Björk - Biophilia

Listened yesterday. First impression was that it's surprisingly sparse & creepy, but "Virus" is lovely.

Well, I'll admit I do really like "Thunderbolt", but the rest just seems too meandering and formless for my tastes. I prefer it when David Sylvian does this sort of thing.

A really cool interview for the EKT crowd with Bjork's Musical Director Damian Taylor about how he got into the Max programming side of things, and a bit of behind the scenes.

http://cycling74.com/2011/10/06/an-interview-with-damian-taylor

I hope to get some more positive reports. I will still buy this because I love Bjork but I was hoping for a hark back to something a bit more accessible. Having said that, I did see the live show so I should've known it would be like this.

  On 10/6/2011 at 8:22 PM, KGW said:

I was hoping for a hark back to something a bit more accessible.

I'd say it's definitely less accessible than her first 4 albums (haven't heard Medulla or Volta). There's very few moments that feel "pop" if you catch my drift

i know it's an old cliche but bjork needs to get her head out the clouds and back to earth doing the more accessible poppier stuff that made her big in the 90's. it's what she does best. the new stuff is just too arty and dull. not that i mind a bit of arty and experimental music but it has to be done right and the last few albums have failed to shine.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/album-bjork-biophilia-one-little-indian-2366467.html

Sums it up pretty well I think. The songs feel more like the soundtrack to flOw 2 than actual songs

  On 10/7/2011 at 10:27 PM, Cryptowen said:

http://www.independe...an-2366467.html

Sums it up pretty well I think. The songs feel more like the soundtrack to flOw 2 than actual songs

I think I agree with pretty much every part of that review. Bjork seems to have become so caught up in invention and the process that she's forgotten how to write memorable, engaging and enjoyable songs. I don't look upon 'Vespertine' as a "fun" album exactly - in fact some of it is quite hard work - but at the same time it is immensely pretty, beautifully arranged and the songs frequently have a memorable hook or lyric. After since then seem to be about being as different as possible at the expense of everything else.

medúlla, for me is her last really captivating release and i recommend anyone who's not given it proper listening to do so. dokaka helps to make it shine, it sings with everything that i love about björk. i've not been completely satisfied by her musics since then.

there have been a few things here or there

Never really bought into the whole Bjork thing. I respect it and all, and get the drift but somehow it just falls short for me, sometimes her voice verges on the cartoonish/ridiculous. I listened to Vespertine quite often at the time, but somehow it never took my Braindance up that critical notch. She is supposed to be very experimental but when she starts whining it always reduce's it to more of the same Bjork.

The new albums front cover alone is enough to put me off even bothering.

Sorry.

My favourite is still Homogenic. The high point of her pop phase, with just a hint of emerging weirdness for extra flavour.

Not quite sure what to think about this new album yet, listened a couple of times and a couple of tracks are nice, but it is certainly lacking something.

Fuck all this "accessible songs" sooking. If you want pop music, buy a pop record. There's only one Björk in the world, I think it's best we let her decide what flavours to spin.

It's a fucking killer album by my reckoning.

bored with bjork since homogenic since selmasongs. head too far up ass. yes making art. making enjoyable music: not so much.

  On 10/9/2011 at 8:51 PM, Greg Reason said:

Fuck all this "accessible songs" sooking. If you want pop music, buy a pop record. There's only one Björk in the world, I think it's best we let her decide what flavours to spin.

 

It's a fucking killer album by my reckoning.

I don't think the problem is so much about wanting her to make "accessible" pop music again, but more about it being something that doesn't sound like a collection of antique wind-chimes falling down an ornate spiral staircase, i.e. annoying.

If even Björk admits that it was so lacking in "something" that she had to go back and re-record a lot of it, thus delaying the release, doesn't that tell us something?

I have no problem with creepy sparse microtonal music. I listen to Jandek like once a week. But I find Bjork's style just a bit too clean & laptoppy sounding to pull it off.

i gotta give tyhis a proper listen....Vespertine has her last great album IMHO...but my god it was great.

  On 10/9/2011 at 8:51 PM, Greg Reason said:

Fuck all this "accessible songs" sooking. If you want pop music, buy a pop record. There's only one Björk in the world, I think it's best we let her decide what flavours to spin. It's a fucking killer album by my reckoning.

I'm not after a pop album or accessible music, just expected a bit more from her thats all. Still going to give the album some more time, it's grown a little, I do like mutual core a lot and virus is nice.

Just got round to listening to this and it strikes me as very self conscious. You can almost hear her patting herself on the back as she mashes diverse musical styles together. Just sounds a bit silly without any creative synthesis of the material. Some good moments and nice crunchy chords, but yeah... not terribly impressed.

p.s. I vote vespertine

I keep flip flopping on this album. Sometimes I think "ooh, this is really different & interesting", other times I'll be thinking "nah, she's just showboating".

I think you're right with showboating. Even that little newsletter thing she wrote refers to all the wonderfully strange instruments she's been collecting but not to anything of substance. A little track like Frosti on Vespertine fits perfectly with the mood of that album and comes at exactly the right point... Plus, with vespertine there seems to be a lot more attention to musical detail with lovely post-sibelian string writing and some excellent harmonies (like from 1:00 to about 1:25 of It's Not Up To You). Biophilia is more of a hotchpotch of half baked semi-ideas from messing around with her new toys. And the breakcore bits are just kinda stupid.

  On 10/15/2011 at 2:16 AM, jim said:

I think you're right with showboating. Even that little newsletter thing she wrote refers to all the wonderfully strange instruments she's been collecting but not to anything of substance. A little track like Frosti on Vespertine fits perfectly with the mood of that album and comes at exactly the right point... Plus, with vespertine there seems to be a lot more attention to musical detail with lovely post-sibelian string writing and some excellent harmonies (like from 1:00 to about 1:25 of It's Not Up To You). Biophilia is more of a hotchpotch of half baked semi-ideas from messing around with her new toys. And the breakcore bits are just kinda stupid.

Indeed. The whole Björk embracing iPad as delivery concept has a sort of weird symmetry to it. It's aesthetically and inventively impressive but emotionally void and musically blank. Once you've got past that glossy sheen of invention, what is actually left?

This is my favourite album since Vespertine. Plinky plonky in places, moody in others, beautiful vocal harmonis and has a kick here and there which caught me off guard the first time to give it long lasting impression of enjoyment. Well, I've only listened to it 4 or 5 times but I see it lasting for me. I like the contradicting styles because they gel well.

Ultimately, its my kind of blend of rhythm and melody that I like from Bjork.

Still not quite as good as Vespertine but I am definitely satisfied.

How many fucking versions of Biophilia are there going to be?! http://www.discogs.com/Bj%C3%B6rk-Biophilia/master/374132

At this point I'd have to buy 3 or 4 separate editions to have the 'complete' package...

downloaded the ipad app out of curiosity.

got about 3 songs in before i lost interest. very underwhelming.