Bjork - 2017 album

there were listings giving the release date as september 30 but they've since been updated to november 25

one of the members of gabber modus operandi has recently been accused of sexual misconduct though & is currently undergoing some legal mediation process in relation to that, so who knows what that will mean for this though

podcast: https://www.talkhouse.com/announcing-bjork-sonic-symbolism/

Is she juggling garlic and onion on that picture ? That's a little over atopos (sorry, couldn't do better).

Graffe growing vpon the dress of a bjork

dreff - dammit

El Guincho on the new album, that’s gonna be interesting I suppose

https://www.instagram.com/p/Ch60RcftcDD/

it's out 30 september

tracklist:
Atopos
Ovule
Mycelia
Sorrowful Soil
Ancestress
Fagurt Er i Fjördum
Victimhood
Allow
Fungal City
Trölla-Gabba
Freefall
Fossora
Her mothers house

i guess the previous artwork is going to be the single cover?

Tracklist very much in the vein of the latest with maybe a hint of Medulla and a Kate Bush closer, I'd like to see the track lengths. Curious about what troll gabber sounds like.

El Guincho on the new album, that’s gonna be interesting I suppose

― Murgatroid, środa, 31 sierpnia 2022 15:01 (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

He was on Biophilia too, but his contribution was just a few sub-bass beats here and there and I wouldn't recognise them as his if I didn't read about it, TBH.

The podcast is worth listening to! First three episodes are out, and it's nice to have her talk about each of her albums in depth from the present.

First single out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FD2mUonh5s

this sounds pretty much like i expected based on her descriptions but not in a good way, oh well

if you ignore the lyrics completely and imagine there's no clumsy percussion track, it's salvageable maybe

I just get angry when I hear something new by her now. the... random melodylessness of it all. meh.

seems like she's intent on continuing utopia's impenetrable tunelessness, very much not for me

What imago said, maybe. Totally into Bjork with reeds and brass and stuff myself, but that rhythm track is less than brilliant.

I still think that Utopia is at least 2/3 great, so slippery melodies are not necessarily a turnoff here. Just getting to end of a third listen as I type and it's sounding vaguely hooky anyway!

I haven’t heard a single note of Bjork since Medulla so I’m missing a lot of context but this new song absolutely rules in my opinion and will probably send me back to check out all of the in between

I actually don’t mind the rhythm track, it’s the Jon Brion Eternal Sunshine soundtrack-ass clarinet melody that’s taking me out

ugh

prob not a clarinet but my point remains

I kind of like it. Don't get the tunelessness criticisim, I've had the melody stuck in my head after just two listens. Excited to hear the rest of the album.

Yeah I'm into it, the thing I have mixed feelings about is the lyrics.

I'm liking it, but I'm hoping the album is nowhere near as long as Utopia.

xpost yeah I don’t mind the track at all but I hate the lyrics, I just have no patience with that “why can’t we all just get along?” messaging

Reminds me of Aksak Maboul in a strange way, which can be no bad thing.
Lyrics are best ignored on the whole so didn't listen to them.

unfortunately the lyrics are right there in the video, a bit hard to ignore on my first listen :/

agreed about the lyrics, sounds like a "we forced an AI to listen to 10,000 hours of Bjork" kinda thing

Third listen I'm really loving those reeds

listened to it off my phone this morning (i know) and now listening to it at work on headphones, somehow even worse on 2nd listen

I like the textures, and I like how easily Bjork moves through the terrain the arrangement creates. We just take it for granted because she's been singing over crazy shit for decades now.

I guess the last minute or so exemplifies the album's apparent gabber angle

I like all of the musical elements, and hard distorted beats + low woodwinds sound like a good idea (like hard distorted beats + strings on Homogenic), but this is probably going to be another Bjork album that I only listen to once. :(

annoying that I like this musically more than expected and then the lyrics are offensively dim

With video off, lyrics off, and amp in the red, it’s a beast. Visceral, and more tuneful than expected. (“expected” meaning Utopia.)

The combination of big drums and bass woodwinds is great, but it’s also very These New Puritans Hidden. Do I mind? Not at all!

I'm glad I listened to it first without the video.

New music aside, the podcast has definitely sent me into my annual Bjork phase. Finally I know who did which beats on Homogenic (answer: Markus Dravs did all the distorted "volcanic" beats, Mark Bell did all the 909 and dancier beats)!

feel like the Bjork alignment ever shifts and we’ve got more pronouncement-voiced yet churning european bits this time

Resident Advisor sez: 'Lyrically, "Atopos" is beautiful. Musically, it doesn't cohere as well as anything off of Vulnicura or Utopia.'

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Wasn't there once a theatre group who banged on bins and the like? But not in a good way.

I assume you mean STOMP

Or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mystic_Knights_of_the_Oingo_Boingo

Vulnicura was magnificent, Utopia was mostly unlistenable, so I was hoping this would pivot back to Good Björk, but no... this is horrible.

Alsemanche e e

Vulnicura was magnificent, Utopia was mostly unlistenable

Agree with this but I kinda like the new song! I just wish it progressed a little more, it stays in one gear

Atopos is a little industrial-dancy and reminds me mostly of Volta (Earth Intruders / Wanderlust) and Vulnicura (scary emotionality), which are connections I like.
I hope there are some long songs. I am not expecting real "singles" from Björk anymore.

I really like it. Most exciting thing I've heard her do in years, and I quite liked the last one

I like how it starts as this sort of broken reggaeton track and ends in industrial dance mayhem

I'm also enjoying the section in the middle where it's just her singing over a deep subbass hum - makes me think of latter day Scott Walker

Shameless spam but I interviewed Björk, plus Siggi Sugarcube, Meredith Monk and Emilie Nicolas among others, for this month's Uncut, on sale next week...

https://✧✧✧.un✧✧✧.c✧.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Bjork-cover-with✧✧✧@1400x1✧✧✧.j✧✧

Link here! https://www.uncut.co.uk/publications/magazines/uncut-november-2022-140037/

^ Thanks! Is there a way to buy a digital issue for non-UK folks?