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Björk - Biophilia

Redruth

By Redruth
in New & Upcoming Releases

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KGW Rising Star

KGW

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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.

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Cryptowen Grand Master

Cryptowen

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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

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Guest texan whip

Guest texan whip

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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.

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Jamesqdot Rising Star

Jamesqdot

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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.

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Redruth Grand Master

Redruth

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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

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beerwolf Grand Master

beerwolf

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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.

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Guest Greg Reason

Guest Greg Reason

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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.

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Jamesqdot Rising Star

Jamesqdot

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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?

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ulrich Contributor

ulrich

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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.

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Guest jim

Guest jim

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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

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Guest jim

Guest jim

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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.

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Jamesqdot Rising Star

Jamesqdot

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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?

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Guest Ultravisitor

Guest Ultravisitor

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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.

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