Daily Jam - Isobel

Here's one of my favorites from the one and only Björk.  Listen to "Isobel" below, our Daily Jam.

Daily Jam - Bachelorette

Although the time in which to do so has become increasingly fleeting as I venture further and further into middle age, one of my very favorite things to do is to put on headphones, drown out the world around me for a little while, and just lose myself in song. I’ll sit back in a chair, drink in hand, and breathe, or I’ll stretch out on my bed, relax, and close my eyes, sound humming in my ears. No background noises, no distractions, no focus on the myriad of other things I have to (or want to) do. Just my breathing and the music, often turned up so loud I wouldn’t even hear a car crashing through the room. It’s lovely. You should try it sometime. It’s basically my version of taking a hot bath in a candlelit room like you see in movies.

And certain artists’ discographies were just meant for this kind of thing…like Björk’s of course.

In all reality, you really could choose any album, any song by the Icelandic chanteuse and float around in your head for a little while, but for me, I always come back to “Bachelorette” from 1997’s Homogenic. It devastates me every time I hear it, the artist’s heart-stricken and aching vocals encircling my soul and squeezing, the lyrical imagery burning into my brain like an old photograph, all accompanied by lush and beautiful orchestration and electronic beats. It’s an anthem of heartbreak for sure, but just so wonderfully produced as to beg for repeated, somber listens.

So I do.

And with the sound contained to my ears, the world blurring as I shut it out, I can feel the music seeping into every pore. I think I’ll stay like this for a while.

Daily Jam - All Is Full of Love

I try not to be one of those cranky old Gen-Xer farts that laments the hows, whys, and what-fors of the devolution of MTV from a medium for music videos to whatever it is the station airs now. It’s been a really long time (the 90’s) since I even gave the channel a moment’s thought, my pre-teen and adolescent years derived of hour upon hour of what essentially were commercials for the music industry that now serve me as more of a nostalgia bomb than anything else. So, their programming changed as the years moved on, and I didn’t like any of it or watch any of it, but none of that matters since I’m not their demographic anyway. We’re not even on the same planet.

But man, I had some fun while it lasted.

I realize that artists still make videos. Any brief perusal of Youtube or dozens of other websites or streaming services are testament to that, but the ones from my era, as anyone who’s ever been a teenager ever probably believes, seemed so much more important. Growing up in a smaller city, they were my viewfinder to a much larger world, one of outsiders, lost souls, and weirdos. They gave me punks and art kids and gangstas, a temporary audio and visual reprieve from the hum drum of a Texas oil town. And it was about so much more than the music too. The visuals on display were sometimes even better, offering an array of talent who would eventually make the jump to longer form story telling, albeit with their own unique flashes of style. I became fixated on names like Fincher, Jonze, Gondry, Glazer, and Romanek. They elevated the art form and made some absolutely killer music videos.

One of these burgeoning artists was Chris Cunningham, the creator of some completely bonkers (and disturbing) videos for Aphex Twin. But he also paired up with one of my all time favorites, the extraordinary and enigmatic Björk.

Originally recorded for 1997’s Homogenic, though a remixed version would actually be used on the record, “All Is Full of Love” is a beautiful and majestic ballad that feels like an ode to the dichotomy of love. At once, it’s an open heart, seeing and feeling love in everything, but also a song clung to a more cynical point of view, eyeing love and its ever elusiveness or denial. Cunningham’s visuals for the track consisted of two computer generated life forms, one with Björk’s facial features, slowly caressing in a sterile and robotic environment. I’ve always been very moved by the video, its simple conceit betraying the emotional load it carries. And I’ve always been moved by the song too, its ability to make me feel both warm and loved, and cold and alone all at the same time hitting me like some kind of poet’s paradox. All is full of love, and it hurts.

Nobody does it like Björk. Nobody.

Listen below, our Daily Jam.

Daily Jam - Bachelorette

I don't know about the rest of you, but i'm going to listen to some Björk today.  Here's the heartbreaking and devastating "Bachelorette," our Daily Jam.

Daily Jam - New World

Lars von Trier's "Dancer in the Dark" is one of those movies that i don't think i ever want to see again, good, well-made, and powerful, but just too hard to take in a second time.  He's good at making movies like that.  Anyway, the film starred Björk, and she made a companion album for it, "Selmasongs."  I come back to that one a lot.  Here's the symphonic "New World," our Daily Jam.

Daily Jam - Human Behaviour

I vividly remember the first time i heard Björk.  I saw the "Human Behaviour" video on MTV and was struck silent by both the imagery on screen and by how alien the music sounded to me.  Living in west Texas, i had never heard anything like it before, and found it fascinating and hypnotic.  Check it out below, our Daily Jam.

Daily Jam - New World

"New World" is one of those songs i can listen to endlessly.  Björk has actually give me a few of those over the years, buy maybe none of them move me quite like this one does.  That orchestra at the end.  Check it out below, our Daily Jam.

Björk - The Gate

Anytime we get new music from Björk, it's an event.  Going on 3 decades now, starting with her time in The Sugarcubes, the artist continues to push boundaries and pursue innovations in both sound and vision.  Watch the video for new song "The Gate" below and look for new album "Utopia" in November on One Little Indian.