I really like that it’s not immediately clear what the harmonic connection is between the baseline and her vocal line at the beginning of Human Behaviour. it always draws me in
― Dan S, Friday, 11 May 2018 16:59 (five years ago) link
Here's the right image, at any rate:
https://cansesclasseled.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/14-human-behavior1.jpg
― nourish nourish your turtleheart (Eric H.), Friday, 11 May 2018 17:01 (five years ago) link
wow my fav one yet
― 808s & Deep States (voodoo chili), Friday, 11 May 2018 17:01 (five years ago) link
i remember distinctly the first time a negative review sold me on an album, and the first time i recognized r0ck1sm (but i didn't have a name for it.)
Months before the Sugar Cubes' first album debuted in the United States, a heavy buzz began to circulate about the group's lead singer, Björk. It was weird enough that the group hailed from Iceland, but Björk's eerie yelps, shrieks, girlish whispers and leather-lunged vocal acrobatics transported the band into another head space entirely. The word invariably used to describe Björk's synapse-bending vocals was feral. Songs such as "Motorcrash" and "Delicious Demon" were supercharged tours de force.In concert, however, two things became abundantly clear about the Sugar Cubes: First, Björk could deliver the goods; second, the Sugar Cubes' stage act seemed dangerously close to bad performance art. On two subsequent albums, the Cubes abandoned their blunt rock attack for a trendy Euro-dance sound. Björk's vocals were lost amid the electronic clatter. People wondered if it wasn't time for Björk to light out on her own.She did, and Debut is the utterly disappointing result. Rather than sticking to rock & roll, Debut is painfully eclectic. On "Come to Me" and "Venus as a Boy" Björk adds not just a string section but an entire orchestra from India. It's more intrusive than galvanizing. Likewise, on the jazz standard "Like Someone in Love," Björk is accompanied by a harp — not the kind Little Walter played. Only on the opening track, "Human Behavior," do we get a glimmer of what the fuss was all about.Producer Nellee Hooper (Sinead O'Connor, Soul II Soul) has sabotaged a ferociously iconoclastic talent with a phalanx of cheap electronic gimmickry. Björk's singular skills cry out for genuine band chemistry, and instead she gets Hooper's Euro art-school schlock — and we do, too.
In concert, however, two things became abundantly clear about the Sugar Cubes: First, Björk could deliver the goods; second, the Sugar Cubes' stage act seemed dangerously close to bad performance art. On two subsequent albums, the Cubes abandoned their blunt rock attack for a trendy Euro-dance sound. Björk's vocals were lost amid the electronic clatter. People wondered if it wasn't time for Björk to light out on her own.
She did, and Debut is the utterly disappointing result. Rather than sticking to rock & roll, Debut is painfully eclectic. On "Come to Me" and "Venus as a Boy" Björk adds not just a string section but an entire orchestra from India. It's more intrusive than galvanizing. Likewise, on the jazz standard "Like Someone in Love," Björk is accompanied by a harp — not the kind Little Walter played. Only on the opening track, "Human Behavior," do we get a glimmer of what the fuss was all about.
Producer Nellee Hooper (Sinead O'Connor, Soul II Soul) has sabotaged a ferociously iconoclastic talent with a phalanx of cheap electronic gimmickry. Björk's singular skills cry out for genuine band chemistry, and instead she gets Hooper's Euro art-school schlock — and we do, too.
― omar little, Friday, 11 May 2018 17:02 (five years ago) link
Rather than sticking to rock & roll, Debut is painfully eclectic.
on the jazz standard "Like Someone in Love," Björk is accompanied by a harp — not the kind Little Walter played.
Björk's singular skills cry out for genuine band chemistry...
https://cansesclasseled.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/13-undo.jpg
13. Undo (Vespertine, 2001) -- 901.5 points; 25 votes; 1 first-place vote
― nourish nourish your turtleheart (Eric H.), Friday, 11 May 2018 17:03 (five years ago) link
hi 5 Moka
Stonemilker is going to be top 5 isn’t it
― sciatica, Friday, 11 May 2018 17:04 (five years ago) link
it's not meant to be a struggle uphill
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Friday, 11 May 2018 17:05 (five years ago) link
omar I almost posted that review to the noms thread, that is totally why I bought Debut! (mostly cuz it mentioned Nellee hooper and I was obsessed with soul ii soul)
― sciatica, Friday, 11 May 2018 17:06 (five years ago) link
Undo is my #1!
― Van Horn Street, Friday, 11 May 2018 17:06 (five years ago) link
It's not meant to be a strifeIt's not meant to be a struggle uphill
undo was my #4. these lyrics are always relevant, even though i always find myself disagreeing with them (it's not meant to be anything, any "it" that is there is our own making). but the sentiment is so intoxicating and lovely i find myself believing it, every time
― obviously DLC (Karl Malone), Friday, 11 May 2018 17:09 (five years ago) link
love this, especially with headphones. all of the vocal tracks sound slightly different
― Dan S, Friday, 11 May 2018 17:10 (five years ago) link
Undo was my #3, my favourite from Vespertine
the way the harp drifts in and out! the way the beat drops out halfway through! the choir! the harp outro! it's not meant to be a strife!
― ufo, Friday, 11 May 2018 17:10 (five years ago) link
sisyphus' friends are always putting Undo on his mixtapes and he fucking hates it, stop that, he says
― obviously DLC (Karl Malone), Friday, 11 May 2018 17:10 (five years ago) link
there's also a really good live recording of this from the Royal Opera House on youtube
― Dan S, Friday, 11 May 2018 17:11 (five years ago) link
oh I always thought "uphill" was "up here," i.e. up here on planet Earth, Björk graciously reminding us we live on the same plane as she does.
― geoffreyess, Friday, 11 May 2018 17:19 (five years ago) link
Same!
― nourish nourish your turtleheart (Eric H.), Friday, 11 May 2018 17:20 (five years ago) link
me too lol
― lowercase (eric), Friday, 11 May 2018 17:21 (five years ago) link
― obviously DLC (Karl Malone), Friday, May 11, 2018 10:10 AM (ten minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
lmao i had a similar joke percolating in my head and this is much funnier
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Friday, 11 May 2018 17:21 (five years ago) link
This top ten will be interesting, cause I was expecting the last three to crack it.Undo is divine. I love the version on Vespertine Live too.
― Nabozo, Friday, 11 May 2018 17:22 (five years ago) link
<3 <3<3 Undo, my #2
― sleeve, Friday, 11 May 2018 17:23 (five years ago) link
― geoffreyess, Friday, May 11, 2018 1:19 PM (four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― nourish nourish your turtleheart (Eric H.), Friday, May 11, 2018 1:20 PM (three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
i did too for a long time! it's lovely because the song is so celestial that it totally makes sense that way
― obviously DLC (Karl Malone), Friday, 11 May 2018 17:25 (five years ago) link
or, i guess when i thought it was "up here" i took that as some sort of higher plane of existence where people like bjork roam. it's interesting to look at the "up here" as earth, though!
forgot to vote for this poll but "Undo" would've been my #1. phil elverum covered that live at a show once out in a field in Western Massachusetts with everyone singing along and it was beautiful. believe it was before the julie doiron collab album.
― Western® with Bacon Flavor, Friday, 11 May 2018 17:33 (five years ago) link
had graduated from college and was really struggling to find a job let alone a lol career and that "struggle uphill" line for real helped change my perspective on Life.
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Friday, 11 May 2018 17:36 (five years ago) link
https://cansesclasseled.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/12-who-is-it.jpg
12. Who Is It (Carry My Joy on the Left, Carry My Pain on the Right) (Medúlla, 2004) -- 904 points; 26 votes
― nourish nourish your turtleheart (Eric H.), Friday, 11 May 2018 17:37 (five years ago) link
xpostyeah, his song "voice in headphones", besides musically and lyrically quoting "undo", is also pretty much just about how amazing the song is.
― obviously DLC (Karl Malone), Friday, 11 May 2018 17:37 (five years ago) link
YES
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Friday, 11 May 2018 17:37 (five years ago) link
YESSSSS
― challops trap house (Will M.), Friday, 11 May 2018 17:37 (five years ago) link
many xps
I love Army of Me but is it just me or does it sound like a demo? It’s mostly the chorus which bothers me how it sounds... the verses sound more overpowered and the chorus sounds somewhat unfinished. I wish I knew more about music production to verbalize what I’m hearing.
The bass cuts out is all
Sometime-reported music nerd moment alert: "Army Of Me" is the most conspicuous single in popular music to be written in the Locrian mode, complete with stylistically correct cadences; likely a conscious music-nerd decision on Björk's part to attempt to write a hit single in this most bizarre of modes
― nevertheless, he stopped (flamboyant goon tie included), Friday, 11 May 2018 17:38 (five years ago) link
björk's best pop song imo. more in the spirit of a theoretical björk/timbaland collab than the one we actually got
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Friday, 11 May 2018 17:38 (five years ago) link
Also "Who Is It" is THE BEST
At its early peak, "Who Is It" was the song I teased out as being the surprising #2 overall.
― nourish nourish your turtleheart (Eric H.), Friday, 11 May 2018 17:40 (five years ago) link
I knew it wouldn't hold the same I way I knew Fassbinder wouldn't stay #3 on the movie directors' poll, but it was a thrill for a moment, nonetheless.
― nourish nourish your turtleheart (Eric H.), Friday, 11 May 2018 17:41 (five years ago) link
oh damn xp
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Friday, 11 May 2018 17:41 (five years ago) link
if you ask yourselfpatientlyand carefully
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Friday, 11 May 2018 17:42 (five years ago) link
"who is it" is one of the medulla songs i can't imagine w different production, it's the embodiment of vocal exuberance
― lowercase (eric), Friday, 11 May 2018 17:43 (five years ago) link
I ... like the handbell version too.
― nourish nourish your turtleheart (Eric H.), Friday, 11 May 2018 17:44 (five years ago) link
I'd like to ask her how she got the vision for Who is it, it's so not "intuitive" and complex as a pop song.I guess for Medulla at large it must have come in good part from these backing choir vocals she knew so much about.Those drums <3
― Nabozo, Friday, 11 May 2018 17:44 (five years ago) link
I love the version of this song they used for the video, with all of the bells and chimes, is that the handbell version?
― Dan S, Friday, 11 May 2018 17:45 (five years ago) link
...well this is what i get for not having time to dig in and fill out a ballot before
― lowercase (eric), Friday, 11 May 2018 17:46 (five years ago) link
yeah i really love the single version with the bells
― ufo, Friday, 11 May 2018 17:47 (five years ago) link
Tagaq's voice is largely responsible for the vocal forest that you hear on "Who Is It"-- no actual throat singing except at the end, but on them choruses, lots of the ululations she is so good at
― nevertheless, he stopped (flamboyant goon tie included), Friday, 11 May 2018 17:51 (five years ago) link
who is it was my #2, definitely thinking of the bells version when i voted
― 808s & Deep States (voodoo chili), Friday, 11 May 2018 17:52 (five years ago) link
Also I personally prefer the Bogdan Raczynski version with the accompanying Colargol mashup
― nevertheless, he stopped (flamboyant goon tie included), Friday, 11 May 2018 17:52 (five years ago) link
― nevertheless, he stopped (flamboyant goon tie included), Friday, May 11, 2018 10:51 AM (forty-five seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
"vocal forest" otm
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Friday, 11 May 2018 17:53 (five years ago) link
https://cansesclasseled.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/11-stonemilker.jpg
11. Stonemilker (Vulnicura, 2015) -- 931 points; 26 votes
― nourish nourish your turtleheart (Eric H.), Friday, 11 May 2018 17:54 (five years ago) link
Seeing as it (the Bogdan Raczynski version of "Who Is It" with amazing Colargol video) has less than 100k views I would guess that it's not.. as popular or well known as I thought it was?
hxxps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6FEB01V8TU
― nevertheless, he stopped (flamboyant goon tie included), Friday, 11 May 2018 17:54 (five years ago) link
another great image
― Dan S, Friday, 11 May 2018 17:56 (five years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQf0y_mk3hs
the Vespertine tour version of Who Is It is also great, it's fascinating to be able to track the development of it from the Bogdan Raczynski version to the Vespertine tour version to the two Medulla era versions
fantastic to see Stonemilker this high! her best album opener
― ufo, Friday, 11 May 2018 17:57 (five years ago) link