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[gunstarhero]

Got the album this afternoon - some no-name music shop had a sign on there door saying they had it and was selling it early (@ 16 bucks) - so of course I ran in and picked up a copy.

Listened to it once in the car ride back, and listening to it right now for a second time - incredible album... i mean, REALLY incredible. Bjork fans will be pleased, while "other" will be like "wtf are you listening to??!?". Perfect.

My favorite tracks right now are track 3 (where is the line), track 12 (mouth's cradle) and of course track 9 (oceania).

Couple of things - some of the songs DO have instruments other then human voices. Piano is clearly used in 2 track and a syth bass is used in another. The cd booklet supports this fact - i though this album was suppose to be ENTIRELY vocals (beats and all). But really, who cares - it's another brillaint album by Bjork. I also noticed the lack of song data when importing to iTunes - no names, artist or album data seems to be on the CD - had to manually put in the info - again, who gives a shit, right?

CD jacket/art is cool - not my favorite but cool nonetheless.

The use of (almost) all vocals in this album is really amazing - people sound like violins, small and loud beats and other sounds you would not expect coming out a hole in one's face. Really intersting stuff. It's strongest point is that there are little sounds that get in the way of Bjork's voice - some songs sound almost acapella - which is a good thing.

2 songs in particular have some crazy sampling/mixing going on - the sound separation in my car's radio was nuts - voices in front, whispering behind me, everything moving around - again, brilliant stuff.

One of her best albums - 9 out of 10.

 

[Hooker]

:O


It's out already?!?!?! ::steals lunchmoney from little brother::

 

[gunstarhero]

t's out already?!?!?! ::steals lunchmoney from little brother::

I dont think it hits stores till Tuesday - the place I bought it from broke the release date I guess. I was under the impression it hits on the 31st.

Maybe you'll have the same luck I did though -

 

[Renegade]

I'm about to get it based off of Oceania (KELIS!!!)

I love that track, however I'm not 100% sure I'll like the rest. Convince me plz.

 

[tt_deeb]

Awesome. Nice review! Thanks!

 

[Ill Saint]

I really admire and have a great respect for Bjork and all she's accomplished, but she's become very tiring to my ears. Her voice is unmatched but her vocalisms are just so utterly predictable... it's as if for the last couple of albums she's been singing the same song repeated ad nauseam.

I was hoping she'd do something a bit different, and I don't consider her backing arrangements very interesting. They just sort of meander along and do little more than add some texture to her voice, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but not very fulfilling. The voice as instrument concept is also something of a miss with me. It's curious initially, but whatever interest it holds dissipates quickly.

That said, she's still an utterly vital and important figure in music, and no doubt has yet to produce her best work.

 

[gunstarhero]

I really admire and have a great respect for Bjork and all she's accomplished, but she's become very tiring to my ears. Her voice is unmatched but her vocalisms are just so utterly predictable... it's as if for the last couple of albums she's been singing the same song repeated ad nauseam.

I was hoping she'd do something a bit different, and I don't consider her backing arrangements very interesting. They just sort of meander along and do little more than add some texture to her voice, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but not very fulfilling. The voice as instrument concept is also something of a miss with me. It's curious initially, but whatever interest it holds dissipates quickly.

That said, she's still an utterly vital and important figure in music, and no doubt has yet to produce her best work

While I do agree that her work as of late DOES share a lot of "predictable" vocalisms/melodies, putting the words nauseam and Bjork in the same paragraph just ain right.

I havent gotten sick of it in the least, doubt I ever will - and this is her most original work in a long time imo.

But to each his own - personally I'm on my third listen today on this album, and I can't get enough. I thought I "automatically" liked it because I've been a huge Bjork fan since way back (Debut), but I can honestly say it's much more than that with this album.

I'm about to get it based off of Oceania (KELIS!!!)

I love that track, however I'm not 100% sure I'll like the rest. Convince me plz.

"Oceanic" IS one of the top songs on the album, but there is SO much more. "Where's the Line" is audio crack (prob my favorite out of all of the tracks), "Who is it" is another great one that comes to mind. "Desired Constellation" is something that will put you in a trance with a good pair of headphones. I would say I dont care for 1 track ("Submarine") and thats it. Everything else gets better and better with each listen. Very mellow album, almost Vespertine-like but even MORE relaxing.

Hope that convinces you - not sure what else will. Go get it!

 

[Ollie Pooch]

does anyone know if the DVD-A version of this album is actually in 5.1? or still just stereo? im trying to decide as its out today in perth and im going to be frantically calling people to find it

 

[bjork]

Someone will probably hook me up for my birthday, as I'm too lazy to drive to the store for one cd, bjork or not.

 

[fart]

i think it's good, but you can tell bjork has kind of relaxed into a songwriting style and even switching her instrument set (which makes it novel again to some extent) isn't really stirring the creative juices for her. she's just managed to make the same songs again a capella.

so it's not really another homogenic, but it's still pretty good. i don't know. i like it.

 

[ZootedGranny]

I basically summed up my thoughts in the other thread, but I'll just summarize for this one and say that I really enjoy it.

Weird thing happened last week though. Someone sent me a copy of it in the mail last Tuesday in a plain envelope with no return address or anything. And I hadn't ordered it or anything. Same thing happened to one other person that I saw.

 

[Black_Mamba]

Triumph of a Heart is the only track I really like. But I have to listen more.

Anyway, it's her most "difficult" album yet, by far.

 

[teepo]

i was playing mouth craddle in the morning and these two girls in my room told me their ears were in pain .

 

[Jason]

a couple of reviews

Now Toronto, 2/5 http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2004-08-26/music_discs12.php

Even for Björk, not a novice at hatching oddball schemes, Medulla is a daring recording experiment. So the story goes, when Björk felt her initial recordings were too cluttered, she discovered that stripping off a layer of instrumentation was an improvement. She continued until it hit her that she should reconstruct her songs using the human voice as the fundamental rhythmic and melodic building block. It's an intriguing concept and she's got some excellent vocal technicians helping out – Rahzel, Mike Patton, Robert Wyatt and Inuit throat singer Tanya Tagaq Gillis (from Cambridge Bay, NU) – but the slowly unfolding songs just seem incomplete, like a cappella demos sorely in need of instrumental support. Sounds like a job for Danger Mouse.

Eye Magazine, 5/5 http://eye.net/eye/issue/issue_08.26.04/music/ondisc.html

"Where is the line with you?" sings Björk on her latest studio album, Medúlla. No, Björk, where is the line with you? The Icelandic pop princess seems incapable of painting within the lines, even when her boundaries are already vast and elastic. Who else in the musical world today could craft an album of sweeping ballads, twitching microbeats and dance numbers using almost nothing but the human voice? Yes, Medúlla is a capella.

Perfectly capable of doing all her own vocal stunts, the singer chose instead to command an orchestra of voices: Icelandic choirs, Inuit throat singers, Japanese beatbox artist Dokaka, rapper Rahzel. The results are stunning.

"Where Is the Line" is the most exceptional: beginning with Björk's own breathy scales, it kicks in with squelchy, robotic beatbox and a chorus of angelic voices, then comes the whistling, vocal distortion and frenetic beats, building up aggressiveness then fading to a drawn out "ahhhh." "I want to be flexible," she sings. Done.

Only a few tracks rock this way, including the exuberant "Who Is It," most resembling her past hits, and the closer "Triumph of a Heart," a playful dance track that sounds like it was composed for computers then replicated with voices -- including a silly mewing sound. Only the single "Oceania," written for and performed at the Olympics, has a conventional structure, yet her experiments remain melodic and accessible on repeated listens. The spell is broken only by the "Submarine," an off-beat choice stuck in the middle, featuring (frankly, irritating) guests Robert Wyatt and Mike Patton.

Most of Medúlla is solemn, guttural and primal, but it's not a downer. With odes to nature and freedom from machines like "Desired Constellation," (Björk singing beautifully solo over twinkling clicks and synthetic pulses) the effect is joyous.

Medúlla means a soft, internal region, and this disc is indeed intimate, not the kind of record you throw on at a house party. It could almost be filed under "symphonies," which I suppose is the natural step for Björk. She's always dressed like an opera singer, now she has the record to go with it.

 

[tt_deeb]

I've heard Oceania, Mouths Cradle, and The Pleasure is all mine beforehand and they just blew me away.

Here's a really nice review I found:

Listening to Bjork's latest album Medulla, I'm reminded of those freezing evenings we spent making strange sounds on that dusty floor during rehearsals for Corpus Christi. But, if the sounds we made there were the sonic equivalent of the primordial muck from which life sprang a zillion years ago; then Medulla is the sound of the life's evolution, full of tweets and twitters, painful wailing, terrified breathing, sexual panting, secretive whispers, buzzes and whirrs; it's the sound of anthills building themselves into magnificent mosques and cathedrals over the passing of eons; it's the sacred sound of Gregorian chant slowly mutating into profane pop gyrations.

To say that the songs of Medulla have been performed a capella - as early press on the album has - is to stretch the common meaning of the term - "singing without instruments". It's true, almost all of the sounds that fill this remarkably compact record originated with the vibrations of vocal cords in the throats of human bodies; but in many cases, these sounds have been fed into samplers, recorded, and played back using the man-made machines of the third millennium.

But the literal meaning of a cappella is "in the chapel" - and, in that sense, Medulla is very much a cappella.

Bjork's last album Vespertine (2001) found the singer playing with life's smallest sounds; retreating from the industrial noises, and clubby neon lights of Debut (1993) and Post (1997), and the brash orchestrations and electronic grandeur of Homogenic (1999), to the warm blanket safety of the mundane and the domestic, the dripping of water faucets, the sizzle of smoldering embers, the shuffling of cards, the licking of envelopes, the snaps, crackles, and pops of her Rice Krispies.

But Medulla retreats even further than that. The sounds of Vespertine may have been quiet, but they were still external. Medulla, on the other hand, is full of the sounds of our insides: the things we think of that keep us awake at night, the various gurglings of our bodies; it's the sound of sweat oozing out of our pores and evaporating, the sound of our tongue paving over our dried, chapped lips with sticky saliva asphalt. It's what we might hear if we actually spent a night in our dark rooms with our eyes closed listening to our bodies, and exploring the nether regions of our thought processes.

And at times - like in the song "Ancestors" - the experience is harrowing, like the creeping utterances, the snide taunts, the sinister grunts, the communal chants and the last gasping breaths of a thousand freshly exorcised ghosts.

But almost creepier are the moments - like the brief, confessional prayer "Show Me Forgiveness" - where Bjork's voice sings out unaccompanied; or “Desired Constellation”, where over a soft, quietly oscillating bed of electronic shimmer, she pleads with herself: “How am I going to make this right? How am I going to make this right?” In the hymn-like “Vökuró” (“sleepless”), the dark, harmonic humming of a gothic cathedral choir cushions the earthy harshness and naivete of Bjork’s voice singing in her native Icelandic.

But Medulla isn’t all about dark nights of the soul: ironically, for this most unconventional of records, Bjork has also given us some of her most conventional – and giddy - melodies. "Who Is It?" sports not only a dazzling array of human beatbox percussion, but also a winning chorus which recalls the colorful, anthemic quality of the Eurodisco songs of the mid-90s. Meanwhile, album opener "Pleasure is All Mine" is lush, sensually jazzy pop which, present arrangement notwithstanding, has Cassandra Wilson written all over it; and lead single “Oceania” is a cheesy slice of retro-Latin exotica where Bjork sounds as if she’s being backed up by a swirling underwater chorus line of mermaids. “Mouth’s Cradle” even toys with doo-wop, and the Roots’ Rahzel adds a dash of old school hip hop and information age sound effects to the ancient Mediterranean atmosphere of “Where is the Line?”

The record certainly has flaws. Bjork has always had a penchant for epic songwriting, and it’s never been uncommon for her songs to top the 5 and 6 minute marks; but the songs of Medulla are all relatively (and sometimes jarringly) brief – some, like “Öll Birtan” even feel half-formed, and at times the pace of the album seems a little choppy. But, ultimately, Medulla is so intense, so confrontationally intimate, so nerve-rackingly exhilarating, and just so damned peculiar that even its failings feel delicate, and full of strange magic.

There are moments when listening to this album literally makes me tense and angry. There are moments listening to this album in which I feel like I’m having an involuntary physical reaction to the music; where my blood quickens, and the muscles in my gut flex, and I feel like I can feel every electric charge bouncing from nerve cell to nerve cell in each of my fingers and toes.

How amazing for nothing but a series of orchestrated human sounds to do that to a person.

http://www.epinions.com/content_153056087684

 

[Renegade]

"Oceanic" IS one of the top songs on the album, but there is SO much more. "Where's the Line" is audio crack (prob my favorite out of all of the tracks), "Who is it" is another great one that comes to mind. "Desired Constellation" is something that will put you in a trance with a good pair of headphones. I would say I dont care for 1 track ("Submarine") and thats it. Everything else gets better and better with each listen. Very mellow album, almost Vespertine-like but even MORE relaxing.

Hope that convinces you - not sure what else will. Go get it!

I got it, and the track 'Oceania' was not the track I previously thought of. The song I listened to before and really liked was "Your sweat is Salty, I am why". It appears to be changed into 'Submarine'. The Kelis version of this song is much, much better. This is my first Bjork album, and I think it's nice, pretty smooth (I usually listen to Hip Hop). It's a good change of pace, but I can see this getting very grating it I listen to this on loop.

 

[tt_deeb]

I got it, and the track 'Oceania' was not the track I previously thought of. The song I listened to before and really liked was "Your sweat is Salty, I am why". It appears to be changed into 'Submarine'. The Kelis version of this song is much, much better. This is my first Bjork album, and I think it's nice, pretty smooth (I usually listen to Hip Hop). It's a good change of pace, but I can see this getting very grating it I listen to this on loop.

No, I'm pretty sure that song is still "Oceania" or am I confused?

 

[Renegade]

Well, maybe the version I 'acquired' was mislabeled. Whatever song 'Your Sweat Is Salty' is is my favorite track so far, but the version with Kelis on it is Amazing, and it's what really made me get the album.

I advise EVERYONE to download the Kelis/Bjork version because it was TRUELY amazing. I had that on loop for about half a day and downloaded this CD because I expected to hear more of it .

I also really like Mouth's Cradle.

 

[Killthee]

Well, maybe the version I 'acquired' was mislabeled. Whatever song 'Your Sweat Is Salty' is is my favorite track so far, but the version with Kelis on it is Amazing, and it's what really made me get the album.

I advise EVERYONE to download the Kelis/Bjork version because it was TRUELY amazing. I had that on loop for about half a day and downloaded this CD because I expected to hear more of it .

I also really like Mouth's Cradle.

Yeah its mislabeled, she sung Oceania at the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics and its "I am wine" not "why". I prefer the remix of Oceania too its so much better. Anything else by Kelis that sounds like this? My fav track in the album is Sonnet/Unrealities IX though.

 

[Renegade]

Kelis' tracks are a bit more ordained and melodic.

Listen to 'Mars', 'I don't Care Anymore', 'Young Fresh 'N New' and 'Get along With you' as those songs are most like Bjork's stuff, and also among Kelis' best.

Also I acquired the Bjork CD Homogenic and it was good as well. I liked Medulla better though, but Homogenic was good except for 2 tracks.

 

[teiresias]

Gonna pick up Medulla tomorrow (might swing by some CC or Best Buys today and see if they've put it out yet - doubtful).

In any event, Hyper-Ballad is the best Bjork song ever. Of course, the only two Bjork CD's I own are Post and Vespertine, so I haven't heard anything from Homogenic. I do, however, have the DVD of the Vespertine tour where she performs in the Royal Opera House - that is an amazing show!

 

[bjork]

Hyper-Ballad with the Brodsky Quartet (the version that's found on Telegram) is even better than the original imo.

Fans of Homogenic may try to track down the Japanese release of the album as well, as it has... like six or seven additional songs on it over the US/EU versions.

 

[White Man]

In any event, Hyper-Ballad is the best Bjork song ever.

<cough> Joga! <cough>

I wonder what the chances of me finding this on sale before midnite are. I am surrounded by cool music shops. Hmmmm.

 

[bjork]

Even though it's not her song, my favorite bjork tune is the Ruby Baby cover she does on Gling Glo. You can totally tell she's having a blast on that entire album.

 

[White Man]

What's the story with Gling Glo? Why is it not considered part of the Bjork 'canon;' ie. Why do all the reviews say that Medulla is only her 5th solo album? I personally haven't heard it, and I think the reason is that I've been put off by so many reviews just ignoring its existence.

Also, teiresias, listen to Homogenic ASAP. While I do believe that Bjork could one day surpass it, it's undeniably her current high water mark.

 

[bjork]

Gling Glo was done in 1990, while she was still with the Sugarcubes. It's just a fun album that covers a lot of different song types, with only the last two tracks being in english, the rest is icelandic. But I think that it was the first thing to really show that she could do something other than weird screaming stuff (KUKL) or pop-ish (Sugarcubes). Dunno why it wouldn't have many reviews, though. It's been around for a good while now.

 

[enjoy bell woods]

Because it's as much the jazz band backing her's project as it is hers.

 

[White Man]

Dunno why it wouldn't have many reviews, though. It's been around for a good while now.

Oh, there're plenty of reviews for Gling Glo. I more meant that the reviews of her major albums seem to ignore its existence.

 

[bjork]

Oh. I think they really consider Debut as... well, her debut, as far as any solo work goes. Though, it would be kind of funny to see some review be like, "Bjork has progressed infinitely since her first album was released in September of 1977"

 

[Bob White]

and its "I am wine" not "why".

bjork.com says it's WHY, not wine.

 

[Bob White]

Also, bjork.com has this cool pop up with a sample of a different version of submarine.

 

[Ollie Pooch]

just got it, and 'oll birtan' is unbelievable.

 

[Hooker]

Just got it as well, on Mouth's Cradle right now. Which I like a LOT! The album itself, it's definitly more difficult than her other albums, but I don't think I'll have a problem with it.


Best Björk song ever?! Bachelorette!! (Jóga live is way better, without the techno mumbo-jumbo)

 

[KingGondo]

Where can I find more material from the Japanese guy on "Triumph of a Heart?" The beats he creates are INSANE.

 

[8bit]

Where can I find more material from the Japanese guy on "Triumph of a Heart?" The beats he creates are INSANE.

It's Dokaka, isn't it?

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/4/dokakamusic.htm

 

[tt_deeb]

It's Dokaka, isn't it?

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/4/dokakamusic.htm

Cover of smells like teen spirit is priceless.

 

[GG-Duo]

How is that high pitch sound on Who Is It produced?

 

[tt_deeb]

After a few more listens. 10/10 easily. This shits too good.