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

I'm so here for Björk singing "Aurora" in her living room backed by bored schoolchildren while reading the lyrics from a piece of paper, and then curtsying at the end.

No, seriously, I love it. I wish she sung in Icelandic more often on her albums. BTW that's Jónas Sen on harpsichord and Ólöf Arnalds on koto.

so much bjork that I love but all these opinions are exhausting

lol

well opinion THIS: a bjork supercut with all the different times and ways she has sung "e-mo-tion-al"

Vulnicura really is a bookend to Vespertine, isn’t it? A kind of negative refraction. Listening to them in close proximity makes that clearer to me

Utopia feels like the most shrouded of all of her albums, with the middle section almost completely submerged, but it is also maybe the most compelling for me, the one I most want to revisit

I think the relative inaccessibility of those two albums has made them underrated, but they are both really beautiful

Vulnicura really is a bookend to Vespertine, isn’t it? A kind of negative refraction. Listening to them in close proximity makes that clearer to me

It definitely is. Both are about the same lover (Barney), and I'm in awe at how she managed to make Vulnicura the 'anti-Vespertine', yet sonically and thematically staying as close to the spring of ecstacy that Vespertine was as possible. It is a refraction, yet also something entirely new, something of its own. Vulnicura feels gravely underrated, but I guess we'll soon see if that is indeed so. I for one rate it far higher than Volta and Medulla (Biophilia is another story all together tbh)

i'm... largely baffled by utopia, i assume a second listen will help?

i do like that the front cover looks like amphibian bjork is handing me a weird flute, i assume for some kind of journey

for a place to start, the last couple of songs of Utopia kind of emerge from the mist. Future Forever I think is one of the best ever Bjork tracks

i think i'm gonna vote for "black lake" it's pretty abyssal

i was listening to some of my contenders on random, and "black lake" sounded so full and wide

god vulnicura is really good

the empty space on that record is so consuming, which makes the instrumentation and especially her voice perpetually feel like they're willfully exerting themselves

also i love the anohni feature

Utopia is still totally impenetrable to me, the first two and last two tracks are the only ones I can get remotely into but they still feel very meandering

oh wait but “arisen my senses” is amazing. it’s like björk’s sade song

I know it's a new fan fave, and I keep waiting for it to open up for me, but it just hasn't.

Ballot sent! Was definitely in danger of overthinking it if I took any longer...

I really love the consistency and the progression of her album covers. All with her face and all without words.

https://i.imgur.com/T52DavH.jpg

Medulla does have the title on it actually - the necklace. I think Post, Vespertine and Biophilia have my favourite covers

Ha weird

I never knew what the Biophilia cover looked like until this moment

How many ballots so far, you ask? Eight, the answer.

Don't make me wait 5 years!

hey I got a whole week, I haven't even started listening!

Same as Sleeve! You'll probably get mine a minute before (or after) the deadline, as per usual.

i'll send mine now! i was gonna try to do remixes but there's just too much!

i'll definitely have one as well, just deciding on the order!

I am 20 tracks right now without delving into the post-millennial era (where my relationship with Björk gets iffy).

Think I should send in my ballot too. I wanted to relisten to stuff I'm less familiar with but I think no matter how many listens I give Biophilia, nothing on there is ever gonna click with me. Did find a few new excellent B-sides in researching for this poll though

"oceania" is like the patient zero of björk videos where she just wears weird shit on her face/head in roomfuls of cgi

I like "Earth Intruders"!

(apropos of nothing except some nay-saying above)

"Earth Intruders" is B+ Bjork, to use an Alfred-ism

also as mentioned earth intruders liberally cribs a section of wendy carlos 'c'est afrique'

utopia is a great record. it's one you can live in, staunchly enviornmental/atmospheric.

I love environmental/atmospheric records. But for some reason it's the almost-song-but-not-ness of 'Utopia' that keeps me outside looking in. It could portentially be amazing if Bjork wanted to do instrumental-textural-ambient-etc. records, though her voice would be missed. But when she sings without meter and melody, with sort of auto-Bjork-isms that hint at previous melodies without cohering into melody--it just fundamentally fruatrates me. I feel like the track she did for the closong credits of 'Being John Malkovic' presaged that strand that has made up half her work post-Medulla.

^I definitely can see this point of view. It is sort of an environmental/atmospheric record, but not quite. I think it functions as mood music for me - my favorite kind of music! Every time I listen it feels slightly different

just read Ross's post, I guess what I meant in mine by 'environmental/atmospheric' was more 'ambient', but I like his description.

third attempt with utopia and "arisen my senses" is going on my ballot, it makes me believe i have synesthesia

successive blushes each a different color

it really is a beautiful introduction

first track on utopia barges out the gate, big and bold, love it.

tabula rasa almost brings me to tears

cheers to Dan

oh wow soundslike the track from BJM amphibian is seriously fucking amazing. i hate to say the weakest link on her new records is her voice, ever dove-tailing into the ether, rarely to coalesce into some meaningful melody.

“amphibian” is maybe the best björk song

Holy tuck is it good

hey I got a whole week, I haven't even started listening!

― sleeve, Friday, April 20, 2018 9:21 AM (ten hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

same, fam

Now "Future Forever" insists on reminding me of its loveliness just to make things difficult. There are far too many casually excellent Björk songs. I have to confess that while I have most of the records on hand and am pro-Björk in principle, I wasn't initially sure I could name 30 tracks I really truly care about at this stage. Boy is my face red!

every time i'm about to give up on utopia "tabula rasa" starts and i'm mesmerized until the end. "saint" and "future forever" in particular

ballot sent

lmao i want to change things already, is it possible to resubmit

i am finally in the right mood for vespertine! and it is the best album in the world

Absolutely accepting revisions until the poll closes. Especially if they involve additions of “Its Not Up To You.”

hmmmmmmMMMMM

it's great how i'm obsessed with biophilia now