HYPERBALLOT: ILM Artist Poll #88 -- Björk Resultsness

https://cansesclasseled.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/bjork-1993-jean-baptiste-mondino-debut-04.jpg

Ballots Received/Number of Elements Receiving Votes

SONGS: 41 ballots; 137 songs
ALBUMS: 37 ballots; 14 albums
VIDEOS: 22 ballots; 24 videos
REMIXES: 15 ballots; 52 remixes
SUGARCUBES: 12 ballots; 16 songs

Today will be the side polls and tomorrow will begin the track countdown.

YES!

First up ...

ALBUMS

https://cansesclasseled.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/selmasongs.jpg

10. Selmasongs (2000) -- 20 points; 3 votes

Great! I've been preparing a bit this weekend, setting beat grids/cue points/etc for a nice playlist of Björk remixes, I'm just waiting for the poll-winners, include those and then I can live mix & record a hopefully halfway decent hour-long mix. Listening to dozens of these remixes, I feel more and more it's a real shame that she abandoned dancefloor oriented material so quickly.

(xpost)
Too low!

https://cansesclasseled.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/volta.jpg

09. Volta (2007) -- 29 points; 4 votes; 1 first-place vote

commendable thread title

https://cansesclasseled.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/biophilia.jpg

08. Biophilia (2011) -- 54 points; 8 votes

selmasongs too low though i didn't vote for it in the end

So excited for this.

I'm fine with Volta being so low. Definitely her least essential full length album for me.

time to bookmark!

Oooh! Exciting.

These placements feel about right. ie. these three weren't on my ballot at all. :)

https://cansesclasseled.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/utopia.jpg

07. Utopia (2017) -- 56 points; 8 votes

Oh, Biophilia criminally too low.

https://cansesclasseled.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/vulnicura.jpg

06. Vulnicura (2015) -- 123 points; 18 votes

Biophilia should be higher than Utopia. I'm still waiting for this album to connect beyond a few tracks (Blissing Me, Arisen My Senses and Future Forever being the main highlights). Vulnicura was my number five. Such a gorgeous record.

agree with Vulnicura ahead of Utopia but ahead of Biophilia too?? damn y'all

My "too low!" goes to Vulnicura. Still, half of y'all voted for it!

Yeah, there was a clear line between the number of votes 6th place got and 7th place.

https://cansesclasseled.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/medulla.jpg

05. Medúlla (2004) -- 132 points; 17 votes

Oh, Biophilia criminally too low.

At least a lot of us gained a new appreciation for it (even if we didn't vote for it), it looked like. And that's really the best part of these polls imo.

https://cansesclasseled.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/71e4ci9r61l-_sl1050_.jpg

04. Debut (1993) -- 183 points; 24 votes; 2 first-place votes

At least a lot of us gained a new appreciation for it (even if we didn't vote for it), it looked like. And that's really the best part of these polls imo.

― change display name (Jordan),

Yeah, that's true. It was really cool to see a positive reaction for Biophilia in the voting thread. I remember being so disappointed when it didn't even make the top 77 albums list in 2011. Speaking of new appreciations, Medulla was a revelation for me when I went back to it before voting. I've always enjoyed it, but I fell for it in a big way over the last few weeks. Ended up putting it as my number three.

I'm a little surprised Utopia did better than Biophilia

https://cansesclasseled.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/0416aad9845ed91751bf880c3951f34f-1000x1000x1.jpg

03. Post (1995) -- 228 points; 28 votes; 5 first-place votes

Yeah I enjoyed & listened to Medulla a lot when it came out, but was a little surprised to go back and realize that it's now one of my favorites (and maybe my #1).

https://cansesclasseled.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/vespertine.jpg

02. Vespertine (2001) -- 287 points; 33 votes; 12 first-place votes

https://cansesclasseled.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/homogenic.jpg

01. Homogenic (1997) -- 301 points; 33 votes; 17 first-place votes

Brief break and then back with Sugarcubes tracks.

only 12 voters for Sugarcubes? lol, I woulda voted for my five favorite KUKL tracks given the chance

if y'all haven't heard those records, they are worth your time

wow good for Vespertine, my number one

my albums ranking:
Vespertine
Homogenic
Debut
Post
Vulnicura
SelmaSongs
Medulla
Biophilia
Volta
Utopia

my album ballot:
Vespertine
Homogenic
Post
Debut
Vulnicura

Perfect top two! My order:

Homogenic
Vespertine
Medulla
Post
Vulnicura
Debut
Biophilia
Utopia
Volta
SelmaSongs

I guess it's not surprising to still see the eternal divide 92-01 / 04-present in the perceptions of her career. At the same time, I sense a re-appraisal, a few years ago you still had whiners asking when she'd finally return to pop (these people need to be slapped) and beats; now more people reserve a good place for her later work, though it's curious how nobody quite agrees on which. For example, I had a second discovery of Björk at the time of Medulla and Volta, so these two hold a special place for me, Medulla especially but this one really stands alone, I think Volta really defined her later work: all those sound-landscape portraits, and the use of additional instruments (horns on Volta, then strings, then winds). At the same time, I was always cold to Biophilia, which I find too... abstract and cold in its style exercises. I was hoping to see even more points for Vulnicura.
Post and Debut are both unequal, but Debut has a lot of charm, and so does Post, maybe.
I can't deny that Homogenic and Vespertine still tower in her discography, including for me, although for a while Medulla was my official favorite. I still can't decide which I prefer of those two masterpieces, as they're really so different. I certainly wasn't expecting a 17-12 for Homogenic, I'd have imagined Vespertine coming on top actually, because of its sheer orchestrated / atmospheric / post-pop beauty. I guess Homogenic is the all-rounder, while Vespertine is the late night shivers.

Vespertine was my #1 but there was almost nothing separating the top three (Which included Vulnicura)

I should already be asleep but I think I'm going to...stick around for joy.

(adding to my post: *soundscapes and poetry really developed in Volta, the longer pieces too)
Anyone for a symbolic interpretation of Vespertine's cover ? Right now the swans and rapture are staring at me and striking me as a very unique and defy my thoughts.

Post
Homogenic
Vespertine
Debut
Vulnicura

any of those top 3 could be at the top on any given day, though

lol this was a pretty predictable top 5

Vulnicura almost squeaked in!

Full album results ...

Homogenic	301	33
Vespertine	287	33
Post	228	28
Debut	183	24
Medúlla	132	17
Vulnicura	123	18
Utopia	56	8
Biophilia	54	8
Volta	29	4
Selmasongs	20	3
Drawing Restraint 9	16	2
Vespertine Live	8	1
Telegram	7	1
Mount Wittenberg Orca	6	1

SUGARCUBES TRACKS

10. Eat the Menu -- 17 points; 2 votes

09. Water -- 20 points; 3 votes

(Not going to overwhelm the thread with YT links until we get to music videos, ftr.)

I didn't vote in the album poll (was a beyond-the-deadline voter), but Vespertine would've been my number 1. Post was 2 though, so I doubt it would've lead to a switch of those two.

Biggest surprise for is seeing Medúlla so high. Thought it'd place around 7th/8th, certainly not higher than Vulnicura and Biophilia!

08. Traitor -- 23 points; 3 votes

My albums vote

Homogenic
Vespertine
Vulnicura
Medúlla
Mount Wittenberg Orca

Did not vote for Sugarcubes tracks as I only know three. But will check out whatever comes up.

True confession, I've never checked out the Sugarcubes stuff

search the bonkers string-section remix of "Deus" for sure

07. Walkabout -- 34 points; 5 votes

06. Motorcrash -- 37 points; 5 votes

TOO LOW :)

Oops, "Traitor" and "Eat the Menu" had 1 first-place vote each

05. Mama -- 38 points; 5 votes

04. Planet -- 39 points; 5 votes

03. Deus -- 29 points; 7 votes; 1 first-place vote

02. Hit -- 63 points; 8 votes; 3 first-place votes
01. Birthday -- 99 points; 11 votes; 6 first-place votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58bAgVSYV1E

birthday is so brilliant, one of the best-ever basslines

(change "x" to "t" in link)

hxxps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPHRHcwwbrg

("Deus" remix version)

looks like utopia is unpopular but I think it's my fav thing she's done since vespertine, glistening and supple and fresh. vulnicura otoh i haven't been able to get into at all

REMIXES

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSIPalML2_o

10. Isobel (Deodato Mix) -- 15 points; 2 votes (tie)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viX7tcKXehY

10. It's In Our Hands (Soft Pink Truth Mix) -- 15 points; 2 votes (tie)

These were the other six Sugarcubes songs that got votes:

Coldsweat	15	2
Pump	9	1
I'm Hungry	9	1
Delicious Demon	7	1
Tidal Wave	6	1
Regina	6	1

didn't vote for sugarcubes but birthday is all time of course

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48cuLlF5iqs

09. Family (Katie Gately Remix) -- 16 points; 2 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOwHxXiJXY4

06. Hyperballad (Brodsky Quartet) -- 17 points; 2 votes (tie)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5Y3mBFchvo

06. Isobel (Transfunk Remix) -- 17 points; 2 votes (tie)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-nS15CbtmI

06. Violently Happy (Masters at Work 12") -- 17 points; 2 votes; 1 first-place vote (tie)

I really like that Katey Gately remix of Family! The original is also one of her most amazing songs, I think

The MAW mix is excellent indeed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivqs5AoQ8sY

05. Big Time Sensuality (The Fluke Minimix) -- 19 points; 2 votes; 1 first-place vote

isobel transfunk remix is the truth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqD1Qd3EMD4

04. The Dull Flame of Desire (Modselektor Remix for Girls) -- 21 points; 3 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Avp_164pXD4

03. Who Is It (Vitalic Mix) -- 22 points; 3 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEGqNobImKI

02. One Day (Springs Eternal Mix) -- 26 points; 3 votes; 2 first-place votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5shxIz6sXY

01. Human Behavior (Underworld Mix) -- 29 points; 4 votes

So literally all of these got first place votes that were also their only votes:

All is Full of Love (Howie's Version)
All is Full of Love (Plaid Remix)
All is Full of Love (Video Version)
Anchor Song, The (Strings Version)
Blissing Me (serpentwithfeet Remix)
Crystalline (Omar Souleyman Remix)
Earth Intruders (xxxchange mix)
Pagan Poetry (Infusion Mix)
Sun in My Mouth (recomposed by Ensemble)
Virus (Hudson Mohawke Peaches & Guacamol Remix)
Who Is It (Bogdan Raczinski)

Full results:

Human Behavior (Underworld Mix)	29	4
One Day (Springs Eternal Mix)	26	3
Who Is It (Vitalic Mix)	22	3
Dull Flame of Desire, The (Modeselektor Remix for Girls)	21	3
Big Time Sensuality (The Fluke Minimix)	19	2
Hyper-ballad (Brodsky Quartet)	17	2
Isobel (Transfunk Remix)	17	2
Violently Happy (Masters at Work 12")	17	2
Family (Katie Gately Remix)	16	2
Isobel (Deodato Mix)	15	2
It's In Our Hands (Soft Pink Truth Mix)	15	2
Big Time Sensuality (Justin Robertson Lionrock Wigout Vox)	14	2
I Miss You (Sunshine Mix)	12	2
All is Full of Love (Howie's Version)	10	1
All is Full of Love (Plaid Remix)	10	1
All is Full of Love (Video Version)	10	1
Anchor Song, The (Strings Version)	10	1
Blissing Me (serpentwithfeet Remix)	10	1
Crystalline (Omar Souleyman Remix)	10	1
Earth Intruders (xxxchange mix)	10	1
Pagan Poetry (Infusion Mix)	10	1
Sun in My Mouth (recomposed by Ensemble)	10	1
Virus (Hudson Mohawke Peaches & Guacamol Remix)	10	1
Who Is It (Bogdan Raczinski)	10	1
All is Full of Love (In Love with Funkstörung)	9	1
Come To Me (Black Dog Mix)	9	1
Cover Me (Dillinja Mix)	9	1
Hidden Forest, A (Björk vs. The Cure)	9	1
Hidden Place (Knick & The Enemy Remix)	9	1
Human Behavior (Speedy J Remix)	9	1
Mutual Core (These New Puritans remix)	9	1
Violently Happy (Fluke - Even Tempered)	9	1
Virus (Matthew Herbert's Fever Mix)	9	1
Black Lake (Viola Organista Version)	8	1
"Declare Independence (Mark Stent Instrumental)
Declare Independence (Mark Stent Instrumental)
Declare Independence (Mark Stent Instrumental)
Declare Independence (Mark Stent Instrumental)
Declare Independence (Mark Stent Instrumental)"	8	1
Hunter (µ-Ziq Remix)	8	1
Hyper-ballad (Tee's Freeze Mix)	8	1
Kindness Kind (Delikate Impostors Remix)	8	1
Possibly Maybe (Brodsky Quartet Live at Union Chapel)	8	1
Sacrifice (Death Grips Remix)	8	1
Violently Happy (Basso Hitto Dubbo)	7	1
Arisen My Senses (Lanark Artefax Remix)	7	1
Big Time Sensuality (Plaid Remix)	7	1
Hyper-ballad (Girls Blouse Mix)	7	1
Hyper-ballad (Over the Edge Mix)	7	1
Joga (Introvert Breaks Mix)	7	1
Pagan Poetry (Matthew Herbert Handshake Mix)	7	1
All is Full of Love (Cass Breaks Remix)	6	1
Big Time Sensuality (Morales Def Club Mix)	6	1
Hollow (16-bit Remix)	6	1
Mutual Core (Matthew Herbert's Teutonic Plates Mix)	6	1
Stonemilker (Forest Swords Remix)	6	1

Which brings us to ...

MUSIC VIDEOS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1QtZqCiP7s

10. Isobel (1995) -- 33 points; 4 votes; 1 first-place vote

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htobTBlCvUU

10. It's Oh So Quiet (1995) -- 33 points; 4 votes (tie)

And Bjork seriously needs to improve the quality of her videos on YouTube. 360p? It's 2018.

Damn. Fast moving poll is moving fast.

I'll be stretching the 60 tracks across 4 days, so it'll slow down considerably soon enough.

ty be still my beating heart

It's Oh So Quiet is one of those videso that really adds to my appreciation of the song

yowza i missed a bunch

kinda surprised vespertine almost caught homogenic! esp considering everyone assumed a homo-post-debut finish? or at least someone did in the other thread and i just assumed they'd be right because it was the first prediction i read?

i was out on sugarcubes and i didn't think the remixes thru too well but i am looking fwd to listening to both of those lists!

v excited for these music videos, idk if there is an artist with more good vids than bjork, gonna say no

and i don't even like gondry videos that much!

https://vimeo.com/89136302

09. Wanderlust (2008) -- 34 points; 4 votes; 1 first-place vote

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJRiBDMfrTU

I just watched the Greatest Hits DVD for the first time last night and the "It's Oh So Quiet" video looks like washed-out shit and was almost definitely transferred from a VHS tape. But all the other videos look p good so far and I am p sure the rip on the Spike Jonze Director's Label DVD looks great so idk what gives

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqF8_UcUQdQ

08. Pagan Poetry (2001) -- 35 points; 4 votes; 2 first-place votes

Ahh... looking at this video as a teenager to see artful breasts... souvenirs souvenirs.
Tomorrow there will be many posts so I just wanna say in advance that when the Venus as a Boy video gets posted, the people who have read the graphic deviant sex-shitfest Story of the Eye (Lord Auch) can look at this innocent kitchen and those eggs in a totally new way. I don't know who made that connection though.

I"m going to be so mad if the "Violently Happy" video places

the last 7 HAVE to be "Human Behavior", "Army of Me", "Big Time Sensuality", "All is Full Of Love", "Bachelorette", and "Who Is It", and "Triumph of a Heart", right????

Like, "Cut to the Feeling" LSFYL mad?

xp I think Wanderlust and Pagan Poetry are two of her greatest videos, and am curious as to which ones people liked better

xp no I could never be that mad at anything ever again

Pagan Poetry was my number 1, just astonishing as a performance and as a piece of visual art

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E5-4GdzXWw

07. Big Time Sensuality (1993) -- 37 points; 5 votes

This however, is not.

I mean, not for nothing was it projected four-stories-tall at MOMA.

I really love this video!

makes me wish I had been there to see the filming of it

Catch a few glimpses here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOrGYzNUBVM

love the dgaf style of acting/dancing on the truck with people agape in the streets, released as the video to her first single!

This video is so near and dear to my heart and fills me w such joy

all the debut-era videos are so excellent

Except apparently "Violently Happy," as per Stevie D.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwV9W9Mj9uY

06. Army of Me (1995) -- 42 points; 5 votes; 1 first-place vote

Honestly, I can only think of one Bjork video that does nothing in the slightest for me and that's "Play Dead," obvs.

xp the extreme wide angle (fish eye?) filming lens in Big Time Sensuality really contributes to feeling of joyful exhibitionism, too

big time sensuality video is iconic come on

thrilled the underworld mix won

I had never seen "Army of Me" before last night and was blown away, it def would have been in my top 3 if I'd voted

it’s such a powerful and bizarre video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvgVsxaqYgA

05. Triumph of the Heart (2005) -- 65 points; 8 votes; 1 first-place vote

😽

too low!!!

love the way the triumph of the heart video expands the song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnZzE89Qn7w

04. Hyperballad (1996) -- 78 points; 10 votes; 1 first-place vote

“hyberballad” is a visual perfectly suited toward its song, my favorite thing is the way the camera sways in time to the low bass riff and also hologram björk and also 8-bit avatar björk

it also makes me cry for some reason

oh my god "Who Is It" isnt' going to place is it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDbPYoaAiyc

03. Human Behavior (1993) -- 93 points; 11 votes; 3 first-place votes

oh my god "Who Is It" isnt' going to place is it

― the masseduction of lauryn hill (Stevie D(eux)), Monday, May 7, 2018 1:05 PM (fourteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

never felt any kind of way about this video even though the bell dress rules

the only Bjork videos I have a hard time watching are Hidden Place and Vertebrae by Vertebrae, both are disturbing to me

(although beautiful at the same time)

“where is the line” has a deeply fucked up video

oh, never saw that one!

idk you may want to keep it that way

“mouth mantra” video also basically unwatchable for me

the Human Behavior video filled my kid with such delight, and me once again, seeing it for the first time in twenty years.

"Vertebrae by Vertebrae" doesn't have an official video, does it?

No, that and "Virus" are taken from a video art installation piece.

Oh, you mean the ones on YouTube? They are both fan edits of Andy Thomas Huang's "Solipsist". Bjork saw the original video and asked Huang to collaborate on "Mutual Core".

Given the visual spendor of her video oeuvre I kinda feel Big TIme Sensuality placed for nostalgia and the song itself. Always felt the video was "meh" at best and didn't place on my ballot.

xp

ok, that makes sense

yeah it was the youtube video of Solipsist that I was reacting to

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJnhaXwK86M

02. Bachelorette (1997) -- 101 points; 12 votes; 4 first-place votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjI2J2SQ528

01. All is Full of Love (1999) -- 123 points; 14 votes; 5 first-place votes

fair

Full music video results:

All is Full of Love	123	14
Bachelorette	101	12
Human Behavior	93	11
Hyperballad	78	10
Triumph of the Heart	65	8
Army of Me	42	5
Big Time Sensuality	37	5
Pagan Poetry	35	4
Wanderlust	34	4
It's Oh So Quiet	33	4
Isobel	33	4
Mutual Core	29	4
Jóga	28	4
Gate, The	25	4
Possibly Maybe	23	3
Venus as a Boy	21	3
I Miss You	16	2
Black Lake	15	2
Who Is It	12	2
Cocoon	9	1
Hunter	9	1
Unison	7	1
Hidden Place	6	1
Oceania	6	1

"Joga" and "Possibly Maybe" and "I Miss You" all had a single first-place vote each.

There’s a great bit in the Emily Mackay book about how the AiFoL video anticipated (inspired?) the white, sterile look of the iPod and other Apple products of a few years later.

All is full of love is not only the best bjork video it should be in every top 10 music videos from the 90’s from here to eternity. Hyperballad would be my second choice. There are days when I think Bjork videos are even better than her songs.

i voted for the Joga video, the one with all the digitally altered shots and zooms and pans of icelandic landscapes. parts of it just look silly bad today, but i still get really disoriented (in a good way) with some of the weird pans that shift in time with the music, like the shot of the river around 1:42 in. the 480p quality of the youtube version is not pleasant to look at, though.

i was also the Isobel #1. i used to watch a bjork video collection at my friend's house on a weekly basis, and Isobel was the one that always sucked me in. love the way the two holographic versions of her approach and retreat into each other, a trick that's used in the Hyperballad video a bit too.

y’all how did “I Miss You” not even place???

i mean

it was really hard to vote for a v perverse john k. video given recent news

^^^ yup

it’s such a great video. whole thing fuckin sucks

oh yikes I don’t know anything about it??

in breaking news I do NOT like the “Cocoon” video

“Hunter” video is like worse than “Play Dead” in terms of snooze factor

no!

idk the bear effect carries it i think

I had the same thought re: John K but tbh it was never my favorite Bjork video or song

some björk videos live or die on the strength of their central image

Like “Violently Happy”

yep

oh fuuuuuuuck John K what a sack of shit!!

After listening to his commentary tracks on the Ren and Stimpy discs, hardly surprised

I was always annoyed that they wrote down the wrong lyrics in the I Miss You video. "Well it's more important" instead of "Or what is more important". Couldn't they check the lyrics sheet before putting them in the video ?

I fell asleep just before the Sugarcubes rollout. All 5 of my selections were in the top 9 there, though I guess their oeuvre is fairly small.

It occurs to that it's almost exactly 30 years since I was startled by "Birthday". Not least the bit about the raven gliding down the sky. SHE TOUCHED IT!!!! It served as timely gateway to whole lot of (mostly UK) indie stuff at the very moment I tuned to the right radio stations. Though, as Tim F said in the other thread, their relationship to such music wasn't necessarily straightforward a lot of the time. I'm not sure I've ever had a favourite song but "Birthday" has probably come to mind more often than anything else when the question has come up!

"occurs to ME"

Interesting results for videos (I haven't seen any post-Vespertine) and Sugarcubes (surprised there was so much consensus that only 16 songs got voted for, thought I might be the only voter for some of my tracks). can't wait to see tracks!

It looks like everyone just voted for the most Bjork-centric Sugarcubes tracks (other than “Fucking in Rhythm & Sorrow” which I would have liked to have had space to cote for, and “Chihuahua” which, lol).

damn yeah i was wondering where the I Miss You video was, then the penny dropped.

Cool results so far, the albums list was more or less what I expected but can't really argue with it. Despite owning the Volumen: Greatest Hits DVD I didn't get round to properly re-watching all the videos so my votes were pretty nostalgic. Wasn't familiar with many remixes so that took a bit of digging - ended up without any overlap between my remix votes and originals in my top 30 tracks, completely unintentionally. The Sugarcubes have some great songs but I do think all you really need by them is the Best of.

My sidepoll ballots anyway, all ranked 1-5

Albums:
Homogenic
Vespertine
Medúlla
Post
Debut

Remixes:
Virus (Hudson Mohawke Peaches & Guacamol Remix)
Cover Me (Dillinja Mix)
It's in Our Hands (Soft Pink Truth Mix)
Arisen My Senses (Lanark Artefax Remix)
Mutual Core (Matthew Herbert's Teutonic Plates Mix)

Music videos:
Army of Me
Bachelorette
Hyperballad
Human Behaviour
Hidden Place

Sugarcubes tracks:
Birthday
Hit
Planet
Mama
Walkabout

My albums:

Albums:

01. Homogenic (10.0)
02. Post (1995) [9.7]
03. Medulla (2004) [9.5]
04. Vespertine (2001) [8.3]
05. Vulnicura (2015) [8.0]
06. Debut (1993) [7.7]
07. Biophilia (2011) [7.2]
08. Utopia (2017) [6.0]
09. Drawing Restraint 9 (2005) [5.3]
10. Semlasongs (2000) [5.1]
11. Volta (3.5)

Remixes/Versions:

01. Anchor Song (Strings Version)
02. Isobel (Deodato Mix)
03. Black Lake (Viola Organista Version)
04. Hyperballad (Girls Blouse Mix)
05. I Miss You (Dobie Part 1)
06. All Is Full of Love (Strings)
07. Sun In My Mouth (Recomposed By Ensemble)
08. Oceania (Piano & Vocal)
09. Bjork - Earth Intruders (Lexx Remix)
10. Wanderlust (Ratatat Remix)

For remixes I realized for me it's all about versions that really engage the track, and don't just superimpose a genre or a totally unrelated idea. A secondary criterion was how close to being as good and coherent a piece as the original. The live Brodsky version of "Anchor Song" is the only version for me that supercedes its original--the strings work better than the saxes, and my god--her total vocal mastery! You can hear how far she'd come in a few years.

https://cansesclasseled.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/60-quicksand.jpg

60. Quicksand (Vulnicura, 2015) -- 196.5 points; 7 votes

my #29!

Just about didn't make my final cut, but a great track to start with nonetheless.

In an album with so many long and pained tracks, "Quicksand" is such an effectively abrupt conclusion.

https://cansesclasseled.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/59-an-echo-a-stain.jpg

59. An Echo, A Stain (Vespertine, 2001) -- 210 points; 5 votes

^^^ love this

echo! one of her first really centerless compositions. so beautiful

Quicksand was one of three songs from Vulnicura that made my list. She's one of my favourite artists for album closers.

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58. Generous Palmstroke ("Hidden Place" B-side, 2001) -- 216 points; 6 votes

yesssss

High-five to Brad for “centre-less”

Looking forward to roaming this thread after the roll out.

& especially looking forward to...

Great! I've been preparing a bit this weekend, setting beat grids/cue points/etc for a nice playlist of Björk remixes, I'm just waiting for the poll-winners, include those and then I can live mix & record a hopefully halfway decent hour-long mix. Listening to dozens of these remixes, I feel more and more it's a real shame that she abandoned dancefloor oriented material so quickly.

― Siegbran, Monday, May 7, 2018 3:34 PM (yesterday)

Can't believe I didn't fall for "Generous Palmstroke" back in 2001. The important thing is I stan for it now.

The lyrics, harp melody and her fragile voice performance on this one are really engraved forever in my mind. "You have to trust, I am eternally yours, all that I gave them I gave to you", "So needy of comfort, but too raw to be embraced, undo this privacy and put me in my place" etc. The way she looks appreciatingly to Zeena too. It's a "moment", like Immature is.

awesome artwork

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57. There's More to Life Than This (Debut, 1993) -- 217 points; 7 votes

A Spotify playlist of the rollout, including sub-polls, in case anyone is interested:

https://open.spotify.com/user/empeecee/playlist/2iT7jz1QIN3esqFt1JsC4W?si=Y-eYOZhvTcKhDQseJlvg5Q

Made it collaborative. I need to go to bed myself--do feel free to tinker. :)

I know it's a lightweight novelty track, but the production on this is amazing, it really sets up that atmosphere so convincingly

Thanks, N!N!N!

"Novelty track" is a little strong. It's cute but it also has at least a little bit of philosophical heft.

I don't particularly care for "There's More to Life Than This" but in itself it's an amazing piece of novelty. Back then the toilet improv gave me such a weirdly twisted view of clubs.

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56. Mutual Core (Biophilia, 2011) -- 222 points; 8 votes

i'm officiall over Google Image Search because

toilets at "the milk bar", london

is coming up with nothing

I believe it wasn't actually recorded at the Milk Bar or in their toilets, but can't find anything to back this up.

i came across another forum's mega-Bjork countdown and it's one possible answer to "what if ILX had avatars and a more generic BBS setup?"

Yeah, I came across that too. They are much more keen on Volta.

i like there's more to life than this, mostly cause i like how she pronounces "ghetto-blaster" as "jetto-blaster"

Research to determine where it was recorded has led me to this bizarre wikipedia page - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathroom_singing

mutual core is a jam

these images are amazing eric

Mutual Core is brilliant anyway, but the video really makes it

xp yeah the images are fabulous

lol voodoo chili gets it, that bumped it up a few places on my ballot

It's weird, I've listened to the 'Non Toilet Mix' of TMTLTT (one of the Venus as a Boy b-sides) and it sounds totally wrong without that section of the song

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55. Amphibian (Being John Malkovich soundtrack, 1999) -- 224 points; 6 votes

Generous Palmstroke was the only b-side on my ballot in the end, what a song though.

god i love amphibian, so beautiful and sad

wait, what

i don't think i've ever heard amphibian

never heard it either

it plays during the closing credits of Being John Malkovich

it was also released on the Cocoon single

it’s also one of the best björk songs

well yeah

it fits really nicely as a Cocoon b-side, they're both so delicate and warm

I'm a fan of both versions of "Amphibian," which I can't really say the same for in the case of "All is Full of Love."

dumb q since i could google it, but does Bjork have a comprehensive b-sides compilation?

no and she really needs one

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54. Lionsong (Vulnicura, 2015) -- 254 points; 8 votes

Absolutely loving the images Eric <3

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53. Virus (Biophilia, 2011) -- 255 points; 7 votes

my first and def not my last “too low”

my first, too, although I almost ended up voting for Quicksand and An Echo, A Stain

each image is a work of art!

eric can i hire you to do images for the kylie poll

"Virus" and "An Echo, A Stain" were both in my top 10.

xp turns out I did vote for Quicksand

xps I feel like I'm biffing it pretty hard on these image tiles tbh

These are not the Biophilia tracks I voted for

I did put An Echo, A Stain at #7 tho, my second-highest ranked Vespertine track :) amazing song

I can see how one could be very much not a fan of "Virus," but it gives me exactly what I need at that point in the album.

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52. Sun in My Mouth (Vespertine, 2001) -- 257.5 points; 7 votes

xp Virus does kind of bring Biophilia back to earth after the cosmic/atomic journeys of Dark Matter and Hollow

Generally I cringe when I hear poems set to music but Bjork singing e.e. cummings is an exception.

YES!

Sun in my mouth is haunting, the vocal line creates everything and she's so in command, she really creates that impression of bursting to life.

Generally I cringe when I hear poems set to music but Bjork singing e.e. cummings is an exception.
― ˈʌglɪɪst preɪ, Tuesday, May 8, 2018 8:06 PM (twelve minutes ago)

I can't say as much, I'm an Ulver fan :P

her vocal on this is a masterpiece of control

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51. Blissing Me (Utopia, 2017) -- 258 points; 8 votes

re: Sun in My Mouth......and it's such a beautiful complex vocal line..

As lovely a song as I can imagine with the word "MP3s" in its lyrics, re: "Blissing"

I didn't vote for any Utopia tracks in the end. Blissing Me was the one I considered going for.

Wow I completely forgot about Amphibian. Would have made my ballot.

I voted Sun In My Mouth and Heirloom back to back because I love how she adapts cumming’s imagery in her own subsequent lyric and the transition between the two is one of the most sob-rising-in-your-throat moments on Vespertine, for me.

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50. I've Seen It All (Selmasongs, 2000) -- 268.5 points; 8 votes

I really don't care much for this one, voted for another from Selmasongs, but don't expect it to place

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49. Violently Happy (Debut, 1993) -- 282 points; 8 votes

#49?!?

I love "I've Seen It All" full stop, but prefer the Thom Yorke version over the Peter Stormare film version. Their voices just sound so goddamn beautiful together.

There's a sizeable bloc among Bjork fandom that just has no time for "Violently Happy," misguidedly.

I love 95% of Bjork, but also don't care for Violently Happy, sorry, please don't fp me, just find it a bit bland and don't like the bit about ecstatic music

all of the singles from Debut were high on my ballot

Not a good song!

"I've Seen It All" snuck onto my ballot last minute, and I'm glad it did. An eerie, beautiful song.

Violently Happy is fine, but it definitely is one of my least favourite songs on Debut.

i didn’t vote for it but “violently happy” is great come on. amazing remixes too

I'm with ^^^^^^

If the ballots had been 40 or 50 instead of 30, it would've been on mine.

Violently Happy is good but there's so much better on Debut

Sun in My Mouth is one of her prettiest songs, a real highlight on Vespertine and I love where it's sequenced

My copy of Debut goes Human Behaviour / Crying / Venus as a Boy / TMTLTT / Big Time Sensuality (The Fluke Minimix) / Atlantic / Aeroplane / Come To Me / The Anchor Song / Play Dead

Omitting "One Day" is a crime.

yeah wtf

I don't regret leaving out One Day, but might put Glora in there too

Gonna risk offense here ... not a lot of love in my corner for the Debut-era B-sides on the whole

Also, I have to take a break and will post the last few for today mid-evening.

most of the Debut-era B-sides were Elgar Sisters songs weren't they? i don't care for them much either

That stretch of relative non-bangers before "Violently Happy" is quite handsome. I think I only voted for one of them but they're all working for me right now, divorced from their parent albums.

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48. It's Oh So Quiet (Post, 1995) -- 286 points; 8 votes

your images and text are just fantastic

my five year old niece loves this song and singing along with her is a blast

SHHHHH

wish oh so quiet was a b-side; it's the only thing i don't like on post. it's not much fun to watch a card trick again and again

your images and text are just fantastic
agreed!

what is with this Oh So Quiet hating, insanity

<3 U Karl but THIS WILL NOT STAND

i also expressed my dislike for the song on the earlier thread, so maybe it's just me hating on it!

i gotta hand it to bjork, she takes a concept that i would find excruciating if done by anyone else and *almost* makes it listenable! i can't imagine a better version of it! so kudos for that. but similar to advertisements featuring precocious genius children whispering slogans and espousing philosophic wisdom about the connections between freedom and affordably priced luxury vehicles, i just can't stand it no matter how well the idea is executed

sorry sleeve. sorry bjork. i took it too far. but at least it's the only bjork song i would even think of to diss. i may not connect with others but they don't make me reach for the skip button

dang! I do respect that opinion. that track blew me away when I first heard it, it may have been the first time I realized that she was worth attention as a solo artist?

cuz I burned out on Sugarcubes and kinda skipped Debut

I didn’t vote for “it’s oh so quiet” but I’ll fight haters of the song. I was like 10 when it came out but i remember it felt so different and crazy fun compared to any other song on the radio that year.

It takes a lot of talent and charisma to pull off a novelty song like this one and make it a hit.

Wasn't it her biggest hit in most territories? That it appears on <20% ballots here is...interesting.

Isn't it also her sole in-studio cover version post-Gling-Gló?

Debut had Like Someone in Love, Vokuro on Medulla was too apparently, and she did a Joni Mitchell cover for a compilation

That said I didn’t vote for it because after hearing Betty Hutton’s version I realized it’s kind of a needless remake and would have been better suited as a b-side or comission work for a perfume ad or something.

xp: Good lord, I should at least have remembered "LSIL". *blushes*

didn't vote for it, but going back through the list, the more I listen to 'There's More to Life than This' the more brilliant I think it is

I guess I also feel the same way about 'Sun in My Mouth'

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47. Headphones (Post, 1995) -- 289 points; 9 votes

i love headphones so much. maybe an even earlier example of what brad called "centerless compositions" upthread

appropriate -- I'm just off to bed with my headphones :)

Such a great song and ode to not only music but its consumption and therapeutic qualities

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46. Where is the Line (Medúlla, 2004) -- 294.5 points; 8 votes

Today's recap!

46. Where is the Line (Medúlla, 2004) -- 294.5 points; 8 votes
47. Headphones (Post, 1995) -- 289 points; 9 votes
48. It's Oh So Quiet (Post, 1995) -- 286 points; 8 votes
49. Violently Happy (Debut, 1993) -- 282 points; 8 votes
50. I've Seen It All (Selmasongs, 2000) -- 268.5 points; 8 votes
51. Blissing Me (Utopia, 2017) -- 258 points; 8 votes
52. Sun in My Mouth (Vespertine, 2001) -- 257.5 points; 7 votes
53. Virus (Biophilia, 2011) -- 255 points; 7 votes
54. Lionsong (Vulnicura, 2015) -- 254 points; 8 votes
55. Amphibian (Being John Malkovich soundtrack, 1999) -- 224 points; 6 votes
56. Mutual Core (Biophilia, 2011) -- 222 points; 8 votes
57. There's More to Life Than This (Debut, 1993) -- 217 points; 7 votes
58. Generous Palmstroke ("Hidden Place" B-side, 2001) -- 216 points; 6 votes
59. An Echo, A Stain (Vespertine, 2001) -- 210 points; 5 votes
60. Quicksand (Vulnicura, 2015) -- 196.5 points; 7 votes

I also think that Violently Happy, Headphones and Where is the Line are nowhere near the top of their respective albums. But we're voting on a lot of songs. I like It's Oh so Quiet, another great novelty piece.

I've had a bit of a journey with It's Oh So Quiet - having loved Debut so much but being turned off by Violently Happy and Big Time Sensuality, it seemed like the Bjork I liked had been replaced by this novelty popster - and as it was so huge I feared that she'd just go for that from then on. I listened to Post a couple of times but it seemed so all over the place, I never really engaged with it, so then I was late to the party with Homogenic.
Listening to IOSQ now is the first time I can really appreciate it. She does what she sets out to really very well, the vocal performance is just brilliant, it's just such a shot of joy, I can't really begrudge it anything. I nearly even voted for it.

Where Is The Line I did vote for, absolutely one of the highlights of Medulla for me.

Re IOSQ: when Post was first released I pretty much viewed it as this album's 'Like Someone in Love' - a Bjorked version of a jazz standard (that I didn't know at all prior). Not a novelty thing, just one of many new widescreen flavours of her.

That it was superficially much more exuberant than LSIL was in keeping with my (then-)perception of Post as a technicolour hyperkinetic harder sharper version of Debut (this doesn't really hold up).

And then it was released as a single and lodged in the (UK) top 5 for the duration of the Christmas holiday period and became perceived something a bit completely separate from the rest of her stuff. It is still great, within the album. I didn't vote for it.

^ I love the description of Post as a "echnicolour hyperkinetic harder sharper version of Debut", though. It might be a bit simplifying, sure, but she basically went in deeper in every aspect. Then Homogenic was a bit like a palate cleanser, and a start of a new chapter for her. At least that's how I've always perceived her 90s output.

It's kinda funny to think of 'Homogenic,' the greatest album of her career and arguably the best album of its decade and genre, as a "palate cleanser". It feels like a culmination of what was already a pretty long artistic career--but certainly more focused and cohesive than her intentionally eclectic and exploratory solo work prior. She's continued to be eclectic, but album by album, and not again so much within one album as with 'Post'.

More cohesive, I agree, she starts giving themes to her albums. But I agree Homogenic is very different, not just more refined or mature, it's like she only kept her best ideas and invents a new class of music, where previously she was toying with those formulas (that Debut and Post share, almost one for one). She begins her fuse of orchestration with beats, which you already find on Hyperballad, Isobel or Possibly Maybe. She slows things down, finds a new role for electronics, the regular beats are actually relegated to the B-side (5 years and Alarm Call, not the most essential tracks).

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45. Scatterheart (Selmasongs, 2000) -- 300 points; 8 votes

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44. Wanderlust (Volta, 2007) -- 303.5 points; 9 votes

This is where I'm going to use my "Too low!"

wanderlust is mb the archetypal björk song

This is one where I think bias against Volta worked to the song's disadvantage. It's a key post-Vespertine track.

one more volta song that i thought would place! as one of the only people who i think liked that album i am happy.

i voted for *checks notes* holy shit four volta songs. making my ballot was weird.

Björk's vocals are among her most powerful on Volta, which I think is one thing she has gained in the trade from moving away from her pre-Medulla sound. The inevitable advance of the complex beat, the slightly dissonant horns, and the melancholy in her voice are glorious. Among her best choruses. "Wanderlust, relentlessly craving Wanderlust, peel off the layers Until we get to the core".
Yet I don't think Wanderlust is above the rest of that album, though Wanderlust sounds a little more like a single. If you like Wanderlust, listen to Innocence and Vertebrae by Vertebrae again.

For whatever it's worth, the lyrics that stand out the most as defining Björk for me are found on Volta's Hope: "Well, I don't care
Love is all I dare to drown To be proven wrong". It's like an artist and life's credo.

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43. Oceania (Medúlla, 2004) -- 308.5 points; 10 votes

Now we're talking. I don't listen to it often, but what a composition, and how perfect it was at the Olympics.

"Wanderlust" probably is too low and I'm part of the problem. I barely appreciated it (am definitely guilty of a broader anti-Volta bias) and had never seen the MV (great image, by the way!) before last month. I decided on the weekend that I erred in leaving it off my ballot.

YES Oceania!! I'm surprised "It's Oh So Quiet" is so low, I assumed everyone loved it but me (it only barely made my list). I'm totally content w "Violently Happy" being as low as it is too.

Y'all are seriously sleeping on "Virus" tho

Fabulous photo.

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42. Crystalline (Biophilia, 2011) -- 330.5 points; 11 votes

^^ love the Omar Souleyman remix of this on Bastards

i can’t say why i think this but “crystalline” is björk’s grace jones song imo

love how all over the place these results are

Yeah, but with an artist like Bjork who inspires such fanaticism, I definitely expected a healthy mingling of hits and deep cuts.

Speaking of deep cuts ...

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41. Domestica ("Pagan Poetry" B-side, 2001) -- 332 points; 10 votes

Ohhhhhh! What a wonderful surprise!

didn't end up voting for this but probably my favourite B-side, a great discovery

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40. Arisen My Senses (Utopia, 2017) -- 349 points; 12 votes

I've never heard "Domestica"!

The Verspertine b-sides are better than the album cuts imho. I completely overlooked both how many there were and their quality.

Great to see her later works being represented in this list. A lot of these polls often just focus on the earlier material (with good reason some of the time). She is one of the artists I've loved for a long time where a new album still feels like an event.

Arisen My Senses is the perfect opening song for Utopia

looking forward to checking out all these B-sides, when I made my ballot I discovered that all the Bjork CDs I had originally copied from a friend had B-sides tacked on after the album proper, but no track titles, and it was just too hard to figure them out although there were a couple I really liked.

Yay! Arisen My Senses is a nice surprise this high.

I'll be a bit contrarian here and say that Medulla and Volta are already over representative for my tastes. Oceania is not a very enjoyable listen to my ears and I feel Medulla is a creative low for her

has "Generous Palmstroke" charted yet?

Yep. Number 58.

Also: another HOORAY for "Arisen My Senses"!

The production and precision on this is something I'm not used to hearing, despite living in this age of mega-sampling. Yet it somehow stays simple. A good overture.
Maybe I'm crazy but it reminds me of my other darling Joanna Newsom in terms of elaborate preciousness (her latest album).

OH FUCK YES "Domestica"!!!! What a gem.

"Björk's initial idea was to "make an album called Domestika that celebrated the banalities of everyday life," although the idea gradually "became superseded by the love call of Vespertine."[15] Originally titled "Lost Keys", "Pagan Poetry" B-side "Domestica" is an out-take of this earlier vein's sessions; a "gentle, humorous snapshot" of Björk looking for her keys.[15]"

I mean I know Vespertine is a masterpiece but I still wish she made this album

I've always really liked the background vocals in Oceania

The Verspertine b-sides are better than the album cuts imho. I completely overlooked both how many there were and their quality.

same same same

let's not get too excited

haha, yeah, i was thinking the same. i enjoy the vespertine b-sides but i'm not sure i'd change a thing about the album sequence. the b-sides are really nice as they are, i think, as the extended family to vespertine.

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39. The Anchor Song (Debut, 1993) -- 383 points; 10 votes

I realized The Anchor Song was massively underrated. Glad to see it chart.

The appeal mystifies me, but it's clearly dear to a great lot of you (and her, judging from how often it still appears on setlists).

I appreciate it as gesture more than finished product and because it pissed off my parents when I played it twenty-five years ago.

i enjoy the vespertine b-sides but i'm not sure i'd change a thing about the album sequence

otm basically. though i was glad she included "generous palmstroke" in her vespertine live setlist

she always chooses great closing tracks for her albums

she's a master of the closing track

another reason why volta sucks tho

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38. Heirloom (Vespertine, 2001) -- 391 points; 13 votes

beautiful song

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37. Crying (Debut, 1993) -- 408 points; 11 votes

whoaaaaa yes!!! I was certain this was one of those songs that no one really loved but me

this got bumped off my ballot at the last minute but i'm sooo glad it placed. "human behavior" -> "crying" is awesome sequencing

There's no here
and people EVERYWHERE

A song that, like "One Day," took a long time to click with me. Its simplicity was off-putting to me in a period where precisely what I loved about Bjork was her eclectic maximalism. Now, I think it's got maybe the first album's best chorus.

When I first got really into Debut this was my favourite song.

Oceania gets a TOO LOW from me but really I love nearly all these songs. Great to see such a mix of the albums represented so far.

Not often cited as one of her best, "Crying" unlocked Debut for me. I heard her vocal decisions, those keyboards, the harmonies, and thought, "Damn, I can dig this."

Crying feels like the most dated track on Debut, production wise, and was never a big fan of it. The ending is the best part, though. Love the vocal harmonies.

Always thought "Crying" sounded like it could have fit on the last Sugarcubes album. Cool song, though it didn't quite make my ballot

Also, no comments on "Heirloom"? For me, it's the one impenetrable track on that album, as much as I dig the visual energy.

hey i said it was a beautiful song

love crying, especially that piano bassline and the harmonies on the chorus

my #12

it's one of the first vespertine songs that really clicked with me. lyrics seem to summarize the aim of the record xp

pure domestic magical realism

Yeah, the ascending duet harmonizing during the chorus of "Crying" is super spare but still somehow expansive.

I love where Heirloom is placed on the album, coming toward the end between two tracks that are reveries

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36. Immature (Homogenic, 1997) -- 420.5 points; 13 votes

this song came alive for me when i was revisiting everything for this poll. i find it... jazzy? (sorry alfred)

is that the first Homogenic track to place?

Yes, and (spoiler alert) the last.

lol

For a very long time, those were my absolute favorite minutes of Björk, I used to play it on repeat. I haven't really changed my opinion, she tears it apart, the melody behind is deceptively simple, with gorgeous detail, this is a transcendent moment in music for me. At most there are three other Homogenic tracks I'd put in front of it.

The way the layers of sound peel off toward the end until you realize that the sampled bassline is actually in a different key gets me every time.

another one i voted for. possibly the most vespertine-like of the tracks on homogenic, if that makes sense.

i think i thought "immature" was a minor track when i was younger but that might've just been bc of the relative brevity of the lyrics, now it's one of my absolute favorite things she's done. as a drummer i kinda wanna cover it just bc it would be fun to figure out how to approximate the programming, it's so buoyant and loose

Ugh, got the number wrong on that graphic. Ah well, it truly is #36. Don't be fooled.

Oh crap forgot to vote Heirloom, it was my favorite Vespertine track for quite some time. Domestica and Heirloom defined a very precise sound aesthetic for me the early to mid 00s. I kind of wish Bjork had stuck with this intimate and charming sort of bedroom electropop sound for another album before jumping into medulla. I feel like this was her album with the most playful and childlike wonder even above post or debut.

Wanderlust feels like a lost Homogenic song. It’s definitely a Volta highlight... I kind of wish the horn arrangements eere mixed higher in the mix they get swallowed by the beat.

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35. Desired Constellation (Medúlla, 2004) -- 456 points; 13 votes

YEAH

Fitting that it's right next to Immature. Gotta love Matmos for that one (if it's them, but it must be).

Did we still not have any first place votes, Eric?

My brain isn't working. Again, the number on the pic is wrong. (Guess I was just trying to right the wrong.)

xp re the horns in Wanderlust, I agree, I think the horns are what make it great

came across an interview with Encyclopedia Pictura, the creators of the Wanderlust video, and liked their description of it

“Bjork is an archetypal nomad, shepherding giant yaks through the Mountains. She does hydromancy to decide whether to take them down a river or not. A second self, the Painbody Backpack, sprouts from her like a growth and then engages her in an action play which displays their relationship. The force which compelled Bjork to go down river begins to manifest itself in Bjork's head and in the physical world. This character, the Rivergod, is a transcendental attractor which pulls her into the future.”

Did we still not have any first place votes, Eric?

Correct, unless you count the few first-place votes for songs that fell outside of the top 60.

Fitting that it's right next to Immature. Gotta love Matmos for that one (if it's them, but it must be).

― Nabozo, Wednesday, May 9, 2018 11:18 AM (two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it's not, it's olivier alary aka ensemble!

YES DESIRED CONSTELLATION! Too low though

Fitting that it's right next to Immature. Gotta love Matmos for that one (if it's them, but it must be).

― Nabozo

It’s actually Olivier Alary aka Ensemble

damn solid xpost

Have people seen the Arisen My Senses video? It's sort of brilliant but it really made me feel physically queasy

yes it's freaky as hell

Oh you stole my post Brad haha almost same exact wording too. Knock on wood.

one of my fav latter day bjork videos tho xp

love the unnecessary shot of arca

the video for The Gate is pretty great too

Yeah, that one got really close to top 10 in the sidebar poll.

Immature is the only track to place for Homogenic??! wow. I think 6 tracks were on my ballot.

Desired Constellation is great, feels like a continuation of the Vespertine b-sides

At one point I was so obsessed with that micro glitch sound that I asked Olivier Alary himself what programs he used for the work he did with bjork on vespertine and medulla. Here’s the three programs he was using for the curious:

MAX/MSP: http://www.cycling74.com/
SOUNDHACK: http://www.soundhack.com/
SUPERCOLLIDER www.audiosynth.com/index.html

somehow i think we'll be seeing more homogenic tracks as the countdown continues

xpost

lol i am literally going through max/msp, supercollider, and pure data tutorials at this very moment! good to see i'm about 25 years behind the times

i would be surprised if there are any homogenic tracks that don't place

Xpost: Never used max msp but I know at some point even Johnny Greenwood the guitarist from Radiohead used it for pedal effects so it seems hard as hell to dominate but it seems you can program any sound you’re looking for with it so I don’t think it’s outdated software at all unless something more intuitive comes along.

Autechre have been using MAX/MSP for years. I used it to create some novel midi controller interfaces in the past. Never got into the sound design aspects.

(Taking a little break before the last four today.)

Re:"Immature", for me the definitve version of the song is the 07/08 brass rearrangement. Incredible, powerful sound.

Live performances of desired constellation I’ve seen on youtube she uses what i think is the reactable, which operates on the same principles as max/msp but in a more analogue way. It looks so fun to use.

i should've put "arisen my senses" higher on my ballot

a lot of bjork's music codes as extremely romantic and sensual but i almost feel like she perfected the balance on "arisen." it actually sounds like falling in love to me

^ Yeah, it's almost like the millisecond of lips touching for the first time stretched out to a song length.

hell yeah

I have a belated comment on Heirloom, actually it’s more of a question, are there any other songs whose second half is just a repeat of the first but with the pronouns changed? It’s a simple trick but a really effective one imo, really opens up the dreamy feeling of domestic intimacy to include the listener. So generous, and especially effective as part of a more driving track in between some slower reveries, as Dan said.

I kind of wish Bjork had stuck with this intimate and charming sort of bedroom electropop sound for another album before jumping into medulla.

She should’ve made a full album with Matthew Herbert

at least róisín did

https://cansesclasseled.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/34-i-miss-you.jpg

34. I Miss You (Post, 1995) -- 458 points; 12 votes

great song though it feels like it placed correctly

I think that’s the only Post single I didn’t vote for, feels unfinished

Desired Constellation, Heirloom, Immature - these are all core Bjork songs to me.

god i love this song, my favorite off post. some days that little riff runs through my head all day long

Desire Constellation is such a beautiful beautiful track.

No one can imbue words 'repeatedly' quite like Bjork do it. It's something I can't explain very well, but it's like the word is a whole world into itself.

xpost agreed, it's one of my favorites from Medulla for sure

Also Where Is The Line shreds more than almost any rock guitarist has ever dreamed of shredding.

xp I really like I Miss You too, the combination of the Latin-sounding percussion, hurdy gurdy (?) drone, saxophones and trumpet really make it unique

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33. Play Dead (The Young Americans soundtrack, 1993) -- 472.5 points; 12 votes

I don't dislike this song or anything, but for me it falls outside the official Bjork canon.

Evidently many disagree. It was top 10 in that alternate poll linked upthread, which perplexes me.

No one can imbue words 'repeatedly' quite like Bjork

When I think of "Desired Constellation" I somehow always hear Kate Bush singing "instinctively."

oh wow i completely forgot about play dead on my ballot! glad to see it place!!

I expected Play Dead to be much higher. It's collaborative, but so much else is (like I Go Humble, which I am giving up hope of seeing place now, it's Bjork singing over an LFO track, and that's great)

Dang, I hoped for "Crying" at #7, not 37. A great life-in-the-city song, with such a magnificent lead up to the chorus.

Hearing 'Play Dead' for the first time now (as far as I can remember). That epic 90s trip-hop vibe. The bass really stands out, makes sense that Jah Wobble was involved (thx wikipedia). Also only recently realized that Jah Wobble is a white British dude.

+ who beat up Nick Kent with a bike chain

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32. Alarm Call (Homogenic, 1997) -- 478.5 points; 15 votes

never heard 'Play Dead'

“play dead” ruuuuules

I always get Pluto and Alarm Call confused, since Pluto sounds like it should be called 'Alarm Call'.

I LOVE "ALARM CALL" SO MUCH!!! Album and single/video edits both

"I'm no fucking Buddhist, but this is enlightenment"

in case y'all missed it the demo of this song is TRANSCENDENT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rU_nI4DO7iM

"Alarm Call" is fine but to me a bit of an odd one out on Homogenic. It's interesting that early versions of the song had the working title of "Jacko", as a tribute to Michael Jackson.

xpost that's the one I'm talking about.

never heard 'Play Dead'

seriously?

I had never heard it either until listening to everything again for this poll

https://cansesclasseled.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/31-come-to-me.jpg

31. Come To Me (Debut, 1993) -- 496 points; 13 votes; 1 first-place vote

And the recap so far at the halfway point ...

31. Come To Me (Debut, 1993) -- 496 points; 13 votes; 1 first-place vote
32. Alarm Call (Homogenic, 1997) -- 478.5 points; 15 votes
33. Play Dead (The Young Americans soundtrack, 1993) -- 472.5 points; 12 votes
34. I Miss You (Post, 1995) -- 458 points; 12 votes
35. Desired Constellation (Medúlla, 2004) -- 456 points; 13 votes
36. Immature (Homogenic, 1997) -- 420.5 points; 13 votes
37. Crying (Debut, 1993) -- 408 points; 11 votes
38. Heirloom (Vespertine, 2001) -- 391 points; 13 votes
39. The Anchor Song (Debut, 1993) -- 383 points; 10 votes
40. Arisen My Senses (Utopia, 2017) -- 349 points; 12 votes

41. Domestica ("Pagan Poetry" B-side, 2001) -- 332 points; 10 votes
42. Crystalline (Biophilia, 2011) -- 330.5 points; 11 votes
43. Oceania (Medúlla, 2004) -- 308.5 points; 10 votes
44. Wanderlust (Volta, 2007) -- 303.5 points; 9 votes
45. Scatterheart (Selmasongs, 2000) -- 300 points; 8 votes
46. Where is the Line (Medúlla, 2004) -- 294.5 points; 8 votes
47. Headphones (Post, 1995) -- 289 points; 9 votes
48. It's Oh So Quiet (Post, 1995) -- 286 points; 8 votes
49. Violently Happy (Debut, 1993) -- 282 points; 8 votes
50. I've Seen It All (Selmasongs, 2000) -- 268.5 points; 8 votes

51. Blissing Me (Utopia, 2017) -- 258 points; 8 votes
52. Sun in My Mouth (Vespertine, 2001) -- 257.5 points; 7 votes
53. Virus (Biophilia, 2011) -- 255 points; 7 votes
54. Lionsong (Vulnicura, 2015) -- 254 points; 8 votes
55. Amphibian (Being John Malkovich soundtrack, 1999) -- 224 points; 6 votes
56. Mutual Core (Biophilia, 2011) -- 222 points; 8 votes
57. There's More to Life Than This (Debut, 1993) -- 217 points; 7 votes
58. Generous Palmstroke ("Hidden Place" B-side, 2001) -- 216 points; 6 votes
59. An Echo, A Stain (Vespertine, 2001) -- 210 points; 5 votes
60. Quicksand (Vulnicura, 2015) -- 196.5 points; 7 votes

come to me way too low. top ten björk track

"Alarm Call" is fine but to me a bit of an odd one out on Homogenic.

it sounds like a Post song! and that's part of why it rules. :)

in case y'all missed it the demo of this song is TRANSCENDENT

i did miss it, and yeah it's great! i'm listening to it now.

i love Alarm Call but somehow didn't vote for it. too many good songs for this ballot

i also love "alarm call" but couldn't find room in my ballot for it. "it doesn't SCARE me at all" is one of her best hooks

also the "beep beep, beep beep, beep beep, b-b-b-b-beep" in the background seems v mj

the demo drum sound is v v mj

"Come to Me" made many a CS-90 in the nineties for phantom girls whom I later realized were phantom boys

damn, somehow i missed that it just showed up!

it was my #1, which, honestly, i have a hard time lifting up any of my bjork top 7-8ish above another. but "come to me" is definitely in that top tier for me and there are certain times when it's the only song that will do.

Oh, the first release of Debut didn't have Play Dead? It's such a standout track on the album, can't imagine it not being there

yeah, the Debut cd sold in the US at the time didn't include it

was it ever on debut? my copy (CD, bought around 1997 probably) didn't have it, and it doesn't show up on the Spotify version of debut.

My tape had it, think I got it in 94

"come to me"'s chorus contains everything i like about björk's singing, that simultaneous and precisely-pitched longing and vulnerability

honestly i totally forgot about play dead! it's a great song although it makes me do the really slow head nod thing and i feel the urge to casually pump my fist to it, which is odd for me.

the way the keyboard preset and those strings play off each other too is pure early Bjork too

Oh yes, "Come To Me" is our first song with a first-place vote!

"play dead" was a bonus track on the... uk(?) reissue of debut i think. it doesn't really work as a closing track imo so it's extremely easy for me to imagine the album without it

yooou-uuu knooooow thaaaat i-yee adoooore yoooou!
yooou-uuu knooooow thaaaat i-yee looooove yoooou!

<3

It's weird putting it there for sure. But its the album I know.

The original version of Debut ended with "The Anchor Song". "Play Dead" was added as a bonus track on some reissues after the film (Young Americans?) came out, but not in all countries.

Also, the Vulnicura tour live version of "Come to Me" kicks ass:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WqIZTwjxec

the way the keyboard preset and those strings play off each other too is pure early Bjork too

it's so fucking good it's unbelievable, and she makes it seem so easy. just this effortless grace. i've thought this recently, and so probably mentioned this here, sorry, but she could have easily kept going back to the 'Come to Me' well for years and years and it would have been wonderful. it speaks to her artistic ambitions that she's mostly left the simple (perfect) song structures behind. maybe she felt like there wasn't much more to accomplish there, because she'd already bjorked the living hell out of it

Songs from my top 10 that have made it:

1. ?
2. Desired Constellation
3. Come to Me
4. ?
5. Domestica
6. ?
7. ?
8. ?
9. Amphibian
10. ?

The remaining will surely place, number 10 wont make it I’m afraid.

Happy I ended up sending my ballot... desired constellation and domestica would be way below if not.

my version of Debut has Play Dead at the end. It's a weird fit after The Anchor Song, so I've always paid it no mind, but I'm listening again now and holy crap, this is one of my favorite Bjork vocals ever. If someone told me that Portishead based their entire band off that song, I wouldn't be shocked.

*this, being Play Dead, not The Anchor Song

"Anchor Song" version that is a top 3 Bjork vocal performance (and was my #4 pick):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgiI2gm-RIs

that is beautiful

it's so fucking good it's unbelievable, and she makes it seem so easy. just this effortless grace. i've thought this recently, and so probably mentioned this here, sorry, but she could have easily kept going back to the 'Come to Me' well for years and years and it would have been wonderful. it speaks to her artistic ambitions that she's mostly left the simple (perfect) song structures behind. maybe she felt like there wasn't much more to accomplish there, because she'd already bjorked the living hell out of it

― obviously DLC (Karl Malone),

yep -- it's her "Live to Tell," and, like Madonna, she didn't return to it.

Many thanks to Spotify user weinventyou for again updating that playlist 'overnight', my time. Twas cool to catch up with the new additions aurally before I could sit down for the thread. :)

no prob!

I always forget what "Heirloom" goes like when I see the title, even forgot I voted for it! I just can't connect the name and the song. Glad it made the list, but I do wish it was called "Recurrent Dream"

Yeah I agree. It’s one of my top 10 bjork songs but I didn’t vote for it because the name just slipped when looking at the songs and making my ballot.

Have any of you seen the Riverside Church performance?

https://youtu.be/XIKsRjcxT0U

Almost as good as the Royal Opera House one... the versions of All Is Full of Love and Possibly Maybe on this one are perhaps her best live performances of the song.

The setup she had for the live Vespertine tour with Matmos, Zeena Parkins and the Inuit choir was so so good. I envy so much the people who got to see her on this tour and in the smaller venues. It’s perfection... she was at her peak on this tour.

The points are going to go exponential from now on, Alarm Call still has only just 15 votes.
I'm slightly worried that some of those songs would not make it: Earth Intruders, Mouth's Cradle, Vokuro, Solstice, Not Get, Aeroplane, Charlene, Utopia.. they might get run down by minor songs like One Day, Enjoy, 5 years or Pluto :P
I keep thinking Cover Me is a 2 minutes song for some reason.

5 Years may be a minor song on Homogenic, but it still has one of her best vocal performances, so it had better place.

I'm concerned about number of the same tracks as Nabozo! Looks like 4 of mine have placed so far. Many more will presumably arrive with Homogenic/Vespertine avalanches. I suspect I voted for an above average proportion of 21st century tracks (belated HOORAY for "Desired Constellation" by the way) but have precious little idea which later tracks could be inside the 30. That popjustice poll reassures me that things like "Stonemilker" at least have admirers.

Does "My Spine" have a chance of placing? I've no idea what sort of traction it might have around here.

*I meant Come to me, whose track length I was effectively confusing with Cover me
The worst song on the popjustice poll is Ancestors. I really dig Ancestors, it took me ages to properly listen to it, but I almost included it. In the context of Medulla, it's a high point, like a tired primal symphony crumbling and going to rest. All this breathing, rattling and yawning sounds reminds me of Meredith Monk or other great avant-garde pop vocalists, in a positive way.
Jeff: aha, zero, that must be one of her obscurest tracks, I certainly didn't know it. But hey, I'm still rooting for Charlene myself.

wow I thought Play Dead would be a lock for top 20, the strings + bass are really excellent

https://cansesclasseled.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/30-enjoy.jpg

30. Enjoy (Post, 1995) -- 513 points; 14 votes

fucking love the bump 'n' grind of this tune, especially that revolving jar sound effect

horn stabs

my intro to Tricky

"It's Oh So Quiet" was the song that got my attention (late to the party, admittedly), but listening to the album and having it followed by this song in sequence was what caused me to fall in love with her.

yay enjoy!

as of yesterday only 6/30 of my ballot has placed so i am v interested to see today if my tastes are just the most or just the least normie

Of the 15 songs I'm revealing today, I voted for 9 of them, so today is my best day.

For the longest time I thought the downbeat of the song was half a step off, which basically doubled the tempo, like the heavy snare/handclap thing that that's on the 4-and I thought was on the 4, and that the horn stabs were on the off-beat instead of the downbeat (which makes the vocals off-kilter in a way that makes no sense, I don't know how how I heard it this way for so long???)

like i basically thought this was a weird industrial jungle track

It kind of is?

The beat is nice and there's a small shiver when she says "Eeenjoooy", that's about it for me. Glad she never went this way again, probably because it gets muuurdered by Isobel two songs later.

I wish she had done more tracks like this.

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29. The Modern Things (Post, 1995) -- 515.5 points; 16 votes

Nothing really wrong with it per se, but I've always felt this song was the second Hyperballad that comes after Hyperballad.

CUTLERY

and that the horn stabs were on the off-beat instead of the downbeat

Wait, they're not? Where do you hear the kick drum?

Yeah, maybe they should've sequenced "Enjoy" after "Hyperballad."

That said, "The Modern Things" got my enthusiastic vote.

"enjoy," like "crying," fell off my ballot at the last minute (first draft of my list actually ended with "enjoy"/"crying" which i, uh, enjoyed)

"the modern things" is fucking amazing however

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28. One Day (Debut, 1993) -- 521.5 points; 15 votes

THIS IS SEX WITHOUT TOUCHING

i can't believe "one day" beat "come to me" but also "one day" is so good

So far today is the day of 90s tracks I don't particularly care for

Enjoy makes me wish she had done more collaborations with Tricky. were there any others besides Enjoy and Headphones?

xp boo

My original copy of Debut might have excluded "One Day". I see it's on my current thrift store replacement but it still sounds largely unfamiliar!

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27. Mouth's Cradle (Medúlla, 2004) -- 526 points; 14 votes

my favorite track from Medulla

Ah now we're talking

Wow, happy to see this one!

whoa, didn't expect it to be top 30!

Medulla, even more than her other albums, demands to be played either on good headphones or loudly on speakers. laptop speakers, moderate volumes, and earbuds just don't cut it.

Mouth's Cradle made it !!
Never fails to heighten my mood, with its cascading choir vocals, what dense simplicity, it makes me want to run or ascend mountains. The way the electronic sample starts the song and then doesn't return because the combination of vocals are just so good at keeping the pace. A marvel of composition. Joie de vivre. She should have made another Medulla.

The coda of that song is baptismal.

And unlike a good number of other songs on that album, I couldn't imagine it working in any other form than in its vocals-only conceit.

Looooove Mouth's Cradle. The background choir part is burned into my brain (and I once unintentionally ripped it off for a track, only later realizing what it was from).

"mouth's cradle" >>>>>>>>

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26. Pluto (Homogenic, 1997) -- 543 points; 15 votes; 1 first-place vote

Approval continues

Only the second track with a first place vote, no?

Also: glad to see people glad to see "Mouth's Cradle" placing.

I feel like Pluto could be released today and it would sound totally fresh and at home in the electronic music landscape.

Disapprove. Quite out of place on Homogenic, noisy mess, clearly an inferior version of Declare Independence which at least is great fun.

Yeah, not really sure Bjork was going for *fun* when making "Pluto."

(That "yeah" was in disapproval, not agreement.)

for some reason i've always heard 'Pluto' as an indirect sequel to "There's More to Life Than This", even though they probably don't share much more than a four on the floor beat. the latter is a lighthearted bjork seeking refuge from a party she doesn't care about, wanting to create her own private party on a secluded island in the middle of the night. 'Pluto' IS a private party of sorts, but one of the mind, agonizing and anxious, more like a snake shedding its skin under a rock than anything you'd want to invite anyone else to. love both songs

great image for Pluto btw, Eric (and great work in general, as others have said!). i feel like it catches her in that Pluto moment

karl's posts itt are a delight

Quite out of place on Homogenic, noisy mess, clearly an inferior version of Declare Independence which at least is great fun.

― Nabozo, Thursday, May 10, 2018 9:04 AM (eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

at last, the worst take

In terms of Björk making a lot of noise, I was a huge fan of the Voltaic live dvd, it revealed her (then-current) vision to me, I would seal off the living room and blast it on my parents' 5.1 system. Some of these songs grew in density to scary and dangerous nuclear reaction levels, Army of Me for example.

i'd be curious to see a ranking of the post-studio albums live albums she puts out for every release.

at last, the worst take
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Thursday, May 10, 2018

Not my fault ILM makes such terrible choices :P :P

xpost <3 Brad

I would seal off the living room and blast it on my parents' 5.1 system.

i've never seen the Voltaic live dvd. ...party at Nabozo's parents house!!

“declare independence” is such a dull slog and i can’t wait to see it not place at all. great video though

It's a combination of two lives, you can see it on youtube Paris, Reykjavik). Give a listen to Earth Intruders, Where is the Line, Army of Me, or the closing Pluto/Declare since we're on them :)

I'm inviting the thread to my place for cocktails and Bjork discussion at 6 p.m.

“declare independence” is such a dull slog and i can’t wait to see it not place at all. great video though
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Thursday, May 10, 2018

Sorry I made you feel bitter about it, I'll concentrate on the songs I love and stop spoiling yours ;)

https://78.media.tumblr.com/1552d79aa710584677ac9d0b9a160deb/tumblr_ok7dbuuikp1qg2p2fo1_500.gif

lol

Declare Independence has such a strange video!

Here's that video of Lotic weaponizing the Declare Independence instrumental in a dj set: https://youtu.be/dKXnR5gE74E?t=2533

xposts i am very curious about what kinds of drinks would be found at a bjork-themed cocktail/discussion sesh

sorry i just really dislike most of volta. also as fractured as "pluto" is it *feels* fluid. it reminds me very much of, uh, mania

I haven't had a chance to comment on the roll-out yet but right now I'd just like to say good morning only to "Immature" and "The Modern Things".

Also:

Chairman Mao, beeping out to me.

xp what lotic does with that track is awesome!

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25. Aurora (Vespertine, 2001) -- 550 points; 17 votes

I haven't delved into the live concert video wormhole at all but that Pluto/Declare Independence closer is immense with the brass, ty (lol @ "we're going to end with a lullabye, so we can all go to sleep").

GODDESS SPARKLE

Aurora is so beautiful and I want to shout out Frosti while we're here since i doubt it will place

Agreed. Both were culled from my top 50.

I also really love Harm of Will, which probably won't place at this point

Will anything else from Vespertine place apart from the singles?

still some room for a couple more?

I'm hoping that there are still 6 tracks from Vespertine that will show up

aurora is a beautiful song that weirdly reminds me of the soundtrack from kirby 64. i voted for it.

i've still got two non-singles on my ballot and i feel pretty good about at least one of them popping up

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24. Triumph of the Heart (Medúlla, 2004) -- 565 points; 16 votes

didn't used to like this song, but it's really grown on me over time!

this one does nothing for me, melody is weirdly grating

Not sure whether to celebrate all my favourite Medulla tracks placing or complain that none are in the top 20. The former, I guess.

ufo otm

The outro to Triumph of the Heart is one of her top vocal performance. Such sincerity in this track, such a fun beat. That moment from 2:20 too. And what Rahzel does just really cracks me up.
I forgot to include Aurora in my (late) ballot, which was really criminal. Among the very best on the album. Those high notes.

I mean towards the end when the song progressively slows down and fades and she keeps going, it's very subtle. I love those Bachelorette-type moments when she muses a few last words right before the song ends.

still only "come to me" and "pluto" have received first-place votes, i feel a point-jump incoming

I goddamn love "Pluto" and wish there was more KUKL-derived thrash-y stuff in her catalogue-- "Pluto" works so well because it has a kind of 'uh sure' lyrical approach that reminds me of Bowie's "Breaking Glass"-- a casualness that belies the implicit violence-- "Declare Independence" in comparison is a leaden concept and sluggish execution and easily my least-favourite song by her. When I first heard "Shaking The Habitual" I was like "oh excellent it is 'Pluto' expanded into a full-length album"

A day behind in my listening, but woah, "Domestica" is nice!

"Pluto" didn't make my top 20 but if I'm going to be honest it's my second-favourite track off "Homogenic" after Joga-- (I ranked Unravel and Hunter higher on my ballot, but should've reconsidered)

Also when I was a naive teenager I actively sought out "Play Dead" which was absent from my version of Debut-- also a track called "Atlantic"-- and was disappointed by both, sounds like Bond film music

"Domestica"'s roving synth blorts don't do much for me, the melody doesn't rule-- I think about the level of clarity and focus that Bjork would have on "Biophilia" and remain mystified by people's adoration for "Vespertine"-era production

What the fuck. "Scary" just came on my Youtube playlist after "Domestica" and who knew that Bjork presaged Joanna Newsom, never heard this track but um jesus

haha i'd never heard scary either and it's basically a björkified version of "golden brown." it's awesome.

I only discovered it going through B-sides recently, would be right at place on Milk-Eyed Mender yeah

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23. 5 Years (Homogenic, 1997) -- 566.5 points; 15 votes

too low

ya

5 Years is one of my favorite beats of all time. The distorted one-drop thing, and the wavering between swung and straight. And the sine wave chords, the sound of this one was just hugely influential for me.

One thing that is great about 5 years is the gorgeous strings at the end.

I was afraid this was out now. My favourite vocal performance of hers, especially the second half.

Yeah, the crunch of this one's beats is above and beyond. Totally nailed it, Jordan, citing how they reside somewhere between swung and straight.

Pluto and Enjoy TOO LOW. This is the type of Bjork I miss the most post-Homogenic.

5 Years is quintessential peak Bjork. Aggressive, passionate yet intimate, in your face production, layered with lush strings, yet still atmospheric. And the PERFECT transition into Immature omg

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22. All Neon Like (Homogenic, 1997) -- 596.5 points; 16 votes

Oh look it's all the songs on Homogenic altogether that I have no time for or interest in because they are hectoring and joyless

Sorry I was just typing something but then remembered I can't read or write

All Neon Like is my current favorite off Homogenic, I discovered its hypnotic beauty and tranquil buzz very late, after knowing the album for years, I feel like it summarizes the album. It's just... beautiful. "Don't get angry with yourself".

Wooot Mouth’s Cradle made it!?

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21. Black Lake (Vulnicura, 2015) -- 640 points; 19 votes; 1 first-place vote

massive song

whoever the first place voter is: bold and cool choice imo

This countdown is more surprising than I thought it would be.

we still have five homogenic songs to go afaict but, otm

Black lake was my #5, it’s astonishinglg epic and beautiful. I mentioned it in the pre-poll thread, but there’s something special and ancient about the incantatory melody. Feels like an ancient lamentation akin to Kol Nidrei. The vulnicura strings version really brings that quality out imo

Black Lake is devastating and truly gorgeous.

Pluto rules, fuiud. That moment where the vocal/noise skip/loop part breaks into a cathartic shriek is my favorite Bjork moment

Pretty sure that was my #1 but can't check rn

I always want to put on headphones to listen to this song

feels like at least half of the top 20 will be tracks from Homogenic and Vespertine

makes sense. i definitely helped

I hope that's true. "Harm of Will" was my #1, but I'm not sure it'll place at this point.

I count 3 from Debut, 4 from Post, 5 from Homogenic and 6 from Vespertine that still seem likely. That leaves "Stonemilker" and one other?

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20. Big Time Sensuality (Debut, 1993) -- 693 points; 19 votes; 1 first-place vote

who is it xp

biiiig tiiiiiiiiime sensuality

just absolutely euphoric in any form

Fluke Minimix >>>>>>>> LP version

it takes no courage to enjoy this song. maybe a little if you're very inhibited.

ah, "Who Is It" would be nice to see xp

really enjoyed discovering this mix while putting together my ballot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyqWLkwZJ0c

Due to events out of my control, that needs to be the extent of today's reveal. More fun for tomorrow tho!

this was the first solo Bjork song I heard and will always be one of my favorites