Medulla is bjork’s vocal album. A lot of guests are on this record, Rahzel (beatbox) Mike Patton (some deep baselines) Dokaka, Tanya Tagaq (inuit throat singing, mainly on Ancestors), Robert Wyatt (Submarine)and more, Also track 8 Desired Constellation instrumental part is actually made out of one word sang by B on Hidden Place from Vespertine, chopped and manipulated so that its sounds completely electronic, but it’s still voice based
I did a thesis project for this album and it was about it’s a Capella nature and all of the guest artists on it. It’s an incredible feat of vocal manipulation and sampling/quantifying vocals to sound like electronica. Nothing quite like it, honestly. And Tanya is absolutely one of my favourites. I cry when I see her performances.
Medulla is definitely a grower for most people but I do consider it one of her best albums! I’d say its her most experimental as well given that a large majority of the instrumentation is from vocals, which is an amazing feat in itself. Hopefully you can enjoy it more with future listens should you revisit it! And id say just go in order for her album reactions! So Volta next please!! 💖
I love medulla, but wasn’t into it completely at first. Now its genius and addicting- her best experimental pop music to date. Listen to all ten, let it simmer and then share your ranking!
Vespertine is my fave album, but this album has 3 of my all time favorite Bjork songs on it: Pleasure is All Mine, Oceania and Triumph of a Heart. Love, love, love this woman's entire style.
Where Is The Line is easily among Bjork's most underrated songs. Great haircut too btw! Edit: Basically after this album, everything else is much more avant garde and conceptual. Most of it works, but very few are songs you'll want to return to. Volta and Fossora might be the most replay-able of the upcoming albums.
@@feli6277 Volta and Fossora albums are more replay-able for me because the songs aren't quite as heavy and distressing as those in Vulnicura. That said, Vulnicura is a much better album. Bipohilia too tbh. But I don't see myself replaying songs from those albums aside from maybe Stonemilker and Mutual Core.
This album was created with no instruments apart from voices! björk featured inuit throat singers, beatboxers and more for Medulla so i find it really cool and ingenious
This is also my favorite Bjork album. OK - Missing details/comments - No-one mentioned that Triumph Of A Heart had a promotional video that became an internet phenomenon way-back-when - and, yes, the video has a "cat" motif, presumably postdating those vocalisations. (The squeaky beatboxing here is by...let's just say,...that Japanese guy with the "shitty" name); No-one mentioned that Unrealities takes its lyrics from (yet) an(other) E E Cummings poem (...and I used the upper-case advisedly!); Bjork said somewhere that the wordless-vocal pieces were all developed from her 1985 Elgar Sisters project (having listened I can't hear any direct connections - yet); People often assume Submarine is a Robert Wyatt composition but, no, it's a Bjork idea, she just ceded lead vocals on it; Ancestors has a throat-singing-based sequel on the Drawing Restraint 9 soundtrack album. (I know from observation that some people find Taqaq physically painful to hear - she induces migraines!)
@Smags Desired Constellation is actually the Hidden Place (Accapella version) sampled , looped and stuff. I do not remember who it was who sent it to her, because it was another producer/artist who did this track and sent it to her during this period, and she liked it so much so she said to herself she would keep it and make an exception from her vocal only theme. But then when it was about to be released the person who did the track told her that it actually was her own vocals sampled in the background! I had the pleasure of seing her perform it live in Arvika, Sweden, during her Greatest Hits Tour when it was still unreleased! My first live concert with Björk!
Where is the line is just a big joke about how big siblings like to tell their younger siblings what to do. She said that the beat is really funny to her and her friends, but its also something that can be taken seriously by the listener.
Hi. Here to say I have spent 20 years listening to this album and ancestors by itself recreationally. It is not about sex (specifically) but evolution. Tanya And Bjork showcase tribal throat and melodic vocalisation to move through time. Try listening to it with the piano as the sun or time, the breathing as prespeech, the grunting as preverbal, the eroticism as evolutionary presentation and the vocals as humanities first cries. Yes I’m a Bjork geek
I remember the day this album came out, bringing it home and being in awe of it. I cannot believe it's been 19 years since that day. I remember it so clearly!
While I do really love how creative this album was and the concept was really interesting, I also don't go back to the songs on this album very much. I still like it though. The next album Volta is honestly my least favorite album but I suppose you might as well react to that one if you are going through her discography. You were killing me with that thing you said about how you would say that stuff in your girls ear lol. Also I can't finish this comment without saying react to Oneohtrix Point Never - R Plus Seven and Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation. Also lol I hate to add yet another suggestion but after you get to the albums Vulnicura and Utopia(which are both produced by Arca), you might want to consider going through Arca's Kick series. It is well worth your time. Loving your channel and hope you blow up big!
The bass was all vocals as well! They were done by Razel who does the best boxing as well. It’s ALL vocals. The “crying” is done by an indigenous throat singer.
Please please please listen to Ys by Joanna Newsom! Not only is it my favorite album, it's also a critical darling. I would rate Medúlla among Björk's top 5 albums, and I guess you would too from what you've heard so far 😂
To give backstory you should watch: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-8OkfWfDhuFw.html This is bjork’s most conceptual and experimental album. Almost entirely acapella and utilizes the stretches of human vocal ability. She worked a lot with famously skilled vocalists like Tanya Tagaq who is the Iñuit throat singer on many of the backup vocals/ ancestors. It’s really beautiful to think about! Edit: I do listen to ancestors as background in my free time just because I love Tanya as a native sister ❤😂
Ancestors is one of the funniest shit I've ever head. I know it´s supposed to be "deep" or "meaningful". but i just can´t help it. After all these years it still makes me laugh.
It really isn't that deep, Tanya Tagaq (the throat singer) did a 20-minute improvised piece, and Björk placed a segment of this piece on top of the piano song, which is a song she recorded years before "Medulla" that she never used, and it turned out that they matched very well, so "Ancestors" was created by chance.
Desired Constellation is my favourite one here as well! Not the biggest fan of the album overall though. Bjork went full-on avant-garde after Vespertine, lol... I prefer her more conventional-sounding albums. That being said, if you don't plan to react to her entire discography (so 5 more albums), you should at least give Vulnicura a try. It's probably her 3rd best after Vespertine and Homogenic, imo, and the least avant-garde of her post-Vespertine period Also once again recommending you to give Modest Mouse a listen :) The Lonesome Crowded West and The Moon & Antarctica should be the best albums to start with them
