The innovative Icelandic icon unveils her new music and multimedia residency at Manchester International Festival

Excuse me while I clean up the puddle of piss I just released.

Björk is fuckin crazy. But I like her.

x 100000000000000!!!

WOW! that sounds pretty amazing. i'd definitely check that out, if i were able to get to manchester.

Wish I could be there to see firsthand!

This woman is 2 deep 4 the average listener of music.

Amazing. I hope the show makes it to the US.

AMAZING!

I love this woman

been checking her site regularly for the last 6 months cuz i just felt like

she must be about to release some more new music. and yay, it's here.

can't wait, can't wait.

now all i need is a new beck album this year and i'll be complete:

new pj harvey

new radiohead

new bjork

new prince (most likely)

new beck

C L

Manchester here I come.

.

IstenSzek said:

been checking her site regularly for the last 6 months cuz i just felt like

she must be about to release some more new music. and yay, it's here.

can't wait, can't wait.

now all i need is a new beck album this year and i'll be complete:

new pj harvey

new radiohead

new bjork

new prince (most likely)

new beck

and kinda new Kate Bush. And don't forget we already got brand new Sade. It's a music lover's wet dream.

I also cannot wait. Bjork is a living legend in my book. No female artist can touch her in terms of music. She is unmatched period.

Sometimes......... I just LOVE living in Manchester

The world premiere of Björk's Biophilia live show will be held at Manchester International Festival for a three-week residency - across six intimate shows in the Campfield Market Hall for audiences of 1800, as her first UK dates in over three years. For these six special shows, Björk will be performing new tracks from the forthcoming Biophilia studio album as well as with a small group of unique musical collaborators. The show will feature a range of specially conceived and crafted instruments, among them a bespoke digitally-controlled pipe organ; a 30 foot pendulum that harnesses the earth’s gravitational pull to create musical patterns - creating a unique bridge between the ancient and the modern; a bespoke gamelan-celeste hybrid; and a one-off extraordinary pin barrel harp.

.

[Edited 3/19/11 9:07am]

errant said:

The world premiere of Björk's Biophilia live show will be held at Manchester International Festival for a three-week residency - across six intimate shows in the Campfield Market Hall for audiences of 1800, as her first UK dates in over three years. For these six special shows, Björk will be performing new tracks from the forthcoming Biophilia studio album as well as with a small group of unique musical collaborators. The show will feature a range of specially conceived and crafted instruments, among them a bespoke digitally-controlled pipe organ; a 30 foot pendulum that harnesses the earth’s gravitational pull to create musical patterns - creating a unique bridge between the ancient and the modern; a bespoke gamelan-celeste hybrid; and a one-off extraordinary pin barrel harp.

Yeah, I think her people declare these things half tounge n cheek because during the last tour they announced this groundbreaking new visual arts/instrument that would be played throughout and all it was was a computer screen that some dude moved things around on that was projected on the big screen. Bigg wooooh.

sosgemini said:

errant said:

Yeah, I think her people declare these things half tounge n cheek because during the last tour they announced this groundbreaking new visual arts/instrument that would be played throughout and all it was was a computer screen that some dude moved things around on that was projected on the big screen. Bigg wooooh.

but it did sound great! that thing has been used on the new album too, or at least they mention

it in the press blurb. i keep forgetting what it's called tho i just call it "the oil drum glitch pc".

Can't wait to see the art for this project.

[Edited 3/22/11 7:08am]

sosgemini said:

errant said:

Yeah, I think her people declare these things half tounge n cheek because during the last tour they announced this groundbreaking new visual arts/instrument that would be played throughout and all it was was a computer screen that some dude moved things around on that was projected on the big screen. Bigg wooooh.

I haven't heard it, of course. I can't even imagine what the sound is going to be on this album from the description. And I'm sure I'll enjoy it on some level. It could be great or it could just be okay. But I kind of wish she'd stop with this sonic theme she's got going for each album. It was cool on Homogenic and it worked And Vespertine was beautiful. But Medulla was a mess, as ambitious and interesting as parts of it were. And Volta had some good songs, but some of them really got bogged down in the atonal bleeting of French horns or whatever they were.

It would actually be refreshing if she'd just do a Debut or Post style album. An eclectic mix of song styles and sounds instead of them being over-shadowed by an over-riding sonic landscape bolted on to them.

errant said:

sosgemini said:

Yeah, I think her people declare these things half tounge n cheek because during the last tour they announced this groundbreaking new visual arts/instrument that would be played throughout and all it was was a computer screen that some dude moved things around on that was projected on the big screen. Bigg wooooh.

I haven't heard it, of course. I can't even imagine what the sound is going to be on this album from the description. And I'm sure I'll enjoy it on some level. It could be great or it could just be okay. But I kind of wish she'd stop with this sonic theme she's got going for each album. It was cool on Homogenic and it worked And Vespertine was beautiful. But Medulla was a mess, as ambitious and interesting as parts of it were. And Volta had some good songs, but some of them really got bogged down in the atonal bleeting of French horns or whatever they were.

It would actually be refreshing if she'd just do a Debut or Post style album. An eclectic mix of song styles and sounds instead of them being over-shadowed by an over-riding sonic landscape bolted on to them.

I'm torn here. I also found Volta difficult. There are definitely interesting layers, but few "hooks" as it were. Bjork's earlier albums, on the other hand, owned me almost immediately because they didn't altogether sacrifice accessibility for experimentation. (Medulla and Drawing Restraint 9 were exceptions, but I knew going in they'd be off-the-scale weird -- and I loved them for that.)

Yet it seems Bjork takes on albums not as self-contained statements, but as creative phases including all sorts of related material -- video releases, remix EPs, B-Sides, live reinterpretations, etc. (Other artists go through a similar pattern, granted, but I always get the impression these peripheral efforts all point toward merely selling the album.) At the end of the day, then, even with Volta, I ended up getting both something sonically and technically challenging in the album itself, and far more viscerally satisfying in the single releases and breakout Voltaïc stuff.

I think I've learned to just let Bjork be. IMHO, she's one of few artists who almost never fail to arrive at something awesome in the aggregate, even as they meander to odd, disjointed places getting there.

[Edited 3/22/11 9:24am]

Lammastide said:

errant said:

I haven't heard it, of course. I can't even imagine what the sound is going to be on this album from the description. And I'm sure I'll enjoy it on some level. It could be great or it could just be okay. But I kind of wish she'd stop with this sonic theme she's got going for each album. It was cool on Homogenic and it worked And Vespertine was beautiful. But Medulla was a mess, as ambitious and interesting as parts of it were. And Volta had some good songs, but some of them really got bogged down in the atonal bleeting of French horns or whatever they were.

It would actually be refreshing if she'd just do a Debut or Post style album. An eclectic mix of song styles and sounds instead of them being over-shadowed by an over-riding sonic landscape bolted on to them.

I'm torn here. I also found Volta difficult. There are definitely interesting layers, but few "hooks" as it were. Bjork's earlier albums, on the other hand, owned me almost immediately because they didn't altogether sacrifice accessibility for experimentation. (Medulla and Drawing Restraint 9 were exceptions, but I knew going in they'd be off-the-scale weird -- and I loved them for that.)

Yet it seems Bjork takes on albums not as self-contained statements, but as creative phases including all sorts of related material -- video releases, remix EPs, B-Sides, live reinterpretations, etc. (Other artists go through a similar pattern, granted, but I always get the impression these peripheral efforts all point toward merely selling the album.) At the end of the day, then, even with Volta, I ended up getting both something sonically and technically challenging in the album itself, and far more viscerally satisfying in the single releases and breakout Voltaïc stuff.

I think I've learned to just let Bjork be. IMHO, she's one of few artists who almost never fail to arrive at something awesome in the aggregate, even as they meander to odd, disjointed places getting there.

[Edited 3/22/11 9:24am]

I think the reason why I did like Volta more than Medulla (and Drawing Restraint 9, of course) is that it did feel like a bit of a throwback to Post and Homogenic. Yeah, there was an overriding theme to the sound, but not all of the songs were a slave to it. And there were some songs that were actually imbued with true joy or energy and song-like qualities that didn't exist strictly as intellectual sonic art-pieces the way those 2 previous albums and Vespertine (and Selmasongs, to some extent) did.

:-O Wow! I'm reeeeally hoping she will come somewhere remotely close to here

errant said:

Lammastide said:

I'm torn here. I also found Volta difficult. There are definitely interesting layers, but few "hooks" as it were. Bjork's earlier albums, on the other hand, owned me almost immediately because they didn't altogether sacrifice accessibility for experimentation. (Medulla and Drawing Restraint 9 were exceptions, but I knew going in they'd be off-the-scale weird -- and I loved them for that.)

Yet it seems Bjork takes on albums not as self-contained statements, but as creative phases including all sorts of related material -- video releases, remix EPs, B-Sides, live reinterpretations, etc. (Other artists go through a similar pattern, granted, but I always get the impression these peripheral efforts all point toward merely selling the album.) At the end of the day, then, even with Volta, I ended up getting both something sonically and technically challenging in the album itself, and far more viscerally satisfying in the single releases and breakout Voltaïc stuff.

I think I've learned to just let Bjork be. IMHO, she's one of few artists who almost never fail to arrive at something awesome in the aggregate, even as they meander to odd, disjointed places getting there.

[Edited 3/22/11 9:24am]

I think the reason why I did like Volta more than Medulla (and Drawing Restraint 9, of course) is that it did feel like a bit of a throwback to Post and Homogenic. Yeah, there was an overriding theme to the sound, but not all of the songs were a slave to it. And there were some songs that were actually imbued with true joy or energy and song-like qualities that didn't exist strictly as intellectual sonic art-pieces the way those 2 previous albums and Vespertine (and Selmasongs, to some extent) did.

i think the fact that i listened to the alva noto remix of Innocence more than any album track,

says it all about me and this album.

i desperately wanted to like it but i didn't. there's some nice moments and good songs but as

an album it just feels so heavy and dull/dragging. there's a new homogenic in there somewhere

but it wasn't time yet and she still had too much other stuff to get through first.

i think the new album will be a cross between Vespertine and the more experimental stuff that

came after it. i'm expecting lots of choir backingvocals, shitloads of electro, buffered with stuff

that is visceral and earthy with weird real instruments and hushed vocals.

what i'm hoping: that it will be my favorit album of the year. what i'm fearing: that it will be so

weird that i can't enjoy it, eventho it's bjork.

fingers crossed.

Graycap23 said:

This woman is 2 deep 4 the average listener of music.

nothing deep about her

more like too prententious and annoying and sounding like a raving lunatic when she 'sings'

i never saw her appeal at all

google 'i hate Björk' and the org comes up

this dude here worded it perfectly , then

http://prince.org/msg/8/110441

I Hate Björk!

Ooh, ooh, ooh,

I'm a fully
Grown up wo-ham-man
But I think that I'm a pixie
All things considered
I dress like a psychiatric pay-ay-tient

And why should I sing
When I can wail and whisper?

If you saw me busking
On the street where you live
Without my electro-wobble-musica
You would call the po-lice

And if you don't like me
People will say 'You just don't understand'
So I spew my pretentious nursery rhymes
And people think it's art

But I'm one annoying cunt
I'm the seamstress of the emperor's new clothes
I am over-hyped bu-hull-shit
I am a snake in a teapot.

[Edited 3/23/11 5:33am]

Dewrede said:

Graycap23 said:

This woman is 2 deep 4 the average listener of music.

nothing deep about her

more like too prententious and annoying and sounding like a raving lunatic when she 'sings'

i never saw her appeal at all

google 'i hate Björk' and the org comes up

this dude here worded it perfectly , then

http://prince.org/msg/8/110441

I Hate Björk!

Ooh, ooh, ooh,

I'm a fully
Grown up wo-ham-man
But I think that I'm a pixie
All things considered
I dress like a psychiatric pay-ay-tient

And why should I sing
When I can wail and whisper?

If you saw me busking
On the street where you live
Without my electro-wobble-musica
You would call the po-lice

And if you don't like me
People will say 'You just don't understand'
So I spew my pretentious nursery rhymes
And people think it's art

But I'm one annoying cunt
I'm the seamstress of the emperor's new clothes
I am over-hyped bu-hull-shit
I am a snake in a teapot.

[Edited 3/23/11 5:33am]

The ART in Artist.

[Edited 3/23/11 7:01am]

Dewrede said:

Graycap23 said:

This woman is 2 deep 4 the average listener of music.

nothing deep about her

more like too prententious and annoying and sounding like a raving lunatic when she 'sings'

i never saw her appeal at all

google 'i hate Björk' and the org comes up

this dude here worded it perfectly , then

http://prince.org/msg/8/110441

I Hate Björk!

Ooh, ooh, ooh,

I'm a fully
Grown up wo-ham-man
But I think that I'm a pixie
All things considered
I dress like a psychiatric pay-ay-tient

And why should I sing
When I can wail and whisper?

If you saw me busking
On the street where you live
Without my electro-wobble-musica
You would call the po-lice

And if you don't like me
People will say 'You just don't understand'
So I spew my pretentious nursery rhymes
And people think it's art

But I'm one annoying cunt
I'm the seamstress of the emperor's new clothes
I am over-hyped bu-hull-shit
I am a snake in a teapot.

[Edited 3/23/11 5:33am]

Who can take seriously the critique of pretentiousness from a guy who admits to liking Yoko Ono?

Music is like food.

Some people have a sweet tooth and go for pop

Some like soul food.

Some like it hot and spicy.

Some like meat and potatoes and go for Bruce Springsteen

Some are connoisseurs, and like classical and such.

Some can like it all, and can go from Prince to Phillip Glass on their ipod.

And some people are finicky eaters.... And if that's you, Bjork is probably not for you.