On massive screens behind Bjork and her fellow musicians, flora and fauna burst into kaleidoscopic life in Technicolour. Birdsong and insects provide looped natural percussion, reflecting the singular artist’s twin obsessions: the natural world and technology in symbiosis. Bjork herself, in trademark masks and sculptural costumes, is almost a secondary character amid the visual overwhelm.Continue reading “Film Review: Bjork -Cornucopia Live”
Tag Archives: Bjork
Farewell, Our Scottish Goddess
Pam Hogg has passed away. England had Dame Viv Westwood, Alexander McQueen was half Scots and half English, but Pamela was a true Scottish fashion goddess. It’s extremely sad news. Hogg was a true icon, a trailblazer of style. She has a lasting iconoclastic legacy and unique sensibility, v punk rock and sexy. She reinventedContinue reading “Farewell, Our Scottish Goddess”
The Power of the Sad Banger
As Sophie Ellis-Bextor once observed, “It’s murder on the dancefloor”. But it’s sometimes fun to wallow in a little drama. This is where the sad banger comes in. It’s an anthem for the dumped, the disillusioned, or simply the thwarted romantic. Abba probably started it, these Eurovision winners with their Scandinavian melancholy in the verses,Continue reading “The Power of the Sad Banger”
Lost In Music: The Sugarcubes-Planet
Bjork’s breakthrough band in the UK and USA (she’d made work with Kukl,Spit and Snot and various others) were a funny hybrid of indie and pop: sometimes,they were on the wrong side of wacky, a la The B52s around the time of Love Shack. Sometimes, as with the gloriously dark Mama, Cold Sweat or Sick ForContinue reading “Lost In Music: The Sugarcubes-Planet”
Review: Sonic Symbolism Podcast
Bjork has never been one for indulging in nostalgia, so this podcast, alongside friends, writer and philosopher Oddny Eir and music historian Asi Jonsson, is a welcome deep dive into the influences and creative process behind each of her solo albums. From the shy newcomer of Debut, who had to get the songs bursting outContinue reading “Review: Sonic Symbolism Podcast”
Techno Tinkerbell: Bjork at Shepherd’s Bush Empire, 1997
This film marks Bjork’s transition from the “shy girl” from Debut, as she put it, to the bolder, almost cartoonish Techno Tinkerbell ( my term) of the Post tour. The whole band are on fire here. From Leila Arab mixing, Ed Handley and Andy Turner on keyboards to Guy Sigsworth making ambient sound, to CobaContinue reading “Techno Tinkerbell: Bjork at Shepherd’s Bush Empire, 1997”
Bjork: MTV Unplugged/ MTV Live
Bjork Unplugged? Sounds like an oxymoron, and kinda is. This film compilation of MTV appearances, released in 2002, is one for completists only. Capturing the divine Ms Gudmunsdottir in 1994 at the height of her Debut success, both the performance and sound are too subdued to really impact. She tentatively prowls around the stage inContinue reading “Bjork: MTV Unplugged/ MTV Live”
Hit The North 