i saw in the last issue of iceland's newspaper in english : “grapevine” , that valgeir sigurðsson was credited for having written all the instrumentals for my album vespertine . could i please offer a correction :

i have noticed last 7 years that mr. sigurðsson has often been credited for either writing or producing that album . i´d like to say that he didn´t write it or produce . he was a computer programmer for a third of it and a recording engineer for a third . The other two thirds were done by other engineers and programmers .

here is the creditlist to show you the correct crediting of vespertine .
i don´t understand where that misunderstanding has come from

could be one of four options :

1 :the pop critics of this world have not totally yet worked out the difference between engineering , programming , writing and producing electronic music . visually this appears very similar . a man/woman sitting in front of a computer . not as different as for example a drummer , a brass arranger and an engineer . but these are 3 completely different jobs which journalists must start to see the difference

2: it could be that this is some degree of sexism . m.i.a. had to deal with this with the respected website pitchfork.com where they assumed that diplo had produced all of her kala album without reading any credit list or nothing , it just had to be , it couldn´t have been m.i.a. herself ! it feel like still today after all these years people cannot imagine that woman can write , arrange or produce electronic music . i have had this experience many many times that the work i do on the computer gets credited to whatever male was in 10 meter radius during the job . people seem to accept that women can sing and play whatever instrument they are seen playing .but they cannot program , arrange , produce , edit or write electronic music .

3 : i´ll admit that one thing could confuse things : people have to use their ears and actually read the creditlist to get this information . all the music i have made : like for example string arrangements , synthbasslines or programming of electronic patterns , i never play myself live because i want to give 100% of myself into the singing i either ask the computers to play it or i get other musicians to play it . this could confuse things .

4: one thing that could have kept this misunderstanding alive is that neither me nor valgeir sigurðsson have bothered to correct it

but i am doing it now

i hope this correction will be a positive input into more discussion about this

warmth
björk.

p.s. just read that pitchfork.com credited nico muhly for the choir arrangement of “hidden place” from vespertine . also that he has done string arrangements for me . this is not true . journalists : please read the creditlist before you write your articles

I read that! She gets so ranty in it that she makes silly typos.

It's rare, but I love it when she stands up for something she believes in, reporter smackdowns and all.

it just goes to show:

even a temperamental icelandic lady in a swan dress can type in english with less typos than courtney love on her very best days.

Anxiety said:

Or Imago.

oh right. i guess imago's not icelandic.

i guess i just never questioned her involvement in her music. as great of a live performer as she is, i've always considered her more of a studio artist than a performer. also, anyone who gives half a shit about bjork knows about her background and her musical training, so what's the big shock?

plus i read the damn liner notes.

Anxiety said:

This is true.

As much as I admire her standing up for herself and taking a stance for women, her view might be a little narrow because women have always been called into question more than men for their contributions to music.

Debbie Harry was considered little more than a beautiful frontwoman that had very little to do with the style of the music.

Liz Phair got accused of being a puppet for Brad Wood.

Apparently Kurt was the ghost writer for all of "Live Through This".

So this isn't exactly exclusive to electronic music.

She's just mad 'cuz Pitchfork dogged her last couple albums.

magnificentsynthesizer said:

pitchfork IS kind of an indie rock white boy's club, let's admit it.

well, except for when they're fawning over kanye. then they down. aw yeah.

magnificentsynthesizer said:

pitchfork IS kind of an indie rock white boy's club, let's admit it.

well, except for when they're fawning over kanye. then they down. aw yeah.

Anxiety said:

HA HA!! that's exactly what they are! 3/4's of their recommendations are overhyped garbage.

this was recently posted on björk's official web site:

Anxiety said:

hmmm, i think that from the tone of it, it sounds like #4 is probably the one that's most applicable, and it seems as if she's almost been sitting around waiting for Valgeir to correct the misconception. sounds like he's pissed that he hasn't and is stepping up to do it herself. think there's a message to him in there? not to try eeking out a little more fame/cred/etc. by passively taking credit for her work?

errant said:

He was promoted here at the org as one of the main forces behind Vespertine

errant said:

He was promoted here at the org as one of the main forces behind Vespertine

Matronik said:

never even heard the guy's name until some remix of Triumph of the Heart turned up on his (or her?) myspace page and he announced he was doing an album a year or so before it came out.

and no, i don't read liner notes any more. i'm at a point in my life where i couldn't give less of a shit about who did what. i just want to listen and enjoy it on its own merits, rather than try to link names to other work, sounds, etc.

sorry bjork.

errant said:

i always scan them to see if anyone i recognize co-wrote or guested on the albums in any way. plus it gives me something to leaf through while i'm sitting around listening to a new CD for the first time.

Anxiety said:

well, yeah, there is that. keeps you occupied on the release while you're listening to so you can concentrate on it fully instead of getting distracted and letting it turn into background music.

but i think now i'm just content to look at the pretty pictures and sniff the booklet for that "new cd smell"

errant said:

Matronik said:

is bjork an orger? is she a bjorger?

i think it would help if she didn't handwrite her liner notes in icelandic.

just sayin', bjorkie. just sayin'.