The Official Needles and Grooves 1001 Album Generator Project (aka Preachin’ about the Preachers if today’s selection sucks)

09/27/23
ab67616d0000b2734f70220d934183ce2db16d6a

Bjork - Medulla



 
09/27/23
ab67616d0000b2734f70220d934183ce2db16d6a

Bjork - Medulla





My second favorite Björk album, just shy of Vespertine. Daring, powerful, debonair. A fully-realized instrumental concept; the human voice as an instrumental arsenal. In the hands of a lesser artist, this would be a mere gimmick but Björk uses the voices in creative ways which always serve the music and never distract (or detract) from it.
It is one of one.

Rating: 5/5 [Masterpiece]
 
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I mean, I love her artsy stuff, but it can be overindulgent/overwhelming. Saying it's not top tier doesn't mean it's bad. I just prefer other albums. I really like the more accessible nature of her first two albums. I like the step towards this artsy stuff with Homogenic. I just happen to think that Vespertine and Biophilia are her masterpieces. Those would be the acme for her. I'd honestly have a hard time rating anything after that.

How much of her stuff appears on this list? Because I kind of feel like her whole body of work is worthy of inclusion.
 
I was a huge fan of both The Sugarcubes and Björks first couple of albums. Seeing her on Roskilde festival in 1994 (in a way too small tent stage) is one of my best concert memories. I lost her some time in the late 90s/early 00s though. I think I bought Vespertine when it came out, but I simply didin't have the patience to delve into it then.

She has such an interesting career, though! I mean, she was seen as the next mega star after Debut and Post, and some predicted she would reach Madonna levels of pop star fame, and then she just did....something completely different.

So, first time listening to Medulla. And this is really good! Pop music twisted and turned into new artistic territories. I think I will have to dig out Vespertine again and then give this later era Björk a new chance!
 
On paper, Sonic Youth is a band that I should like a lot more then I do. This album was fine but there' just something about their sound that I find hard to get in to. EVOL was fine...3/5. I remember liking Daydream Nation more.
Oh Daydream Nation, Sister, Goo, Dirty, Washing Machine, Sonic Nurse, Murray Street, Rather Ripped, and A Thousand Leaves are all better albums. I doubt anything post-Washing Machine makes this list but they should have multiple entries still definitely including Daydream Nation which is a crowning achievement.
 
Oh Daydream Nation, Sister, Goo, Dirty, Washing Machine, Sonic Nurse, Murray Street, Rather Ripped, and A Thousand Leaves are all better albums. I doubt anything post-Washing Machine makes this list but they should have multiple entries still definitely including Daydream Nation which is a crowning achievement.
Man just listing them out like that… what a fucking amazing band.
 
Man just listing them out like that… what a fucking amazing band.
I know you are music book guy, not sure if you’ve read Kim’s memoir Girl In The Band (which is great) but Thurston is releasing his memoir next month and you can buy a signed copy from B&N currently for retail…
 
Sonic Youth is a band that on paper I should also be all over. I have been digging into mainly Daydream Nation, Goo and Bad Moon Rising throughout the last year or so and look forward to trying this one out soon.

I also read Girl in a Band and unfortunately cannot echo the recommendations for it here. For a SY superfan I can see it being interesting, but I thought it was very scattered and Kim came across as pretty self-absorbed (not to the extent that Thurston clearly was, of course, but still not well) and, for lack of a better word, uh, boomer-y?
 
On paper, Sonic Youth is a band that I should like a lot more then I do. This album was fine but there' just something about their sound that I find hard to get in to. EVOL was fine...3/5. I remember liking Daydream Nation more.

Sonic Youth is a band that on paper I should also be all over. I have been digging into mainly Daydream Nation, Goo and Bad Moon Rising throughout the last year or so and look forward to trying this one out soon.
Did we both give the same exact review? ;)
 
Sonic Youth is a band that on paper I should also be all over. I have been digging into mainly Daydream Nation, Goo and Bad Moon Rising throughout the last year or so and look forward to trying this one out soon.

I also read Girl in a Band and unfortunately cannot echo the recommendations for it here. For a SY superfan I can see it being interesting, but I thought it was very scattered and Kim came across as pretty self-absorbed (not to the extent that Thurston clearly was, of course, but still not well) and, for lack of a better word, uh, boomer-y?
TBF, Kim is 70 years old (5 years older than my own mother) and she’s fairly self absorbed but I think of that has more to do with her being an Artist 👩‍🎨 than a Boomer (maybe it’s a combo of both) but I never thought it was anything worse than Lou Reed or Bruce Springsteen.
 
TBF, Kim is 70 years old (5 years older than my own mother) and she’s fairly self absorbed but I think of that has more to do with her being an Artist 👩‍🎨 than a Boomer (maybe it’s a combo of both) but I never thought it was anything worse than Lou Reed or Bruce Springsteen.
For sure. There was just way too much "Back in my day, NYC was..." (for example) for my taste. I've read very few musician memoirs because for the most part I find them excruciatingly dry and pompous, so I don't doubt it's any different than the two you mentioned.
 
For sure. There was just way too much "Back in my day, NYC was..." (for example) for my taste. I've read very few musician memoirs because for the most part I find them excruciatingly dry and pompous, so I don't doubt it's any different than the two you mentioned.
Yeah, I tend to prefer a good Biography to a memoir or Autobiography also as most of the time most when people write about themselves they like to gloss over things that show them in a bad light.
 
Yeah, I tend to prefer a good Biography to a memoir or Autobiography also as most of the time most when people write about themselves they like to gloss over things that show them in a bad light.
Plus Shakey was well written, Wagjng Heavy Peace was like reading a 400 page fifth grade thesis. (Although I’m not sure Young pulled any punches directed towards himself.)
 
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