Bjork [merged]

[miaedu]

Re: Bjork

the 'moon' app is a musical sequencer that explores the similarities between the cycles of the moon and tides with sequences in music. change the phase of the moon to control the number of notes, and change the phase of the pearls to alter their pitch.

download the app from http://itunes.com/apps/biophilia

pre-order biophilia now from http://www.bjork.com
pre-order north america from http://www.nonesuch.com/artists/bjork

björk: moon app

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9ar6CiRIZI[/ame]

 

[miaedu]

Re: Bjork

Björk to release live album in Biophilia expanded editions

Owners of the Manual and Ultimate Art editions of Bjork’s new album Biophilia are in for an added treat. both sets will include a bonus live album featuring material from her recent residency in Manchester, England. The 15-track effort is exclusive to the two sets, both of which are sold out.

Check out the tracklist below.

Biophilia hits stores October 11th via Nonesuch Records. You can still pre-order the album on CD or vinyl here.

Live in Manchester Tracklist:
01. Thunderb0lt
02. Moon
03. Crystalline
04. Hollow
05. Dark Matter
06. Hidden Place
07. Mouth’s Cradle
08. Virus
09. Sonnets
10. Where is the Line
11. Mutual Core
12. Cosmogony
13. Solstice
14. One Day
15. Nattura

http://www.nonesuch.com/store/bjork

 

[miaedu]

Re: Bjork

Biophilia leaked today.

 

[miaedu]

Re: Bjork

First Listen: Björk, 'Biophilia'

Björk is not one for half measures: When she embarks on a new project, it's guaranteed to be a fully conceived artistic statement. For more than two decades, the Icelandic pop musician has created album after album of genre-bending, globe-spanning, forward-thinking songs with oversized intentions and flair that's distinctly her own. Björk has been similarly imaginative in other media, too; in her wild, colorful costuming and bizarre hairstyles, and in her mind-blowing music videos. There's no one else out there quite like her.

So it's fitting that Biophilia, Björk's latest and most ambitious project yet, began as a collection of songs written around themes of nature, science and humanity's relationships to both. For most artists, that'd be a lofty enough concept on its own. But Björk heavily researched astrophysics, string theory, neurology, biology and other areas where science and music meet. Her big ideas didn't stop there.

She also wanted people to explore inside the music and ultimately collaborate with it. For Biophilia, she'd originally envisioned a musical house — like a museum, she's said — wherein people could roam from room to room, with each interactive space designated to a different song. Later, she envisioned an IMAX film experience with visionary filmmaker Michel Gondry. When both of those ideas fell through, Björk commissioned an iPad app with which users can manipulate her music with various games, remix it and further understand the scientific and musical principles behind each song. It's a lot like her idea for the musical house, but in a digital environment. It's also just the kind of bonkers vision that Björk would be drawn to, and if it all works, it ought to be ingenious and tons of fun.

That said, for all the talk of the app, the biggest danger is that the songs themselves might end up being secondary to the grander statement. But, isolated from the iPad, Biophilia's songs are astounding. With a project like this, you might expect the music to be buried in layers of instruments — as on Björk's last album, the hyper-charged Volta. Instead, Biophilia benefits from being pared-down and minimalist. Each work focuses on a specific set of non-traditional instruments (no guitar, no piano) that serve as the backbone for each track. Amid rumbling synths, regal horn passages and crisply plucked string sequences, Björk uses specially made instruments like a "gravity harp," a Tesla coil, a group of pendulums and the clanging "gameleste," a hybrid of gamelan and celesta, played remotely with an iPad.

She also employed the iPad's touchscreen interface to create many of the glitchy digital sounds and skittering, chopped-up beats. Björk has explained that it helped her rethink her own natural tendencies. "All my songs end up being 83 BPM," she recently told Wired magazine, "which is the speed I walk. I felt stuck. I was writing most of my songs in 4/4: verse, chorus, verse, chorus." As on another previous album, Medulla — on which each instrument was crafted from a voice or vocal sample — Björk's self-imposed constraint has actually opened her up to a more spacious songwriting style. These songs have room to breathe, employing space and silence as much as melody and harmony. The sparse instrumentation and arrangements become gorgeously intricate meditations on which to build.

Yet at the heart of Biophilia is, of course, Björk's iconic, haunting voice. Vocal melodies unfurl more like transcendent devotionals than typical verses, and become even more stirring when accompanied by a chorus of voices that could fill a cathedral. Still, even as Björk chants and sings of nature, biology and the origins of the universe, songs like "Cosmogony" and "Moon" remain intimate and affecting by using scientific ideas as metaphors for universal sentiments. "Like a virus, patient hunter, I'm waiting for you, I'm starving for you," she sings in "Virus."

There's much to unpack with Biophilia; it takes many listens to grasp what's happening. For many, Björk's music can be strange and challenging, and it might not connect with everyone. But it's hard to deny her admirable and inspiring devotion to pushing the envelope musically. Björk is such an odd, elusive iconoclast that you truly never know what she'll try next. As always, that's part of the joy here.

Listen to the entire album:

http://www.npr.org/2011/10/04/140926565/first-listen-bj-rk-biophilia

 

[miaedu]

Re: Bjork

björk: thunderbolt live

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9Scr7wcqKk[/ame]

 

[Native Son]

Re: Bjork

the true musical original and oddball (not gaga)

What is she doing? Ugh, I don't get it.

Now, Gag....well, she's terrific! She knows how to work me. She's gooood....

Bjork is just creepy. Blech!

 

[miaedu]

Re: Bjork

What is she doing? Ugh, I don't get it.

Now, Gag....well, she's terrific! She knows how to work me. She's gooood....

Bjork is just creepy. Blech!

I love your sarcasm.

 

[miaedu]

Re: Bjork

Björk - Thunderbolt (Later with Jools Holland)

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQnFzcuL83o[/ame]

 

[miaedu]

Re: Bjork

Bjork has been confirmed for two festivals next year:

Björk is first official addition to Roskilde

http://www.cphpost.dk/culture/culture-news/bjork-first-official-addition-roskilde

BJORK AND BON IVER CONFIRMED FOR FLOW FESTIVAL 2012

http://hangout.altsounds.com/news/139945-bjork-bon-iver-confirmed-flow-festival-2012-a.html

 

[miaedu]

Re: Bjork

you can now download the full biophilia app in one go!

if you bought single biophilia apps before the full app was released, the full app album is available at a discounted price for one day only on the 19th of december. please go into the app and touch 'buy all apps' to take advantage of the discount. http://bitly.com/biophiliaapp

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dikvJM__zA4[/ame]

 

[miaedu]

Re: Bjork

Björk Announces New York Residency

per her Facebook page:

BJÖRK BRINGS BIOPHILIA LIVE SHOW ANDEDUCATION SERIES TO NEW YORK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE CREATORS PROJECT AND NEW YORK HALL OF SCIENCE ONLY CONFIRMED U.S. PERFORMANCES OF WHAT THE NEW YORK TIMES CALLS A “CONCERT HIGH OF 2011” WILL TAKE PLACE AT NEW YORK HALL OF SCIENCE AND ROSELAND BALLROOM

“The new songs juxtapose hovering textures of choir and organ with sparse pointillism and sudden eruptions of breakbeat drumming, all set against Björk’s idiosyncratic melodies: pithy or sustained, pausing unexpectedly and then snaking upward and opening out to a banshee wail.” - The New York Times

January 5, 2012
In partnership with The Creators Project and the New York Hall of Science, Björk is set to bring her live Biophilia show to New York City for a special 10-night residency. Six performances will take place at the New York Hall of Science, (http://www.nysci.org/) New York City’s only hands-on science and technology museum (located just across the Grand Central Parkway from Arthur Ashe Stadium and Citi Field in Flushing Meadows, Corona Park). There will also be four performances at Roseland Ballroom (www.livenation.com) located at 239 West 52nd Street. The New York Hall of Science shows have been set to Björk’s original Biophilia specifications, as audio-visual shows in an intimate setting with no audience member more than a few yards from the stage. All shows are performed in the round.

Biophilia premiered this past summer at the Manchester International Festival (MIF) in England in what The Wall St. Journal called a “magical evening,” followed by a sold out residency in Björk’s hometown of Reykjavik, Iceland. Initially commissioned by MIF, the intimate performance finds Björk accompanied by a set of unique musical instruments created by a team including an Icelandic organ builder and a graduate of the MIT Media Lab. Among these creations are four 10-foot pendulum-harps, a MIDI-controlled pipe organ celeste re-fitted with bronze gamelan bars, and twin musical Tesla coils. The performance also features an award-winning 24-piece Icelandic female choir and visuals from the Biophilia Apps with app developer Max Weisel performing on stage alongside Björk and musicians Manu Delagu and Zeena Parkins. Tickets go on sale January 13 at 10am through Ticketmaster (ticketmaster.com or 800.745.3000).

In addition to the live performance, Björk will collaborate with the New York Hall of Science on a three-week-long Biophilia education series. Featuring interactive science and music workshops for middle-school children, the series leads students on an intensive study of the scientific concepts at the core of Biophilia’s songs, including crystalline structures, lunar phases, viruses, and more. Students will also learn to use the Biophilia Apps as tools for music composition and delve into the study of how musicology relates to nature. The city of Reykjavík just announced that the Biophilia educational project will be included in Reykjavik’s school curriculum for the next three years. The series debuted at the Manchester International Festival, and a version of the program will also tour to major European festivals including Roskilde, Oyez, and the iTunes Festival in London.

Björk has collaborated with app developers, scientists, writers, inventors, musicians, and instrument makers to create a unique multimedia exploration of the universe and its physical forces—particularly those where music, nature, and technology meet. The project is inspired by and explores these relationships between musical structures and natural phenomena, from the atomic to the cosmic. “Biophilia’s songs are astounding,” NPR said. “These songs have room to breathe, employing space and silence as much as melody and harmony. The sparse instrumentation and arrangements become gorgeously intricate meditations on which to build...vocal melodies unfurl more like transcendent devotionals than typical verses, and become even more stirring when accompanied by a chorus of voices that could fill a cathedral.”

Each performance will feature songs from Biophilia, Björk’s most interdisciplinary project to date. Stereogum said that “Biophilia is one of 2011’s best releases…The songwriting is sharp, the feel immediate and enveloping.” The 10-track album, out now on One Little Indian/Nonesuch Records, is available digitally, in CD format and on vinyl. Additionally, each of the 10 songs is available as a special feature of the Biophilia App for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. Biophilia was named one of 2011’s Best Apps by Apple and landed on year-end best-of lists from NME, Mojo, The Observer, and Uncut, among others. The newly updated 1.4 version is available through In-App Purchase, exclusively at iTunes (www.itunes.com) and the App Store (www.itunes.com/apps/biophilia). Biophilia 1.4 is a new, simple way to buy the entire App album upon launch; a special offer for the dedicated fans who bought apps before the full album was released, and features iOS 5.0 enhancements and bug-fixes.

The Creators Project will be presenting Biophilia, and supporting the development of the education program for the US. An ongoing global arts and technology initiative, the Creators Project was founded by Intel and Vice in order to support visionary artists, musicians, and filmmakers who are using technology to push the bounds of creative expression. Content around the Biophilia project will be available at thecreatorsproject.com.

About New York Hall of Science
New York Hall of Science (NYSCI) presents 450 exhibits, demonstrations and design spaces that explain science, technology, engineering, and math. A visit to NYSCI is a hands-on, energetic educational experience where you can indulge your curiosity and nurture your creativity. NYSCI offers professional development for teachers, produces curricula and resources for classrooms, and studies how technology, gaming and play affect how we learn. NYSCI was founded at the 1964–65 World’s Fair and has evolved into New York’s center for interactive science, serving a half million students, teachers, and families each year.


BJÖRK BIOPHILIA NEW YORK RESIDENCY

February 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18
New York Hall of Science - Queens, NY

February 22, 25, 28; March 2
Roseland Ballroom - New York, NY

 

[miaedu]

Re: Bjork

http://www.livenation.com/search?tm...rch&user_input=&q=bjork&search.x=0&search.y=0

 

[miaedu]

Re: Bjork

Björk Nominated for BRIT Award; Tickets on Sale for NYC "Biophilia" Residency

Björk has been nominated for a 2012 BRIT Award in the Best International Female Solo Artist category. Also nominated in that field are Beyoncé, Feist, Lady Gaga, and Rihanna. This is Björk's 14th BRIT Award nomination; she has previously won four BRIT Awards: twice in 1994, for Best International Newcomer and Best International Female; once in 1996 for Best International Female; and once again in 1998 for Best International Female. The 2012 BRIT Awards will take place at The O2 in London on February 21. For more information and a complete list of nominees, head to brits.co.uk. To pick up a copy of her new album, Biophilia, in North America, head to the Nonesuch Store now.

Following fan presale earlier this week for Björk's forthcoming ten-show Biophilia residency in New York City, tickets go on sale to the general public today at Ticketmaster.com.

The Biophilia residency, featuring a set of unique musical instruments and a 24-piece Icelandic choir, will frun from February 3 to March 2 and include six performances at the New York Hall of Science and four performances at Roseland Ballroom. To complement these efforts, Björk will collaborate with the New York Hall of Science on a three-weeklong Biophilia education series. Featuring interactive science and music workshops for middle-school children, the series leads students on an intensive study of the scientific concepts at the core of Biophilia’s songs, including crystalline structures, lunar phases, viruses, and more. Students will also be given hands-on tools for music composition and delve into the study of how musicology relates to nature. Each week will conclude with a USB key or CD for each child, featuring their classroom creations.

Beyond general ticket sales, a limited number of VIP packages have been designed to directly support the Biophilia education program in Queens public schools. These packages provide a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience Björk live in an intimate setting while supporting public school arts education.

VIP sponsors receive:

a premium seat at one of ten New York City dates, presented in the round
a pre-show tour of the Biophilia education program and unique instruments
an invitation to post-show drinks with musicians (Björk appearance not guaranteed)
a limited edition Biophilia signed lithograph print and tour laminate

http://www.nonesuch.com/journal/bjo...n-sale-for-nyc-biophilia-residency-2012-01-13

 

[miaedu]

Re: Bjork

Björk's ready for a not so quiet night at the museum
The Icelandic star wants to educate as well as entertain

Björk can't get enough of museums. The Icelandic songstress is set to sing about zombie snails, and more from her acclaimed Biophilia album, at New York's Hall of Science next month. And she's revealed that she's in discussions with other museums around the world to take the show to them too.

Biophilia's first airing came at last summer's Manchester International Festival. That residency took place in an apt venue – Lower Campfield Market Hall in the post-industrial Castlefield district, a building that now serves as Manchester Museum of Science and Industry's Air and Space Gallery.

Those nights at the museum gave Björk a taste for more. "I went around and looked at a lot of venues. But this one [New York's Hall of Science] was the most interesting," she explains in between rehearsals for the New York shows. "Because of the educational angle of Biophilia we really needed to collaborate on the science side of things. We take care of the musicology and the music teaching."

The 46-year-old Reykjavik-born musician will play six shows at the museum next month. "The Great Hall – which is a tower of blue glass built for the World's Fair – hasn't really been used for concerts, which is a bit of a mystery," she ponders. Indeed, the Hall of Science is one of the only living legacies on the site of the 1964-65 Fair at Flushing Meadow Corona Park in Queens. The Fair became infamous for its wildly optimistic, corporate-sponsored vision of a futuristic America. The park boasted a predictable excess of phallic towers, plus elephantine Technicolor dioramas and Jetsons-style robotic car rides through fantastical worlds overflowing with advanced household gadgets.

read more:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-e...not-so-quiet-night-at-the-museum-6293963.html

 

[Native Son]

Re: Bjork



It's a cute cover, but (and it pains me to say this) there's something to be said about her voice. Dammit.

 

[miaedu]

Re: Bjork

Björk to Perform from "Biophilia" on "The Colbert Report" in Advance of NYC Residency

Björk—whose ten-night Biophilia residency in New York City begins this Friday night—will be the guest on tonight's episode of The Colbert Report. Tune in to Comedy Central starting at 11:30 PM ET tonight to see Björk perform "Cosmogony" from the album Biophilia.

Björk will also talk with host Stephen Colbert about the Biophilia multimedia project: the album, released last fall; the Apps, which were released through iTunes in conjunction with the album; the educational series featuring interactive science and music workshops for school children; and the residency, which includes six shows at the New York Hall of Science in Queens and four at Roseland Ballroom in Manhattan.

To see Björk's performance schedule, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour. VIP packages for the New York residency are available as well, with proceeds directly funding the Biophilia education program. To purchase a VIP package, go to bitly.com/bjorkny.

http://www.nonesuch.com/journal/bjo...lbert-report-advance-nyc-residency-2012-01-31

 

[miaedu]

Re: Bjork

^^^

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/407491/january-31-2012/bjork

 

[miaedu]

Re: Bjork

Through the Wormhole With Björk

In “Crystalline,” one of the new songs Björk performed on Friday evening at the New York Hall of Science, she sang: “Octagon polygon/pipes of an organ/sonic branches/ murmuring drone.” Video screens arranged octagonally above the in-the-round stage showed crystal shapes advancing along the inside of something branchlike. There was a droning pipe organ onstage, activated from afar during the set via MIDI controller — a type of sonic branch — by Max Weisel, the programmer and keyboardist.

“Crystalline” comes from the album “Biophilia,” which is a worlds-within-worlds piece of work. When we talk about “Biophilia,” we are inevitably talking first about process and ideas, which tend to be stronger than its music. Despite strong singing, typically intense and full throated with strange phrasing and emphasis, the songs can grow dry and austere. Some of the older songs she performed on Friday night, including “Hidden Place,” “Mouth’s Cradle” and “Pagan Poetry,” had far greater emotional and musical power.

But the ideas are beautiful. The songs are about bodies, geology, and space — self, ground and sky, interconnecting and explaining one another. She hired David Attenborough, the naturalist, to narrate the apps created for each of the album’s songs; we heard his voice over the speakers at the concert. “Remember,” said the voice, “that you are a gateway between the universal and the microscopic.”

Björk humanizes her scientific themes, or vice versa. The song “Virus” is a kind of love story between virus and host. In “Solstice,” a song about planetary motion, she sang an observation that could be understood to describe a planet or a person: “You are a light-bearer/receiving radiance from others.” Wherever she could make it happen she connected between form and content. On Friday that occurred most obviously in “Solstice,” whose minimal theme was provided by a four-armed pendulum, created for this project, with strings attached to the arms, struck by stationary plectra. Gravity played the melody.

The 90-minute show was the first night of six at the New York Hall of Science in Queens, and it was the first time she had played the new music in the United States; this is a residency including workshops for children. She’ll also be playing regular concerts in New York — four shows at Roseland this month — then festival gigs in the summer, followed by more performance-and-education workshops around the world.

read more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/06/arts/music/bjork-new-york-hall-of-science-show-review.html

 

[miaedu]

Re: Bjork

Björk - Hollow

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wApZaQvXxo0&feature=share[/ame]

Bjork Explores The World Within For 'Hollow'

It takes an artist like Björk to turn the complex process of DNA replication and transcription into something as simple and beautiful as a pop song. For the video of her song "Hollow," from last year's app-based album Biophilia, Björk has collaborated with biomedical animator Drew Berry to create a partly-scientific representation of the haunting song.

"Hollow's" instrumentation is sparse — a rhythmic organ-like pulse and Björk's echoing voice. The blending of the electronic manipulation of the vocals, which makes it sound like there's a whole tribe of Björks singing in unison, and the thudding electronic notes give the song a feel that is primal yet futuristic. The lyrics add to the sense of looking back hundreds of generations: Bjork yearns to "belong" to the "generations of mothers" that pulse through her body, to be part of the necklace of "jewels after jewels."

In an email, Björk described her idea behind "Hollow":

It's just the feeling when you start thinking about your ancestors and DNA that the grounds open below you and you can feel your mother and her mother, and her mother, and her mother, and her mother 30,000 years back. So suddenly you're this kinda tunnel, or trunk of DNA ... All these ghosts come up so it ended up begin a Halloween song and quite gothic in a way ... It's like being part of this everlasting necklace when you're just a bead on a chain and you sort of want to belong and be a part of it and it's just like a miracle.

The video for the song could be a documentary of a strange alien world or the beginning of life on Earth. Every frame is bursting with hyperactive life. It's an odd feeling, watching DNA strands twist and form as small bits of proteins scurry around in the background. This is the unceasing chaos that is going on inside every one of us. The video could be a piece of a museum explaining our biological process were it not for the strange molecular face that appears near the end. That little addition adds a touch of mysticism to the piece and puts a small bit of humanity in a universe of mindless chemical processes.

Director Drew Berry told us about the blending his scientific work and Björk's music:

The "Hollow" music video is a powers-of-10 exploration of the microscopic and and molecular landscapes inside Björk's body. The animation was constructed from molecular models of DNA and proteins derived from various forms of scientific data such as x-ray crystallography.

My work is usually defined by goals of didactic science education and accuracy, so this is the first time that I've strayed fully into the world of art, with the opportunity to mess around with the scientific data to create a whimsical and playful journey.

Inside a cell nucleus the audience encounters Björk's ancestral spirit — her ghost in the machine — that watches over her genes as they flow from one generation to the next. The spirit manifests as a large molecular complex which was modeled from a three-dimensional head scan of Björk. The inspiration for the face came from the 'fruit face' paintings by the 16th century italian artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo who took objects such as fruits, vegetables, or books, and arranged them in such a way that they formed a portrait.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2...jork-explores-the-world-within?sc=tw&cc=share

 

[miaedu]

Re: Bjork

BJÖRK BIOPHILIA REMIX SERIES

LAUNCHES ON ONE LITTLE INDIAN APRIL 16, INCLUDES 16 BIT, KING CANNIBAL, DEATH GRIPS, EL GUINCHO, MATTHEW HERBERT, HUDSON MOHAWKE, ALVA NOTA, THESE NEW PURITANS, CURRENT VALUE

On April 16 One Little Indian Records is set to release the first in an eight-part series of remixes of tracks from Björk’s Biophilia.

Available on 12” vinyl as well as CD and digital download, the first entry in the series features the Current Value remixes of “Crystalline” and “Solstice.” The series will go on to feature a new collaboration every two weeks with artists 16-bit, King Cannibal, Death Grips, El Guincho, Matthew Herbert, Hudson Mohawke, Alva Noto, and These New Puritans. Each entry in the series will also be made available in a 500-piece limited edition deluxe package designed by m/m with special blue mineral papers and embossed foil lettering consisting of a 12” LP and CD.

Bjork - Crystalline [Current Value Remix]

http://soundcloud.com/purplepr/bjork-crystalline-current