So, I preordered the new Bjork from her site last week. I had little faith that I would actually receive it early. Well, I GOT IT!!!!!

I stopped by home on my lunch and it was waiting in my mailbox. So I had to return to work and have it taunt me for 4 hours until I was able to return home and listen to it.

I'm only a few tracks in and I will say it's VERY interesting. I'm currently on "Where Is The Line?" It's got some CRAZY sounds goin on. I've got it very loud and it's just hard to believe the effects are all just tweaked vocals. Then, I listen closer and I know they are. If this is a typical Bjork CD, it'll take me months to fully appreciate it, but I've begun the process

I will give this review: The CD booklet is possibly the most FRUSTRATING booklet EVER. All of the pages (and the back of the CD) are black. On the back, the track NUMBERS are printed in white, but the actual names are printed in black. Yup, that's right, black on black. So, I open the book and find the SAME DAMN THING! Each song appears to have its own page. The credits are printed in white. Again, the title and lyrics are printed in black. This black is just a titch darker than the background so you seriously have to find the exact right light angle to catch a glimpse of the printing. I guess it's very bjork, but it's also very annoying to me at this moment.

On the plus side, I totally adore the cover art!




Yay new Bjork!

endorphin74 said:

Truer words were never spoken (j/k).

But yeah, I love the cover art. I'll give this a listen upon release.
[This message was edited Wed Aug 25 15:10:31 2004 by VoicesCarry]

I'm to track 6 now! "Who Is It"

Who is it
that never lets you down?
Who is it
that gave you back your crown?


damn, the beat box dude in this song is SWEEEEET!

VoicesCarry said:

I knew with the recent Bjork hating party that I was opening the door with THAT statement

endorphin74 said:

Just a throwback to that thread.

"Ancestors" is crazy, it goes from sexxxy and sensual to crazy creepy. It may give me nightmares!

Thanks for the review! I'm gonna get mines next week.

That black-on-black sounds annoying... Duran Duran did the same thing with their greatest hits dvd... it's white-on-white.

VinaBlue said:

what is WRONG with these people!

actually they prolly decide to do it and have a LONG laugh





ps- "Triumph of a Heart"- I've never heard beatbox done like this. It's fantastic. I can actually imagine hearing this on the radio. Well, college radio It's actually got me dancing in my seat!

OK...I am getting insanely jealous and must not come back here to this thread until I get back from Burning Man.

The black on black thing...sounds like the black album...black matte on black. very frustrating. The ONLY time I saw something interesting done like that was the cure Disintegration VINYL ONLY...when you shine it up to the light you can see cracks in the picture.

I'm sick with envy. Glad you're liking it so far though.

From Rolling Stone:

Even measured against the Icelandic singer's own artistic yardstick, Bjork's seventh studio album is a shocker, the kind of record that'll stop those who overhear it and make them ask, "What the hell is that?" Medulla is both the most extreme record Bjork has ever released and the most immediately accessible.
Aside from some subtle keyboards and plenty of sublime computer manipulations, Medulla's awe-inspiring architecture of sound is built almost exclusively from voices, including a few human beatboxes, veteran U.K. singer-songwriter Robert Wyatt, former Faith No More frontman Mike Patton, the Icelandic and London choirs and Bjork herself, delivering her most expressive performances and compositions to date.

On tracks such as "Oceania," clusters of voices swim by as if they were schools of brightly colored fish. "Desired Constellation" keeps things simple, with Bjork repeatedly wailing, "How am I going to make it right?" over a fluttering buzz. At the end of the surreal and vocally symphonic "Mouths Cradle," she concludes, "I need a shelter to build an altar away from all Osamas and Bushes." With this heavenly orgy of angelic choirs and gigabytes of technology, she has succeeded.



BARRY WALTERS
(Posted Sep 16, 2004)

GangstaFam said:

Yer not the only one.

And D thought it would not come through...

Glad you like it, D.

I can't wait either!

GangstaFam said:

Rollingstone review is a little weird.
ummm I doubt that out of all of Bjork's albums, this one will be considered the MOST accessible.

CinisterCee said:

Even measured against the Icelandic singer's own artistic yardstick, Bjork's seventh studio album is a shocker, the kind of record that'll stop those who overhear it and make them ask, "What the hell is that?" Medulla is both the most extreme record Bjork has ever released and the most immediately accessible.
Aside from some subtle keyboards and plenty of sublime computer manipulations, Medulla's awe-inspiring architecture of sound is built almost exclusively from voices, including a few human beatboxes, veteran U.K. singer-songwriter Robert Wyatt, former Faith No More frontman Mike Patton, the Icelandic and London choirs and Bjork herself, delivering her most expressive performances and compositions to date.

On tracks such as "Oceania," clusters of voices swim by as if they were schools of brightly colored fish. "Desired Constellation" keeps things simple, with Bjork repeatedly wailing, "How am I going to make it right?" over a fluttering buzz. At the end of the surreal and vocally symphonic "Mouths Cradle," she concludes, "I need a shelter to build an altar away from all Osamas and Bushes." With this heavenly orgy of angelic choirs and gigabytes of technology, she has succeeded.



BARRY WALTERS
(Posted Sep 16, 2004)

gooeythehamster said:

Yeah I read it, Gooey. I re-bolded that part I was talking about. How can it be her most accessible? Out of ALLL her albums? If it is such a challenging listen (by theory, I haven't heard it yet)

every time I see that Album cover I love it more and more. cool review.

CinisterCee said:

This album is quite weird. A handful of tracks (Where Is the Line?, Who Is It, Triumph of a Heart) are VERY accessible. The arrangements are catchy and, IMO, they have a classic feel which immediately drew me in. After only a few listens, I feel like I've known these songs for years.

Course, that leaves the rest of the CD- which is another story. The majority of it, I'm just taking in still. I will admit, there are a few tracks which I hear and think: "Really Bjork? You really wanted to release this song on a proper album?" Of course, knowing me, THOSE are the songs which will be my favorites in a year

I think Rolling Stone forgot all about Debut and Post in their review. It doesn't get much more accessible than those

endorphin74 said:

Exactly.

I WANT IT NOW!!!!! She is my favourite artist and I absolutely cannot wait to hear this. This cover is truly incredible.NEXT TUESDAY GANGSTA!!!!!