Review: Bjork - Bastards

Originally published on www.soundblab.com

The eccentric or, as some may put it, batshit crazy Icelandic singer Bjork returns to the music scene with the remix album of her seventh studio album Biophilia, the aptly-titled Bastards. Now credit where credit is due, anyone who names their album Bastards deserves a round of applause. Of course, Bjork has been doing that kind of thing for almost 30 years, first as part of the band The Sugarcubes and then solo.

She's done more than garner masses of applauses as well. After all, the unconventional singer has gained herself numerous Grammy Award nominations and has even been nominated for an Academy Award. However, I don't quite think that honour will be bestowed this album. I'm a big fan of Bjork's massive back-catalogue and I often find that some of her songs work extremely well as remixes. In fact, the remix of 'Army of Me' is probably better than the original version.

However, her eclectic mix of music and amazing vocals just aren't enough to save this remix record. Some tracks are OK, some are good, some are bad and some are a little hit-and-miss altogether and tend to just blend into the background, and Bjork is someone who should never blend into the background. The album does sound very worldly and mixes what sounds like Bollywood and African music into her rocky, electro sounds. While this is all well and good, many tracks sound too samey and just get lost while you're doing something else.

The best track on the album has to be 'Crystalline', which mixes Bjork's excellent vocals with an upbeat, haunting and Bollywood-inspired sound. It's not a combination you would initially put together but it works. The same thing works but not quite as well on the track 'Thunderbolt,' although there's just not enough of Bjork on it.

Other good tracks are 'Sacrifice' and 'Sacrifice Reprise' with their haunting vocals and almost minimal music, focusing on the voice, which is, as always, amazing. Both tracks are very atmospheric and melancholic, with the later making you feel as though Bjork herself has been engulfed in waves. Listen to it and you'll get what I mean. The worst track has to be 'Hollow', which is just seven long minutes of really boring music and boring vocals which don't grab your attention or make you feel anything other than bored. Basically, it's an awful track.

A special mention has to be given to 'Mutual Core', which has a number of excellent vocals. When it kicks in, it's extremely dark and heavy. However, only these parts are worth listening to - some are flat out yawn-inducing. It's a classic case of the hit-and-miss song.

Overall this album has some good mixes and some brilliant vocals. However, some parts completely miss the mark and leave you bored while only a few others pick you up. I think Bjork needs to go back to the drawing board and work on some new music, which is probably best for all of us.

Review: Dirty Projectors + Bjork - Mount Wittenberg Orca

Originally posted on www.soundblab.com

In 2009 Icelandic music sensation Bjork teamed up with experimental rock band Dirty Projectors for a charity concert of seven songs. A year later they stepped into the studio to record it and the result was the Mount Wittenberg Orca EP. Initially released in June of last year, four days after it was announced the collaborators finally decided to release the EP in its physical form.

When the album first started, I must admit I was little sceptical as the speakers began blurting out some sort of vocal harmonising with no music. "Here we go," I thought, "Another one Bjork's crazy ideas, the swan dress being her craziest". However, as it began to play through I realised that this was in fact the beauty of the EP and strangely enough it works.

The record is a mix of minimal music, with the odd guitar and symbol coming in now and again, with vocal harmonising being the main form of backing music. Yes, it is very experimental and to be quite honest I don't think I've ever heard a record which focuses so heavily on the vocal harmonies as the main form of backing music, but it works so well, everyone involved must be applauded for that originality.

Obviously, Bjork's incredible vocal stands out even more than usual considering the lack of actual musical instruments or synths etc, but I must say the lead singer of Dirty Projectors stole the whole album. His alternative rock voice really envelopes you and draws you into this album and in my opinion his voice is the best and most surprising part.

Although the album can be applauded for its individuality and great vocal performances, it must be said that the harmonies in the background, though good, do get a little annoying at times, especially during 'On and Ever Onward' as they drown out Bjork's main vocal and leave you feeling as though you are missing something great. Some of the songs do begin to blend at points but with the combination of the male and female lead vocals throughout the tracks you can forgive them due to the great vocal performances.

All in all, the entire album was very good and a surprisingly interesting treat.

Review: Sucker Punch

Originally posted on www.thefancarpet.com

After managing to go the last few months without even seeing a trailer for the movie Sucker Punch I recently got the privilege of reviewing the recently released Blu-Ray edition of the Zack Snyder directed action/adventure/thriller movie.

Now as I hadn’t seen any trailers for the film and had only heard of the film through word of mouth I had no idea what to expect from my first viewing. The only thing I had to go on for the movie was the front cover of the Blu-Ray case, and my first reactions to this were no good to say the least, but don’t let that put you off as the film is actually quite good. Like they say never judge a book (or film in this case) by its cover.

The film itself is incredibly dark and intense from the get go. Within the first five minutes I was hooked, the opening scene of the movie is both gripping and intense, which is quite a feat considering there is hardly a word spoken during the dramatic opening, which only adds to the intensity of it as you wonder what’s about to happen.

The film’s plot sees a young girl put into a mental institution after the dramatic climax of the film’s opening scene, where she discovers that in five days she will receive a lobotomy even though she doesn’t require one (I’m not going to give too much away I promise). It’s after this that the whole fantasy action packed plan for survival begins as the lead character Babydoll enters into a fantasy world in order to help her escape the mental institution along with four other girls she acquires along her journey.

In the fantasy world the mental institution becomes a type of brothel where the girls must dance and do other favours for the male customers, and it is here that Babydoll begins her plan for escape. The film is very well done when acting out their plan as we are introduced to the war themed fight scenes that represent their plan and Babydoll’s dance in the fantasy world. As the film and the plan come to an end there is a slight twist in what happens that I didn’t really see coming but others may have.

A negative aspect of the film does however come from the fight scenes, as after awhile they become slightly repetitive and a little bit predictable. But overall the film is excellently shot and puts you in mind of a video game, especially during the fight scenes. This coupled up with an excellent soundtrack that features songs from the likes of Bjork, Queen, Skunk Anansie and the lead actress Emily Browning singing The Eurythmics classic “Sweet Dreams” really brings the film together, and to be honest I think the soundtrack is what made the film.

Credit where credit’s due has to go to Vanessa Hudgens who after playing the whiny Gabrielle in the High School Musical franchise finally breaks away from the wholesome image of Disney for this gritty role, and she’s actually quite good.

I was a little bit disappointed however by the extras on the Blu-Ray as I didn’t find them that interesting and there was an incredible lack of deleted scenes, as I’m sure there must have been plenty of scenes cut from this movie just like every other movie ever made, and who really needs four different versions of the same film in one case?

Overall the film was entertaining and keeps you gripped from the very beginning, you may stray slightly during some of the fight scenes but overall the film does what it set out to do, and that’s entertain.