Björk - 1995 - Post

After Debut's success, the pressure was on Björk to surpass that album's creative, tantalizing electronic pop. She more than delivered with 1995's Post; from the menacing, industrial-tinged opener, "Army of Me," it's clear that this album is not simply Debut redux. The songs' production and arrangements -- especially those of the epic, modern fairy tale "Isobel" -- all aim for, and accomplish, more. Post also features Debut producer Nellee Hooper, 808 State's Graham Massey, Howie B, and Tricky, who help Björk incorporate a spectrum of electronic and orchestral styles into songs like "Hyperballad," which sounds like a love song penned by Aphex Twin. Meanwhile, the bristling beats on the volatile, sensual "Enjoy" and the fragile, weightless ballad "Possibly Maybe" nod to trip-hop without being overwhelmed by it. As on Debut, Björk finds new ways of expressing timeworn emotions like love, lust, and yearning in abstractly precise lyrics like "Since you went away/I'm wearing lipstick again/I suck my tongue in remembrance of you," from "Possibly Maybe." But Post's emotional peaks and valleys are more extreme than Debut's. "I Miss You"'s exuberance is so animated, it makes perfect sense that Ren & Stimpy's John Kricfalusi directed the song's video. Likewise, "It's Oh So Quiet" -- which eventually led to Björk's award-winning turn as Selma in Dancer in the Dark -- is so cartoonishly vibrant, it could have been arranged by Warner Bros. musical director Carl Stalling. Yet Björk sounds equally comfortable with an understated string section on "You've Been Flirting Again." "Headphones" ends the album on an experimental, hypnotic note, layering Björk's vocals over and over till they circle each other atop a bubbling, minimal beat. The work of a constantly changing artist, Post proves that as Björk moves toward more ambitious, complex music, she always surpasses herself.



1 Army of Me Bjork, Massey 3:54
2 Hyper-Ballad Bjork, Gudmundsdottir 5:21
3 The Modern Things Bjork, Massey 4:10
4 It's Oh So Quiet Lang, Reisfeld 3:38
5 Enjoy Bjork, Tricky 3:56
6 You've Been Flirting Again Bjork, Gudmundsdottir 2:29
7 Isobel Bjork, De Vries, Hooper, Sjón 5:47
8 Possibly Maybe Bjork 5:06
9 I Miss You B., Bjork 4:03
10 Cover Me Bjork, Gudmundsdottir 2:06
11 Headphones Bjork, Tricky 5:40

¡Aquí!

VA - 1999 - Electro Lounge

Electro Lounge features a meeting of the finest musical minds in the electronica and lounge circles, and celebrates the best of both genres. Classic lounge and vocal jazz cuts by artists like Martin Denny, Yma Sumac, Dean Martin, Julie London, Louie Prima and John Barry are remixed and reworked by contemporary electronic acts like Utah Saints, Gus Gus, Meat Beat Manifesto and Uberzone; the results bring together music's past and future today.

1 Prologue 0:11
2 Hypnotique [Uberzone Remix] Denny 7:07
3 Lonesome Road [Mu-Ziq Remix] Elliott 4:20
4 Watermelon Man [Remix] King Curtis 5:44
5 Tutotial 0:15
6 Sway [Remix] London, Martin 4:45
7 The James Bond Theme [Remix] Holmes 4:45
8 Jump, Jive, An' Wail [Remix] Prima 4:33
9 The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly [Oldskool Gusgus Mix] Holmes 5:29
10 Tutorial 0:10
11 Do It Again [Wagon Christ Remix] Holmes 3:34
12 Seance on a Wet Afternoon [Omni Trio Remix] Barry 5:27
13 Gopher Mambo [Q-Burns Abstract Message Remix] Sumac 5:21
14 Staccato's Theme [Happening at Waldo's Mix] Bernstein 5:16
15 Epilague 0:10
16 Caravan [Eat Static Remix] Buzon 5:47

¡Aquí!

Tobin, Amon - 1997 - Bricolage

Amon Tobin's jazz-jungle fusions as Cujo (for upstart label Ninebar) earned him many props, but that began to change with his debut for Ninja Tune. Blurring the already vague line that separates jungle's rhythmic meditations from those of the hottest jazz (Elvin Jones, say, or Jaco Pastorius), Bricolage manages a difficult hybrid of heart, soul, atmosphere, and brain-bending plunderphonics that loses neither perspective nor direction over the course of the albums. Like his preceding EPs Creatures and Chomp Samba (from which a few of Bricolage's cuts derive), the album mixes fast and slow but maintains a solid focus on innovation without sacrificing a sense of purpose. Somehow, Bricolage manages to be both consistent and consistently engaging, a feat few drum'n'bass LPs seem able to manage.

		1		Stoney Street	Tobin	5:53
		2		Easy Muffin	Tobin	5:02
		3		Yasawas	Tobin	5:24
		4		Creatures	Tobin	5:21
		5		Chomp Samba	Tobin	6:07
		6		The New York Editor	Tobin	4:56
		7		Defocus	Tobin	5:10
		8		The Nasty	Tobin	4:35
		9		Bitter and Twisted	Tobin	5:05
		10		Wires and Snakes	Tobin	5:27
		11		One Day in My Garden	Tobin	5:43
		12		Dream Sequence	Tobin	7:19
		13		One Small Step	Tobin	6:11
		14		Mission	Tobin	7:08

¡Aquí!

Upanishad - Music Saves Your Life

The Upanishad project takes its origins from all that is far away and removed from our normal everyday life from the unforgettable African lands to the luxuriant regions of the Far East and Latin America.
Upanishad is the celebration of rites, dances, the magic of far-away civilisations. It is the music of the soul, rich in emotion and foreign sounds.
Upanishad, musically speaking, is an animal continuously on the run, moving from electronic dub sounds to analogical drum loops, ethnic percussion and ambient, world music and trip hop sounds.

¡Aquí!

Aim - 1999 - Cold Water Music

From the traditionalist artwork on the cover to the intro (a hazy, spoken-word track reminiscent of Lee Hazlewood), listeners can easily be forgiven for expecting an electronica/rock crossover album on the order of Air or Groove Armada. Instead, Aim's Cold Water Music is a jazzy, beat-heavy project that's just a few steps removed from straight-ahead hip-hop. Producer Andy Turner, a self-confessed beathead, cycles between jazz-rap and alternative wall-of-sound influences to bedrock his productions. Turner also gets props for drafting three excellent rappers -- Q'n'C, YZ, and AG -- to add vocals, resulting in several tracks that evoke the heyday of rap's Golden Age, but are also tough enough to survive even on modern mainstream rap radio. Though half of the standard songs are vocal tracks, Turner also shines on the instrumentals, constructing a paranoid beat symphony on "Demonique" with shrieking strings and an extended vocal sample from some forgotten B-movie.

		1		Intro		0:55
		2		Cold Water Music	Turner	5:44
Composed by: Turner Performed by: Aim, Kate Rogers, Q-Ball, Curt Cazal
		3		The Force	Furgeson	4:05
Composed by: Furgeson Performed by: Aim, Q'N'C,
		4		Sail	Gale	5:14
Composed by: Gale Performed by: Aim, Kate Rogers
		5		Downstate	Turner	4:14
		6		Ain't Got Time to Waste	Gale	4:08
Composed by: Gale Performed by: Aim, YZ
		7		Fat City	Turner	0:38
		8		True to Hip Hop	Turner	4:28
Composed by: Turner Performed by: Aim, AG,
		9		Demonique	Turner	5:18
		10		A Tree, a Rock and a Cloud	Gale	4:17
		11		Journey to the End of the Night	Turner	5:27
		12		From Here to Fame	Turner	5:29

¡Aquí!

Björk - 1993 - Debut

Freed from the Sugarcubes' confines, Björk takes her voice and creativity to new heights on Debut, her first work after the group's breakup. With producer Nellee Hooper's help, she moves in an elegantly playful, dance-inspired direction, crafting highly individual, emotional electronic pop songs like the shivery, idealistic "One Day" and the bittersweet "Violently Happy." Despite the album's swift stylistic shifts, each of Debut's tracks are distinctively Björk. "Human Behaviour"'s dramatic percussion provides a perfect showcase for her wide-ranging voice; "Aeroplane" casts her as a yearning lover against a lush, exotica-inspired backdrop; and the spare, poignant "Anchor Song" uses just her voice and a brass section to capture the loneliness of the sea. Though Debut is just as arty as anything she recorded with the Sugarcubes, the album's club-oriented tracks provide an exciting contrast to the rest of the album's delicate atmosphere. Björk's playful energy ignites the dance-pop-like "Big Time Sensuality" and turns the genre on its head with "There's More to Life Than This." Recorded live at the Milk Bar Toilets, it captures the dancefloor's sweaty, claustrophobic groove, but her impish voice gives it an almost alien feel. But the album's romantic moments may be its most striking; "Venus as a Boy" fairly swoons with twinkly vibes and lush strings, and Björk's vocals and lyrics — "His wicked sense of humor/Suggests exciting sex" — are sweet and just the slightest bit naughty. With harpist Corky Hale, she completely reinvents "Like Someone in Love," making it one of her own ballads. Possibly her prettiest work, Björk's horizons expanded on her other releases, but the album still sounds fresh, which is even more impressive considering electronic music's whiplash-speed innovations. Debut not only announced Björk's remarkable talent; it suggested she had even more to offer.

		1		Human Behaviour	Bjork, Hooper	4:12
		2		Crying	Hooper	4:49
		3		Venus as a Boy	Bjork	4:41
		4		There's More to Life Than This	Bjork, Hooper	3:21
		5		Like Someone in Love	Burke, VanHeusen	4:33
		6		Big Time Sensuality	Bjork, Hooper	3:56
		7		One Day	Bjork	5:24
		8		Aeroplane	Bjork	3:54
		9		Come to Me	Bjork	4:55
		10		Violently Happy	Bjork, Hooper	4:58
		11		The Anchor Song	Bjork	3:32

¡Aquí!