Gangstafam said:

come on, it's been better than that this year!

GangstaFam said:

Yes, you do! Then you'd understand.

GangstaFam said:

i hate to drop this bombshell, but...my attention levels for 'volta' have dropped dramatically in the past couple of weeks! for experimental freaky music, dungen is holding my attention far better, and for catchy/pop stuff, i keep going back to the mark ronson album. which isn't to say i'm not listening to a lot of bjorkiepie too...i just don't rock 'volta' very often. in fact, i'm listening to 'medulla' more often these days!

Anxiety said:

What's gotten into you!?

so far, this year's had good singles with bad albums. I'm enjoying a lot of singles, but was disappointed with the albums when I gave them a listen. This goes for Ne Yo, Rihanna, Robin Thicke, Maroon 5.

the exception this year is mika-life in cartoon motion, love that album, start to finish. I also want to say the remastered version of B'day though it's really a 2006 album.
[Edited 6/9/07 19:09pm]

Raze said:

I'm speechless.

GangstaFam said:

must have been something in the water in reykjavik.

the cover art and packaging for volta is beginning to remind me of the music inside. it's very bold and has striking colors, but there's really not a lot in the background and it's a bit unwieldy. still, very pretty, wacky and fun on the surface!

of course, in 4 months my opinion will be completely different and i'll think it's the best album ever made.

Anxiety said:

I meant more about the listening to Medulla part. I'm shocked!

GangstaFam said:

in my mind, 'medulla' is to bjork as 'newpower soul' is to prince. when it's good, it's REALLY good. when it isn't, well...OUCH. i'm starting to realize just how many songs i like from 'medulla', which makes the less accessible tracks easier to digest. i think 'volta' has made me appreciate the amount of detail on 'medulla', as well.

Anxiety said:

how so?

And I can see how it might be easier to work on Medulla from the outside in.

A lot of folks complained that there weren't many song songs on it. But if you take out just a few like Show Me Forgiveness, Oll Birtan and Midvikudags, most of what you have left are fully formed songs with verses, choruses and a beat, lead line and harmonic ideas, just like any other song. When I first heard that she'd dropped all the instruments on the album, I was horrified. Wasn't thrilled with the idea of an a capella Bjork album. Once I heard the final product, I was amazed at how finished and complete the songs sounded.

GangstaFam said:

and it's not really an a capella album, as we discovered. it's just that the focus is on the manipulation of the human voice. kinda like vespertine isn't JUST a microbeats album, but that's a big defining characteristic of it.

volta made me appreciate the attention to detail on medulla because i don't think there's a lot of detail going on in volta. it's pretty stark and a bit minimal, really. there are a lot of surfaces on volta without many objects adorning them.

To be honest, it hasn't been a memorable year for new releases for me.

I haven't gotten into anything I've bought this year yet. I bought Bebel Gilberto, J Dilla's Ruff Draft re-issue, and I'm waiting on Prince, Me'Shell, Common and a rumored Van Hunt album.

alphastreet said:

Those albums aren't great? I'm shocked!

well the singles are good, but it would be nice for them to release good albums start to finish like the old days.

sextonseven said:

Actually, I think the Maroon 5 album is pretty good. The Thicke album is fantastic -- plenty of the album tracks are as good as or better than the first 3 singles.