FEATURE:
Violently Happy in This Post-Utopia: Björk’s Studios Albums on Cassette
IMAGE CREDIT: @bjork
Her Five Essential Releases to Own
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GOOD news for Björk fans because...
IMAGE CREDIT: @bjork
she has announced her studio albums will be released on tape! It is not only great for her fans – such as myself – but it will capture the imagination of other artists. Some might say it is a bit of nostalgia and who really owns a cassette player in this time? I must admit it is quite tricky getting hold of a stereo tape deck but I think it is great we get to see these multi-coloured Björk albums available in a nice bundle. You can order your favourite albums or you can get hold of the lot. Here, as Tiny Mix Tapes explain, 26th April is an exciting date to put in your diaries!
“Here’s what you can get: Debut, Post, Homogenic, Vespertine, Medúlla, Volta, Biophilia, Vulnicura, and Utopia (R.I.P. Selmasongs) individually or in a bundle as stunning colored cassettes. They’ll look incredible on your shelves! (Or, more realistically, the Discogs Marketplace.)
For fans who love Björk as much as they love inconvenience, lack of durability, and low fidelity, you can pre-order one or all of the cassettes here, with an official release date of April 26. Individual tapes cost £8.99, while the bundle will run you £69.99, which Google tells me is currently equivalent to 92.91 United States Dollars (or 10,972.77 Icelandic Króna!), which is honestly a steal”.
I do think that, following Björk’s announcement, more artists need to get involved with cassettes. I will definitely be buying Post and Debut on cassette and I would love to see other bands and artists do the same.
… we have another surprise for you …
— björk (@bjork) March 14, 2019
we are very happy to release a line of limited edition cassette tapes
pre-order: https://t.co/9id3fTtlNU pic.twitter.com/IZ7P8v9WXo
It is not mere nostalgia and a way to accrue new interest in her back catalogue. Instead, we get to see her work in a new light and, against digital onslaught, this is a way we can truly cherish her albums. I think I still have a cassette player somewhere but, at any rate, I can see a new interest in tapes. Vinyl is healthy and we are still crazy about that but, with the decline in cassette sales, many of us are either buying records or going digital. There is the problem with cassettes and the plastic: if an alternative material could replace plastic then I can see more people buying them. I would love to see The Beatles’ catalogue back on cassette and a limited edition run of tapes from someone like Joni Mitchell. There are endless possibilities and artist options and I think Björk will definitely start a bit of a wave. It has been twenty-six years since her Debut release and, since then, she has released some of the most arresting records ever. It might be a bit pricey buying all her albums but, if you want an affordable bundle of five, I have picked the ones you need. Every Björk album is full of life and interest but, with so many cool and colourful cassettes about to come out, here are the five...
IMAGE CREDIT: @bjork
THAT you’ll want to snap up.
ALBUM COVERS: Spotify/Getty Images
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Debut
Release Date: 5th July, 1993
Labels: One Little Indian/Elektra
Producers: Nellee Hooper/Björk
Key Cuts: Venus as a Boy/Big Time Sensuality/Violently Happy
Review:
“Björk's playful energy ignites the dance-pop-like "Big Time Sensuality" and turns the genre on its head with "There's More to Life Than This." Recorded live at the Milk Bar Toilets, it captures the dancefloor's sweaty, claustrophobic groove, but her impish voice gives it an almost alien feel. But the album's romantic moments may be its most striking; "Venus as a Boy" fairly swoons with twinkly vibes and lush strings, and Björk's vocals and lyrics -- "His wicked sense of humor/Suggests exciting sex" -- are sweet and just the slightest bit naughty. With harpist Corky Hale, she completely reinvents "Like Someone in Love," making it one of her own ballads. Possibly her prettiest work, Björk's horizons expanded on her other releases, but the album still sounds fresh, which is even more impressive considering electronic music's whiplash-speed innovations. Debut not only announced Björk's remarkable talent; it suggested she had even more to offer” – AllMusic
Standout Track: Human Behaviour
Post
Release Date: 13th June, 1995
Labels: One Little Indian/Elektra
Producers: Nellee Hooper/Björk/Graham Massey/Tricky/Howie B
Key Cuts: Hyperballad/It’s Oh So Quiet/Isobel
Review:
“On Björk second solo album, Post, the ex-Sugarcube finds a bizarre and irresistible connecting point between industrial-disco, ambient-trance, and catchy synth pop. She even shoehorns in a big-band number, though few will confuse the Icelandic pixie — with her otherworldly lyrics and supernatural pipes — with Peggy Lee. Luckily, there’s a conviction to Björk’s delivery and an assurance to her hooks that make her most surreal passages as relatable as moon-June standards. Ultimately, she reinvents that tradition, constructing standards for the cyber age” – Entertainment Weekly
Standout Track: Army of Me
Homogenic
Release Date: 22nd September, 1997
Labels: One Little Indian/Elektra
Producers: Mark Bell/Björk/Guy Sigsworth/Markus Dravs/Howie B
Key Cuts: Hunter/Bachelorette/Alarm Call
Review:
“Björk’s voice is, without question, the life force of this music. You can hear her finding a new confidence on “Unravel”: The edge of her voice is as jagged as the lid of a tin can, her held tones as slick as black ice. A diligent student could try to transcribe her vocals the way jazz obsessives used to notate Charlie Parker’s solos, and you’d still come up short; the physical heft and malleability of her voice outstrips language” – Pitchfork
Standout Track: All Is Full of Love
Vulnicura
Release Date: 20th January, 2015
Labels: One Little Indian/Megaforce/Sony
Producers: Björk/Arca/The Haxan Cloak
Key Cuts: Lionsong/Black Lake/Mouth Mantra
Review:
“On History of Touches, a nostalgic litany of old intimacies is backed by a series of weirdly muted electronic explosions; Mouth Mantra, a song about escaping the numbness of a relationship’s end and finding your voice again sounds like a sudden gushing of pent-up sounds, exploding from a waltz into sonic chaos.
The album ends with Quicksand, a song on which a relatively positive, life-must-go-on sentiment – “Hackle this darkness/ Up to the light … When we’re broken we are whole” – feels undermined by its nervous rhythm. It sounds like a breakbeat with some essential workings missing: it moves forward, but refuses to swing in the way it should. This is a fitting conclusion to an album that begins, on Stonemilker, with Björk’s frank admission: “I better document this.” You could say there’s something gimlet-eyed about a woman who realises her relationship is collapsing and automatically thinks: still, great material. But it’s nothing if not honest. And besides, on the evidence of Vulnicura, she has a point” – The Guardian
Standout Track: All Is Full of Love
Utopia
Release Date: 24th November, 2017
Label: One Little Indian
Producers: Björk/Arca/Rabit
Key Cuts: Blissing Me/Utopia/Tabula Rasa
Review:
“The electrifying Tabula Rasa is even more specific, speaking of Björk’s “deepest wish”. “We are swollen from hiding his affairs,” Björk mourns as flutes sigh. She wants to wipe the slate clean. “Tabula rasa for my children/ Not repeating the fuck-ups of the fathers/ For us women to rise and not just take it lying down.” Later, the discussion widens out, away from the personal. “Embarrassed to pass this mess on to you,” Björk aches. Eventually, rain falls.
Traditionalists might still wonder where all the nice steady beats have gone, why so little music here is anchored. The dominant message, though, is of limitlessness, of hope and, on Future Forever, of “a matriarchal dome” with “musical scaffolding” – The Guardian
Standout Track: The Gate