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Opposite Day · by Sach O
Thankfully, Volta sounds nothing like this.
In my self-assigned role as the quick-on-the-draw, impetuous member of the Ohword crew I’ve had my fair share of arguments and made a few bold statements in the past year. I’ve collected props, gotten a LOT of hate mail and have laughed about it all the way to the bank (to cash in unemployment checks mind you). By my own accord, one of the biggest clusterfucks I’ve penned was my Timbaland is Dead rant, which I still stand by. However, even a broken clock is right twice a day and I had to double check my watch after downloading the new Bjork release and hearing her collaborations with the man.
First off, as a melanin-deficient Caucasoid I’m contractually obligated to admire Bjork’s music. White people look it up, it’s on your birth certificate. However, I can’t say that I’ve enjoyed any of her records in years. I bought Vespertine around the same time as I copped The Cold Vein and that may as well be a million years ago in internet time. It was dope, but it was no Homogenic either and since then things haven’t gotten any better. After all, who really enjoyed Bjork’s whole vocal thing on Medula? It made for a nice show at the Olympics and the critics politely praised the album but I don’t know anyone who, you know, listens to it a few years after the fact. Her new album Volta, while almost undoubtedly a step up, suffers from some of the same problems. Without jumping the gun with a review, it continues Bjork’s clever mix of avant-garde production and otherworldly vocals but lacks the accessibility and lightness of her 90’s material. Between ballads with Antony and drum-deficient experiments in brass arrangements, the album doesn’t quite gel so much as blend together.
Except when Timbaland’s involved.
As I’ve stated earlier, I’ve bashed Mr. Mosley for his 06 output, tired of critics praising him for what I see as rhythmically adventurous production at the service of the most insipid and intelligence-insulting releases of the past year. If you give Timbaland a “sexy” mainstream artist with the lyrical depth of a puddle you get dumb catchy music and unless it’s coming out of the Bay, dumb doesn’t fly with me. His team up with Bjork on the other hand works perfectly and it’s no surprise considering her best work has always been the result of her bending dance-producers to her will. Left to her own devices, Bjork’s music becomes an impenetrable experiment that’s easier to admire than love but teamed with Tricky, Howie B or in this case Timbaland, it actually works as pop music. Earth Invaders has already been blogged about to death, fitting nicely among Bjork’s singles, but album tracks Innocence and Hope are just as interesting. The first sounds like a long lost Missy Elliot single minus the eyeball roll-inducing sex raps, combining squelchy synths and obtuse rhythms. Strangely, it’s not that far from the music she was making 10 years ago: it’s harder and less delicate but like Earth Invaders it fits in rather than stick out. Hope’s electro-acoustic bongos and middle-eastern instrumentation are a little more troublesome, the beat could fit on Nelly or Justin’s albums with only a little more bounce. But by parring the arrangement down and singing about pregnant suicide bombers and internal virlvinds, it somehow works. That’s more intriguing than popstar break up records no matter how you slice it.
Ultimately, it’s a case of opposites balancing each other out. Timbaland can’t turn Bjork into a diva like Furtado and Bjork can’t fuck up Timbo’s pop-appeal no matter how many thumb pianos she throws in the mix. I’m not suggesting that they collaborate for a full length or nothing, (wouldn’t work) but it takes a hell of a lot for me to praise Timbo’s beats. Or throw in a Bjork CD post-Homogenic for that matter.
Comments for "Opposite Day"
I’m a whitey who digs Bjork too and saddingly, everything post-Homogenic doesn’t do it for me. THere’s an interesting interview she did over at Pitchfork btw.
— Jay B Apr 27, 11:19 PM
well, I’m a black man who says Vespertine was certified crack music.
— Justin B. Apr 28, 03:58 AM
wait, nevermind, you put hyphy over Timbaland. no further questions
— T.R.E.Y. Apr 29, 08:59 PM
Innocence is completely unlistenable. I think I almost went into an epileptic seizure from the beat. Hope is interesting in its sparse style, but Bjork kind of ruins the track by being too overbearing on it.
— matthew Apr 30, 08:44 PM