BJORK Vinilo y CD

Review: Nominated for a Grammy Award upon release, Bjork's tenth studio album was a true masterpiece and proved that the Icelandic enigma is far from out of ideas. Aesthetically - both in terms of the visuals and music itself - it's surreal and rich, and this 2023 version adds more to the brew, with additional vocals and extra effects on three of the tracks, including an appearance by her daughter, I?sado?ra Bjarkardo?ttir Barney, and bonus production on 'Ovule'.
Those who missed it first time should know this is one of her least compromising outings - if not the least compromising record she's ever done. Centring on two main sources of inspiration, bass clarinet and gabber music (up there with the most Bjork ideas you've ever heard), despite what that sounds like the LP is all mayhem, warehouse parties and weird woodwind accents. A thing of resolute beauty and visionary ideas, again, our only advice is to take a listen rather than let some writer attempt to explain what's here.

Review: "Another Bjork album?!" cry the naysayers. But little do they know they've been duped into thinking the Icelandic legend's last full-length, Utopia, was a recent affair. Actually, it's already been a good five years since the singer's flowery flabbergaster, and collab with experimentalists Arca and Doon Kanda, came to be. Fossora, by contrast, is a much more mournful LP: it's a meditation on generations, and was in part inspired by the death of Bjork's mother. It also contains collaborations with her two children, Sindri and isadora. A homelier affair, revisiting Bjork's upbringing in Iceland, on which she hadn't reflected on record since she was 16.

Review: In interviews promoting Fossora, her tenth album, Bjork joked that it started life as "her Clarinet album" - a nod to the set's extensive (and sometimes experimental) use of regular and bass clarinet instrumentation. Really, though, it's her lockdown album, and one partly inspired by the grief she felt following the passing of her mother in 2018. In many ways it's an astonishing set, with the Icelandic artist adding her own distinctive lyrics and vocals - still effortlessly emotional and addictive after all these years - to tracks that brilliantly fuse, mix and mangle red-lined tribal drums, fuzzy IDM style electronics, brass band arrangements, jazz instrumentation and, on the inspired title track, increasingly intense, break-neck dancefloor rhythms that tend towards the gabber end of the spectrum. Unusual, entertaining and utterly beguiling; it's another brilliant album from a genuine one-off.

Review: Following from the success of this year's Vulnicura LP, Iceland's Bjork has decided to release an acoustic companion made up of string-only reinterpretations; a more abstract and pensive piece, if you will. One Little Indian is the label, of course, but this time there are strictly no beats, and the only concrete sounds within it are the subtle and placid wails of Bjork's own voice. While it isn't truly a pop album, there is enough playfulness and charm to render it playable not only as a solitary piece of music, but also alongside other pieces...in an explorative DJ set, perhaps.

Review: And so Bjork's majestic remix collection continues to trickle onto our shelves and into your eardrums. The legendary leftfield pop singer / producer gives up her "Lionsong" tune for remix action from none other than Juliana Huxtable; the newcomer has only got a couple of cameo appearances to their name, but she's coming through string with this one. In essence, it's a techno tune - driven by fire kick drums and minimal sonics - but her soulful twists of vocals render it to be much more than that in the end. It's a soothing, delicate techno massage with a powerful energy.

Review: When is a remix album not a remix album? When it's creatively driven by Bjork. The wonderfully titled Bastards might be a collection of reversions from her 2011 album Biophilia but it's clear all artists have been specially considered for their job and worked hard to subvert their usual motifs; stretching from the warped techno twists of 16-Bit's take on "Hollow" to the ghostly acapella of These New Puritans remix of "Mutual Core", this is one bastard you want in your life.