Bjork

I really wish she wouldn't take so much time between albums. I believe she said her next is a few years off. Does it really need that long?

So what do you guys think of her? I think she is very talented and somewhat brilliant, a genuine eccentric, but can also go a good ways off into self indulgence with middling results(last two albums, although they weren't exactly bad).

Will we ever see another album as good as Homogenic or Vespertine, or are those days over?

Not a big fan of her music, but at least she's original and when she does something its because she wants to - not because her handlers said it would be good for sales or get attention.

I like Bjork in *very* small doses. If I try to listen to an entire album, I get a sudden urge to listen to something a bit less rarefied. I think she's got some really great moments, but a little Bjork goes a looooong way.

She killed me in Dancer In The Dark, though.

Shhhh...

It needs to be said that she retains control over the production, and is an ace in the studio. VERY few artists can handle that for themselves.

I agree, I don't want to listen to too much of her or that often, and I'm not a big fan, but I do think she has her great moments.

Apart from her music, I think she is a fascinating(but bizarre) person. It's interesting to me that someone who's output is so genuinely strange has become as big of a success as she's become.

who's=whose

I know, I know

Some of the songs on Homogenic are astonishingly beautiful. She really has no genre, which I find interesting. I also think a large part of her success/fame is that she is a good looking woman. If Juliette Binoche had a child with a Japanese man it would look something like Bjork.

But she's simply from Iceland. Very much like a sprite.

"Hit" by the Sugarcubes was the first thing I ever heard from her/the Sugarcubes and I got hooked. Love Debut, Post, Homogenic, Vespertine and Volta 100% (and maybe 50% of Medulla), but I am not an avid remix collector of her work. Never get the fuss about her lack of fashion sense because of the swan dress (which I actually adore). I love to listen to her music.

I also like Massive Attack and Siouxsie And The Banshees / The Creatures.

I liked when she hit that reporter who was getting in her face. I believe she was with her son and felt protective. Correct?

I didn't think the swan dress was that weird either. Just whimsical and romantic(perhaps in a slightly tongue in cheek way). A big deal over nothing.

The swan dress was at the Oscars, where these days everyone is expected to look like they're going to prom. Imagine the shit Diane Keaton would have taken after winning for Annie Hall. I remember an interview where Keaton said the next year when she had to present Best Actor she drove herself to the ceremony and how weird that would be now, but at the time she thought it was the normal, logical thing to do.

I have time gnomes living in my hair. They sing songs to me which I record to sing to other people.

Umm, incorrect (R11). The reporter is nowhere near in her face and just says, "Welcome to Bangkok," or "Welcome to Thailand," and Bjork goes mental. Check out the video on youtube.

Homogenic was excellent, but she is like Tori Amos & PJ Harvey, the second the 00s hit, they lost their stride. They took ages in-between albums and the records themselves didn't warrant the length of time it took to make them.

It's not age, because Krisitin Hersh and Lisa Germano are still making great music and Hersh is very prolific lately yet the standard of all the songs are still sky high.

[quote]I also think a large part of her success/fame is that she is a good looking woman.

She used to be cute and now she looks like a troll.

wish she'd get back to some dance-heavy ditties.

sick of her precious songs that sound like you just opened the lid of a jewelry box

Moments of musical brilliance with her singles, but for me, she's mostly unlistenable.

I agree so far:

Beautiful: check Interesting and idiosyncratic: check A little goes a looong way: check

And I would add that the idiosyncrasies can be charming, but can more often seem affected in an annoying way. But on the whole I give her a pass.

Does anything know much about her kid? How old is he now? He must be in his late teens? Is he a musician too?

Is she still with artsy dreamboat Matthew Barney?

I think she hit the reporter because she had been following her around on tour, pestering her with questions or something and Bjork finally snapped.

i remember the first time i saw the Human behaviour video. I had never heard of her, or sugarcubes and it was mindblowing...the song, the video, her image: it was all so weird, alien, different. I think she's great...but i only know well her work of the 90's: she's a real icon of that decade, along with Kurt.

I saw Sugarcubes in concert back in the early nineties. A photographer friend took photos. I still have them. For some reason I liked Sugarcubes better than any of her solo stuff.

I love Bjork. She's a true artist. She's one of the few artists doing anything interesting or original these days. She does exactly what she wants to do, seemingly without a care about what the record company wants. Maybe she's with a company that respects her enough to let her do what she wants.

And I loved her swan dress too. It was humourous and whimsical and ironic. Everyone who made such a big deal about it obviously didn't "get" Bjork.

b

R16, I think she has become less artistically disciplined and inspired, and more self indulgent and pretentious since she's hooked up with her retarded, goofy boyfriend. He is the definition of pretentious bullshit. It influences her.

Bjork, Harvey & Amos were known as the "3 weird sisters of rock". It's a sad think women in music simply don't have anyone like that now.

R18, I mostly agree about being tired of those types of songs. But instead of more dance type songs(which still might be a good change-up), I don't see why she doesn't try to attempt something more like Homogenic. Not the same music wise, but in that it is more intense and thematically building, and has a complete feeling of power and presence to it. More singular and enigmatic.

I guess it's hard to explain.

I tried looking around a bit at the main bjork message board last night. It just seemed so insular, with the people there getting off topic and referencing stupid stuff and getting mad at people who didn't like Bjork's more recent work. I thought there would be a wealth of interesting info and discussion about her, and there may be, but it looks like I'd have to wade through a bunch of bullshit.

That's why I wanted to start this topic here and get a discussion going that isn't mired in pointless BS. I enjoy the perspectives everyone has given so far. Thanks.

Maybe if she worked with The Knife, I think they could produce a brilliant Bjork album. The have a great sense of spooky ghost in the machine drama.

Bjork? Bsuck.

>>Some of the songs on Homogenic are astonishingly beautiful. She really has no genre, which I find interesting. I also think a large part of her success/fame is that she is a good looking woman. If Juliette Binoche had a child with a Japanese man it would look something like Bjork.>>

IS she part Asian? I know she's from Iceland, but what does that mean? Different nationalities settled all over the globe.

Jimmy Page's mom was part Chinese, but he never mentioned it. I always assumed he was part Japanese.

I'm Italian, Scottish, French and Spanish, but people always assume I'm German or Nordic!

I thought the Swan Dress represented The Ugly Duckling becoming a Swan for the night. It did not bug me in the least.

My favorite AAcademy Award dresses were worn by Matt Stone and Trey Parker, that was fucking genius. Also, my favorite part of the Oscars is when people get political. The audience is so vast, it's the perfect venue.

"IS she part Asian? I know she's from Iceland, but what does that mean? Different nationalities settled all over the globe."

She has Icelandic blood... and despite arguments from Icelanders about being of pure Viking background I'm sure lots have some genes from the native peoples, who may have come from Asia in the same way the natives in North America did.

Vespertine is her bestest album. Medulla has really grown on me, and the last one was pretty awful, for her. I agree that she's gotten self-indulgent after getting together with Matthew Barney.

She was brilliant in Lars von Trier's

Dancer In The Dark

"Bjork, Harvey & Amos were known as the "3 weird sisters of rock". It's a sad think women in music simply don't have anyone like that now."

Funny you mentioned this, PJ, Bjork and Tori appeared together on the cover of 'Q' about 12-15 years ago, it wasn't Photoshopped, they were all there together. IIRC, they were also interviewed together.

Ironically, I was buying this 'Q' at the West 4th Street Tower about a week after Kate Bush had left a line of waiting fans outside. This line went around the block, as she slipped out through the front covering her head with a coat and she was also shielded by a bodyguard.

The female cashier was so pissed at what Kate Bush did to her fans, she pointed to the "Q" cover and told me, "These three would NEVER pull a stunt like that bitch Kate Bush did last week!"

I don't know about that, but the cashier was seething about Kate Bush. I would love to have found out why she was so angry!

Why did Bjork write Bedtime Stories for Madonna?

She's tremendous.

#36, thanks for sharing this story. Hilarious.

Tori lost it after Venus, though Starlet’s Walk was rather good. Bjork after Vespertine, and PJ after Desire.

None have been able to make an album that was fully focused and realized since.

BTW OP, if your interested you should check out Nina Nastasia's Outlaster, it's really spooky, odd poltergeist pop.

So what are some of your favorite Bjork songs?

One of many people Lady Gaga is now ripping off.

True, r42. And gaga is completely propped up by the media, she didn't 'win' a bunch of fans over time, she was shoved down our throats all of a sudden, full throttle. Perez Hilton was a huge early supporter who was told to push her.

Homogenic has awesome cover art.

Some fave songs are Pagan Poetry, Bachelorette, Triumph of a Heart

"Why did Bjork write Bedtime Stories for Madonna?"

Why not? Or maybe she just felt she had too much blood and needed to let someone suck it out.

I love the weird girls. For me, it all started with Debbie Harry, Patti Smith, and Kate Bush. Bjork, Tori Amos, PJ Harvey, etc. wouldn't be where they are without Debbie, Patti, and Kate.

Talentless, tuneless, utter CRAP! Can't stand that type of "music". It's the sound of someone throwing a muscial instrument downstairs. Horrible! PJ Harvey is even worse. Gives me a headache. Unlistenable shite. I always thought that the reason she had a career was akin to the emperor has no clothes story. Everyone is trying so hard to be so relevant and trendy that they didn't stop to think that it was actually all crap!

R48 prefers the musical stylings of The Captain and Tenielle.

Her elfin woman-child shtick is getting on my nerves. Used to love her now I'm over her. I agree with the poster above who said that s/he liked her better in the Sugarcubes than solo. I also agree that a little bit of her goes a LONG way.

I totally agree that she should team up with The Knife. That could be an awesome collaboration.

She has a lot of interesting B-sides. I wonder how artists go through the process of deciding what gets on the album and what becomes a B-side.

Well r48, give us an example of an artist you really like and you believe is really talented.

Has Bjork or any people in the know discussed her reaction to that crazy fan who tried to mail her a bomb, and then committed suicide on camera? Do you think it influenced Homogenic?

LOVED Alex Borstein's Bjork on MAD TV!

bump

She needs to do less goofy and/or 'eccentric'(pretentious work and do something more majestic like Homogenic.

Oops, the formatting on that came out a bit wrong.

Is she still living downtown Manhattan with her husband Matthew Barney and their daughter? I would think they have several homes around the world.

I think they also lived in Iceland and London.

I have never seen a picture of her daughter, only of her son. Any pics of her daughter? Or of Bjork's parents and relatives for that matter?

btw, and a bit OT: did anyone find out who was the misterious singer in those weird Youtube viral videos? the one we HOPED it was christina? can't find the videos, of course..but i'd like to know the answer to that mistery...

Bjork and Matthew Barney's daughter, taken at Marina Abramovic's recent MOMA show, "The Artist is Present".

She's looks a lot like her father.

Thanks r62.

Here's an interesting candid picture of Matthew Barney running some errands:

Ha-ha, I prefer this candid shot.

By the looks of his appearance in that shot, he was trolling the parks, correct? Is this guy seriously straight? I know that Bjork has basically said she's bi.

WTF....?????!!!

^ The above still is from "Hoist". Not sure if that's Matthew Barney with the huge ball up his ass or if it's simply an added on prosthetic anal area.

"Hoist Matthew Barney, 2004, 14 min 36 sec American fabulist Matthew Barney stages the erotics of sexual encounter as it takes place between green man and the lubricated drive shaft of a customised deforestation vehicle destined for the Carnival de Bahia."

Fascinating!

Her performance in "Dancer in the Dark" is brilliant. I can't understand how she didn't get an Oscar nom for best actress in the year Julia fucking Roberts won!

Oh please r66, like you've never been in the same situation.

There was also some fist fucking in a Barney piece, "Il Tempo Postino".

It caused "a controversy" at The Manchester Opera House.

oh dear

I agree. Homogenic was her peak. The entire album is beautiful, and it brings back good memories.%0D %0D Vespertine had some good songs on it too. But Medulla and the last one were hard to listen to. She is getting more experimental, which seems noble (better than selling out), but it's not always fun to listen to.%0D %0D The Knife's singer is totally ripping off Bjork. Why should they do a 'duet'?%0D %0D It would be interesting to hear Bjork's idea of 'pop music' at this point. Sugarcubes was definitely in that vein.

I like Hunter.

r61 its Jonna Leea Scandanavian singer.%0D %0D Shes had other albums out but they were basically lovey dovey lilith fair type albums.%0D %0D Nothing like the sound shes now doing with boyfriends group. %0D %0D She wasted too much time with the viral videos with out releasing anything else other than edgy 12 sec clips.%0D %0D So basically any interest that was there is pretty much gone.%0D %0D She has a few fans that try to find meaning in th0se 12 sec clips.%0D %0D Which is funny as hell look at the comment section on you tube.

R21 is right.%0D %0D I would have hit her too.%0D %0D She had her child with her in a stroller and was trying to get somewhere I think she was in a aiport.%0D %0D They were standing around taking pics of her like she was on stage just violating her space.%0D %0D She truned around and bombed on the photog that was walking directly behind her.%0D %0D I know shes a star but damn shes not performing at that moment.%0D %0D She had her child with her so they should have left her alone and treated her like a human.%0D %0D She did apologize & buy photog a new camera though.

I never heard Bjork was bisexual, all her known relationships have been with men. After divorcing her first husband who was in The Sugarcubes, she was involved with a British producer named Goldie, then I think she got involved with Matthew Barney.

Experimenting as teen or as a young woman, doesn't make a woman bisexual.

She gave me chills - in a good way, when she sang that year at the swan dress Oscars. Very talented singer and I have heard that she loves her "soft" drugs.

Claude:%0D %0D Discuss

thanks, R74! never heard of her...interesting stuff...

MATTHEW BARNEY AND BJ%C3%83%C2%96RK PLACE AN IKEA PHONE ORDER

MATTHEW BARNEY: (On phone.) Matthew. Barney. Sure. It's called the Fl%C3%83%C2%A4rke. F-L-A-R-K-E. It's a bookshelf.

BJ%C3%83%C2%96RK: (In background.) Ask if they have an aluminum igloo.

MATTHEW BARNEY: (Muffled.) I'm on hold. I'll check when he gets back on.

BJ%C3%83%C2%96RK: (Giggling.) Imagine if clouds were made of licorice!

MATTHEW BARNEY: Fl%C3%83%C2%A4rke. With an umlaut over the a. Also, my wife was curious if you sold aluminum ... Yes, I can hold again.

BJ%C3%83%C2%96RK: The winter makes me feel particularly blinkered.

MATTHEW BARNEY: The Fl%C3%83%C2%A4rke is in stock? Great. Another quick question. My wife is Scandinavian and she was wondering if you had any aluminum ... All right, I can hold.

BJ%C3%83%C2%96RK: Icelanders complete the echo with feel.

MATTHEW BARNEY: You're kidding me. If you can't deliver it, why do you have the option to order by phone?

BJ%C3%83%C2%96RK: Pandas are sexy.

OK, that was funny, R80.

I would love to watch her in the process of recording her albums.

R77, have you heard any other rumors about her ?

Vespertine is a great name for an album.

Soft drugs? Like what, pot? Hash?

She seems as if she's more into the hallucinatory ones.

Did she actually get her nipples pierced in the "Pagan Poetry" video?

(R75), don't know which incident you're talking about but that's not what happened in Bangkok. Check it out on youtube. Bjork has made some great music in the past, but she is certifiably mad.

yum

Shucks, even Sophie B. Hawkins went missing after she put out Timbre in 1999.

The original version of Cover Me on Post is amazing, probably my favorite Bjork songs. Very haunting and mysterious, like you are searching around in the wilderness at twilight, after it has rained.

Most people seem to overlook it. Wish she'd do more stuff like that.

I'm going hunting for mysteries

Loved the swan dress. Too bad she didn't show up the next year with a member-of-the-academy dress on.

It was a nice dress.

Wasn't there a long thread about her about two years ago that analyzed her in depth?

Where did she meet Matthew Barney?

Bjork has said in an interview that why should a person have to choose between both genders when they are equally as tasty, or something to that degree. She has never talked about female relationships though I think.

R80 - that is fuckin' funny!

R80 reminded me of this oldie but goodie.

I am one of the rare people who actually prefers the album version of All is Full of Love.

Didn't Matthew Barney used to be a J. Crew model?

I think I love R80..

Matthew Barney is pretty hot.

I'd hit it. His body is awesome.

So do they consider themselves to be a family?

"Didn't Matthew Barney used to be a J. Crew model?"

Yes, here's some photos. He also worked for Macy's. He was with the Click agency.

he pings

"So do they consider themselves to be a family?"

What is that supposed to mean? They're married and have a daughter, I guess that makes them a family.

iu

I was a massive, massive fan but she bores me shirtless now. I couldn't get enough of Debut, Post and Homogenic, but almost everything since then has sounded indulgent and pretentious to me. When she was in my city for a festival she visited a great bar run by some friends of mine. She was rude to my friend, took over the soundsystem with her iPod and forced the whole place to listen to Foreigner songs and whatever else she felt like. Arrogant, entitled and not nearly as interesting as she tries so hard to be, says I. My autographed Debut poster still hangs in my bedroom though. A relic from a time when her music was original, emotive and ever so alive.

Thanks for the interesting info, r109. I fear she is too far gone at this point.

I'm not surprised R109, but you could have been describing nearly EVERY musician who gets famous.

Once the money starts rolling in, so does the rot, the self indulgence, the arrogance and well the entitled superior attitudes towards pretty most everyone they encounter. Most celebs and that includes famous musicians, are completely delusional, the fame does go to their heads.

There are very few 'nice' and down to earth celebrities. Most forget where they came from and also forget who got them where they are now.

btw, WHY did your friend allow Bjork to take over the bar's sound system? The bar's owners should be worried about keeping their regular customers happy, not some rude visiting rock star!

I grew up listening to blues, some country, R&B, funk, jazz, hip hop, classical, reggae, rock,and whatever pop music was on the radio and mtv in the 70's and 80's and in my opinion, Bjork has found some way to create a sound for musical ears, if that makes any sense. I think she is one of the most important voices in music of this generation.

Her new album is called `Vulnicula` and it`s out somewhere in March. Because of the title I thought someone was kidding but it seems it`s true.

Homogenic is one of my favourite albums. The rest I've found slightly tuneless.

She pulls these album titles out of her ass. Her new album only has 9 songs, and she hired a santantic singer for two tracks.

Barney has a tiny cock.

Loved her when I was in my 20s, can't stand her her voice and shtick now.

Did anyone see her art show at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC?

hate her - annoying voice and too cutesy to live

[quote]Did anyone see her art show at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC?

Yes, I watched the short film in the Björk torture chamber. People were trying to find the exit in the dark after a couple minutes of it.

What do you think Catherine Deneuve was thinking during that moment? Hehe...

How is Vulnicula pronounced?

It's Vulnicura, not Vulnicula.

She's working on a new album. I hope it's something fun and uplifting.

Fuck Matthew Barney.

No than you!

her best hit was when she punched the fuck out of an annoying journalist at an airport

okay, thats funny R125!

pretentious twat