POLL Neon Like -- ILM artist poll #88 -- BJÖRK (voting open until April 27, 2018)

medulla was my favorite bjork album for a while

feel oddly like this time around it's gonna be vespertine

i am definitely voting for "the modern things"

the only thing i'd change about Post is to remove It's Oh So Quiet. i'm not a fan but even if i was, it doesn't fit on the album at all

i'm gonna guess i'm like the billionth person to say that but hey

i think the first björk song i ever heard was "headphones." bc it was on the mission: impossible soundtrack

headphones will be on my ballot, and also i have not heard the M:I sound track but if it has room for headphones it must be occasionally good?

it also had pulp’s “i spy” on it so yes! uneven overall tho

I wonder how songs from Volta will fare. It wasn't very well received but there is some gems on it.

Good tour for Volta but felt like a case of trying to course correct her more esoteric records with a return to pop - and not quite hitting the mark. Wanderlust is fantastic tho. Earth intruders also is arrangement wise very similar to the Africa track on Wendy Carlos ‘ beauty and the beat.

Always have love for its oh so quiet as that song and human behaviour were in heavy rotation on muchmusic and the push I needed to dig further

I've never gotten into Medulla apart from Who Is It, the acappella gimmick doesn't do it any favours and just makes the songs feel skeletal. it's generally Bjork in a much more abstract mode too which isn't something I care for that much

Volta is worse though, it's not really a 'return to pop' songwriting-wise (except for Earth Intruders i guess) just a return to the eclecticism of Post rather than a focused sound like the previous three albums had

i could see it 'it's so quiet as part of an EP or separate video or something, but in the context of Post it always comes across as an advertisement in the middle of an album. i have friends who love it i just have to skip it

imo it would be a good candidate for the 90s CD hidden bonus track trick

I don't mind it being on Post, maybe because it's an eclectic album and "I Miss You" also has some of the same kooky vibe to me. "Alarm Call" on Homogenic is more out-of-place for me

Medulla has always been one of my favourites, it felt at the time very much like a companion piece to/mirror of Vespertine. I'm working my way backwards through all the albums and am up to Volta this morning, it's sounding lot better than I remembered although Dull Flame of Desire is a bit of a snooze. I also really enjoyed playing Biophilia last night and I've realised that there are a dozen or so locks for my ballot but beyond that I honestly have no idea what I'll end up voting for.

Medulla stands up well! I listened to it and Vespertine a lot in transit in the early '00s, but at some point filed it away in my memory as Vespertine's austere and ugly sequel. I hadn't gone back to it for some years. But it might be her fun-est record of the 21st century, and all the grunting and whinnying makes sense right now. Some of the short interludes probably don't amount to much in isolation but it works well as an album, and there's still at least four tracks I could happily isolate for a tracks ballot.

Medulla sounds great - the pleasure is all mine has some nice bass - for a record that uses primarily the voice (whether raw or transposed to electronics/keyboards) it covers the audio spectrum well.

in submitting my ballot i realize i neglected to vote for many of my favourite bjork tracks which is indicative of how quality Bjork's catalogue is

listen i am probably not going to vote for "hyperballad" which makes me feel real bad but it is not a song i am excited about at this point in my life, even though it's the most awesome song in the world

well brad if it's the most awesome song in the world.... ;-)

"Hyper-ballad" is, in fact, awesome, and it may still somehow miss my ballot.

I’m voting for The Modern Things as well, love the drum sound

i've been giving the b-sides a listen but tbh a lot of them just drift by. i have the same feeling with biophilia. i just can't focus. i honestly think that at some other point in my life i will hear them differently.

"charlene", on the other hand, jumped right out at me. i hadn't heard it before! i don't think it's my new #1 bjork song track or anything but it would have fit right into Post. i love how Post sounds, especially on the languid. she sounds so effortlessly perfect and comfortable in it, too, like she could do it in her sleep. i suspect she probably could have too, which is part of why her 2000s experiments were so courageous, i think.

enjoying the live version of 'i go humble', too

this rocks my world

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jn6_aPmvuiA

matmos <3

they fucking NAILED it

fuck yeah! when they walk through snow/ice to make the percussion to "aurora" - that is so cool!

zeena parks also rules school, don't believe she's the current harpist on tour (hasn't been confirmed if it's sarah hopkins or bjork herself)

i get weirdly teary watching things like that, somehow just imagining how it must feel to be part of something so momentous and good as it's actually happening

otfm

Wonderful version. I'd get teary eyed too if I could for fucking once (...).

That lead me to Zeena Parkins' solo stuff, which is obviously as amazing as you can imagine.

(OT but I miss dr3w around here)

me too

me too:

a) tears
b) zeena
c) dr3w
d) all o/t above

? :)

Wow, watching the Triumph of a Heart video for the first time and it really IS different!

tears: already there! but a memory, now
zeena: i don't know anything about her own music! but now i want to. the harp is a lovely instrument and i want to hear more
dr3w: me too :)

<3

Try and find Zeena Parkins & Ikue Mori's 'Phantom Orchard' album. Blows me away.

Medulla doc is on youtube btw. I hope Rahzel is living a happy life, he's so good. The Tanya Tagaq part is great too.

Omg @ recording a full batucada group on the all-vocal album only to decide that no, it should still be an all-vocal album. Maybe she had to go to Brazil for a concert or something anyway?

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

one of the all time remixes

i think time will be kind to the reception of Vulnicura and Utopia - Vulnicura has some of her finest string arrangements to date and returns to the beat palette that made Homogenic so engaging. While it was sad to hear she disbanded that tour for mental health reasons (break-up) Utopia is the victory lap; meeting someone new, feeling sparks and letting the past be the past. Utopia is also her most vivid sound world, it's like an electric blanket

i'd like to thank Eric again for this thread, which renewed my interest in Bjork who is a living legend imo

The version of Oceania near the end of the doc with the crazy (midi?) piano is interesting too

Oh I see:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcSZG3bmE7c

(although the doc version has beats + piano and it's even better)

xps You're welcome, but engaging in shared love for Bjork, the pleasure is all mine.

Batucada version was released! Ok, I'll stop liveblogging my descent into Bjork b-sides.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xj1y3PsT9o

yeah thanks Eric! I tried to make a ballot the other day and basically gave up, but I've been enjoying reading the thread and listening to Björk for the first time in a while. I put on Selmasongs yesterday, which I hadn't played since the unfortunate day in 2001 that I saw Dancer in the Dark, and it was nice to re-realize there are some good songs on it despite LVT.

The high note at 2:30...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRAd8nFmIiU

Every time I feel myself getting too down on Medulla, I remember it has "Mouth's Cradle," "Who Is It," "Triumph of a Heart," and "Desired Constellatioh" and really that's enough.

Damn that bit crushed harp on Desired constellation rules

oof, that all is full of love clip, here i go again. i need to just sit down and watch a full show

desired constellation will be on my ballot, as well as triumph of a heart