), Thursday, 25 January 2007 19:12 (seventeen years ago) link

You can hum "Oceania"! WTF.

Debut is really nothing special when compared to any of her other albums; the only song on it I ever am in the mood to listen to is "Big Time Sensuality". Conversely, "Bachelorette" is easily one of the greatest songs ever written. So, in this comparison, Homogenic all the way.

As far as comparing all of Bjork's albums is concerned, she has never released anything as consistently great as Post. Aside from "Army Of Me", that album is perfectly conceived and sequenced.

― The Android Cat (Dan Perry), Thursday, 25 January 2007 19:13 (seventeen years ago) link

'army of me' is amazing though! i like pretty much everything on post but it does feel erratic, zigzagging hither and thither, not quite as coherent as anything else bjork's released. so er the opposite of dan then

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Thursday, 25 January 2007 19:16 (seventeen years ago) link

it is kind of erratic

and i like army of me too

― surmounter (rra123), Thursday, 25 January 2007 19:16 (seventeen years ago) link

but i like how post treads the line between clean, beat-driven production and the soundscapiness of homogenic

and isobel is so cool

oh god and it has hyperballad on it

― surmounter (rra123), Thursday, 25 January 2007 19:17 (seventeen years ago) link

My fav song on Post is "Enjoy" or "The Modern Things"

― The Brainwasher (Twilight), Thursday, 25 January 2007 19:18 (seventeen years ago) link

bjork is something akin to a 21st century david bowie except more consistently engaging for my personal tastes.

― roger goodell (gear), Thursday, 25 January 2007 19:19 (seventeen years ago) link

Yes! "Enjoy" bumps-'n'-grinds!

I really do love Homogenic too; on many days "Joga" is my favorite Bjork ballad.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 25 January 2007 19:20 (seventeen years ago) link

on many days 'jóga' is my FAVOURITE SONG IN THE WORLD

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Thursday, 25 January 2007 19:20 (seventeen years ago) link

i love the bump n grind

― surmounter (rra123), Thursday, 25 January 2007 19:21 (seventeen years ago) link

i know joga is like

it makes you like

crumble

― surmounter (rra123), Thursday, 25 January 2007 19:21 (seventeen years ago) link

Debut > Post

it's close though, "nothing special" wtf!

― fandango (fandango), Thursday, 25 January 2007 19:22 (seventeen years ago) link

somehow, I still don't own Debut. needless to say: Homogenic (which I still think is the best Bjork record)

― Dominique (dleone), Thursday, 25 January 2007 21:06 (seventeen years ago) link

My fav song on Post is "Enjoy"

OTM

― The Android Cat (Dan Perry), Thursday, 25 January 2007 21:18 (seventeen years ago) link

post is all about the hyperballad, all about the army of me, all about the headphones.

and hummalongability is massively overrated.

― m the g (mister the guanoman), Thursday, 25 January 2007 23:11 (seventeen years ago) link

hummalongability and soundscapiness are kind of opposites - there's a lot to both.

― surmounter (rra123), Friday, 26 January 2007 00:10 (seventeen years ago) link

I disagree about "Debut" being nothing special compared to the rest of her solo work (though I still love you, djperry). The strings on Venus as a Boy! The "ooohs" on "Come To Me"! So many special moments.

Anyhow, I adore both, but Homogenic is ultimately more beautiful.

― Turangalila (Salvador), Friday, 26 January 2007 01:18 (seventeen years ago) link

Hunter is one of the best opening songs on any LP I can think of. And I can think of a lot. Literally dozens.

― Petroski (petroski), Friday, 26 January 2007 04:14 (seventeen years ago) link

Homogenic by a comfortable margin.

― sleeve (sleeve), Friday, 26 January 2007 05:47 (seventeen years ago) link

There are literally dozens of good opening songs?!

― Zachary S (Zach S), Friday, 26 January 2007 06:01 (seventeen years ago) link

homogenic has a couple of my very favourite songs by her. but debut is more consistent and stacked full of great songs.

― Charlie Howard (the sphinx), Friday, 26 January 2007 15:43 (seventeen years ago) link

No, there are literally dozens of LPs I can think of. Take your interrobang back.

― Petroski (petroski), Saturday, 27 January 2007 00:18 (seventeen years ago) link

there are 84 records

― roger goodell (gear), Saturday, 27 January 2007 00:20 (seventeen years ago) link

I'm also one of those guys whose favourite Björk album is Medúlla, and to be honest, I think my love for it fits in pretty spot-on with what Fandango was saying. It really does sound like nothing else I've ever heard, and it's a sound that I keep coming back to. There are a lot of great facets to Björk's music, but here she just went all the way in creating something completely alien and fascinating and to me that makes it her best album and one of the best of the decade. I'm a big fan of Björk in general though, and I still listen to other records lots (though I haven't heard all of them, including Debut.)

― aaron d.g. (aaron d.g.), Saturday, 27 January 2007 02:51 (seventeen years ago) link

there are literally dozens

this had better be an arrested development reference or i want my money back

― to scour or to pop? (Haberdager), Saturday, 27 January 2007 02:54 (seventeen years ago) link

this had better be an arrested development reference or i want my money back

Oh, shit. yeah, it probably is. I can't keep up with the kids today and their pop culture references.

― Zachary S (Zach S), Saturday, 27 January 2007 04:32 (seventeen years ago) link

um... you have to hear Debut!

i now officially own Medulla so i can give it a proper listen.

― surmounter (rra123), Saturday, 27 January 2007 16:35 (seventeen years ago) link

i sometimes feel like the sound of homogenic is slightly too homogenic, actually - like i wish she had changed up the texture a bit more. she did a good job of that on Post - isobel comes close to sounding like it could be on homogenic, but the soundscapes on the album at large are pretty varied.

― surmounter (rra123), Saturday, 27 January 2007 22:06 (seventeen years ago) link

three years pass...

has there been a bjork album poll?

― plax (ico), Monday, 2 August 2010 17:53 (thirteen years ago) link

three years pass...

i like that i started this thread. hi plax! i am listening to debut, so long since i put it on. it's so clean

― surm, Monday, 13 January 2014 05:31 (ten years ago) link

#BigTimeSensuality

― tɹi.ʃɪp (Treeship), Monday, 13 January 2014 06:24 (ten years ago) link

yup. my favorite song in the 90s.

― surm, Tuesday, 14 January 2014 00:10 (ten years ago) link

nine months pass...

Debut.

http://devonrecordclub.com/2014/11/04/bjork-debut-round-73-nicks-choice/

― Hey Bob (Scik Mouthy), Tuesday, 4 November 2014 10:42 (nine years ago) link

two years pass...

how can you even pit these against each other, homogenic owns Debut.

― Week of Wonders (Ross), Saturday, 7 October 2017 22:56 (six years ago) link

two years pass...

this aged well https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/debut-197568/

― corrs unplugged, Wednesday, 27 May 2020 13:00 (three years ago) link

I hadn’t considered the fact that old school rockism was Europhobic on top of everything else.

― pomenitul, Wednesday, 27 May 2020 13:08 (three years ago) link

"Rather than sticking to rock & roll, Debut is painfully eclectic."

Christ, even for rockism, that's... unsubtle.

― Soundslike, Wednesday, 27 May 2020 13:40 (three years ago) link

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