my favorite Icelandic nutball is at it again! she just released another CD (Drawing Restraint 9), and quite frankly i'm so excited i could puke.
on the off chance you've been living under a very big rock for the last, say, 20 years Bjork is one of the most inventive, creative and downright perplexing individuals ever to call themselves a musician. she has completely redefined what it means to be called an artist. she's genre-less and utterly un-classifiable. she's also completely out of her gourd. if you think WAY back to 2001 Academy Awards, she was that odd little waif wearing the swan around her neck like the Ancient Mariner. but i digress...
i've loved her since the 1st time i saw the video for her big band throw-back It's Oh So Quiet (the one with the dancing mailboxes and fire hydrants) on MTV. i ran right to Sam Goody and bought her album, Post. from the 1st tremulous yodel, i was completely hooked. i went out and bought her freshman cd, Debut and was overcome at how different and totally orginal they were. Debut was mellow and slightly lounge-friendly (except for songs like the Anchor Song that were just plain silly), while Post had a refreshing industrial dance sound that completely offset (what stephen refers to as) the "someone's twisting my nipples" sounds she made throughout the cd. it was about a year later that i learned she had an entire cd where she sang classic Swing/Jazz songs. it wasn't till i bought it that i found out it was entirely in Icelandic. By now i'd become used to her bursting out occasionally in her native tongue (i've you've never heard it i can only liken it to the sound one would make when they got their tongue caught in a table fan) so i was curious as to what such a euphonious language could bring to such showstoppers as You Can't Get a Man with a Gun. suffice to say i was completely blown away. the cd was beyond phenomonal (ok it was actually beyond ridiculous, but as a fan i found it utterly entrancing). over the next couple of years, she put out 2 more original albums (Homogenic and Verspertine, respectively) and even a soundtrack for a movie (Selmasongs). it was also during this time that learned she used to front a band called the Sugarcubes (who can only be described as Iceland's answer to the B-52's) and simeltaneously discovered e-bay. it was here that i began buying up all her solo singles (b-sides b-sides b-sides; it's all about the b-sides) and past hits with the Sugarcubes. last year she released what i thought was the ultimate in fabulousness, Medulla. the entire cd is composed completely a capella. there is not one instrument on the entire thing. all the noises and music are made by her and a chorus. it's so good, you'll wanna rip your ears off and cauterize the remaining holes with lighter fluid and a faulty Bic.
it's truly needless to say that i am running out after work to pick up her latest endeavor.
"If you believe in telekenisis, raise my hand"- seen on T-Shirt on Queer As Folk
1 comment:
I had absolutely NO IDEA that she fronted the Sugarcubes! That's awesome. I have always liked her - the someone likes a person because they are stranger and more outlandish than you because you are strange and outlandish. I could never get behind the swan. But whatever. Thanks for the great Bjork history. I am definitely going to check it out.
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