Volta

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ALBUM INFORMATION

Total Tracks: 10   Total Length: 51:03

eMusic Review

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Paul Moody

eMusic Contributor

04.22.11
A brave and beautiful album from the Queen of Oddball Pop.
Label: One Little Indian / Second Wind

What with the run-ins with deranged stalkers, on-set altercations with director Lars Von Trier during the filming of 2000's Dancer in the Dark, and a harrowing trip to post-tsunami Indonesia last year in her role as UN ambassador, no one can say Björk has shirked her responsibilities over the last decade as the Queen of Oddball Pop.

The solution? Enter the studio with an A-Z of avant-garde musicians from around the world and purge her demons through the medium of coruscating dance-pop. Opener "Earth Intruders" is a pounding three-way rhythmic blitzkrieg between producer Timbaland, Lightning Bolt drummer Brian Chippendale and hip percussionist Chris Corsano, over which she yells “Turmoil! Carnage!” On “Declare Independence” Congolese collective Konono No. 1 apply scrap-metal-sourced electronics which build into an extraordinary brutalist electro-barrage over which shrieks: “Start your own galaxy/ Attack the language/ Make your own flag!” A dreamy “Hope” meanwhile, wrong-foots you at every turn, alluding to “suicide bombers” over a jangle of Clavichord and free-falling beats.

After the storm, the calm: “My Juvenile” is a heart-breaking duet with Antony Hegarty, set to ancient Chinese acoustics, whilst “Dull Flame of Desire” finds the pair reunited over mournful colliery brass, entwined like lovers (“I… read more »

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Liked it - but read a detail from my review...

spacedisk

I'm sorry. This review is unavailable for reading in your country at this time.

user avatar

Why go global if you can only act local?

PORTHOS

Nor is it available in France ! I find it a rather sleazy way of doing business, to lure the customer with articles he won't be able to buy. So if you don't carry it inside, please move it from your shop window. Fed up with these false joys.

user avatar

UK friendly

GuyIncognito

You can download it in bonnie Aberdeen. I agree its a tease to show it if its not available.

user avatar

Australia

EMUSIC-0073EDF3

Actually, it's not available for download in Australia either.

user avatar

Where is this album available?

baker

It seems from the other posts, that you can't get it in Europe, Asia or the US. Where else is there?..Australia?..Africa? I'm confused, shouldn't emusic have different sites for other countries like emusic.ca, or emusic.co.uk.. Help please

user avatar

To hell with with "not available on your country"

RuiSeabra

If you can't sell it here, Portugal or whatever, don't even show it to me. It's just an insult to me, as a customer, to view such a thing. I agree that emusic should not even carry such label-poo, but if they must, then at least do me a favour and don't "laugh" at my expense. As to Volta, I actually bought in CD format *after* hearing it for *free* in the Internet. Its a worthy album from Bjork, if you can buy it here, do so.

user avatar

Ok kiddies?

zootAlors

I'm from Ireland, my credit card is in the UK and I work in Pakistan. If I can buy a damned refrigerator from Amazon.com and a ten thousand dollar airfare from BA.com why the hell do I get told that I can't buy a Bjork album because "it's not available in your country". I have ZERO patience for record companies and their pathetic excuses. One Internet (ok, two), one world. I know it's not eMusic but they're not without blame - they should refuse to carry material unless its globally available. That might help. I generally boycott labels that apply restrictions on my downloading.

user avatar

Hmmmmm?

hobocircus

Did you listen to some of the samples? (like #9 on the list). I think emusic did us a favor :-)

user avatar

Unavailability

jdevans

Okay kiddies, take a seat. The reason albums are available, or not, in different countries, has nothing to do with emusic. In fact, different labels release albums in different countries. So even if, say, one little indian is hip and friendly enough to have albums on emusic, that doesn't mean other less friendly labels - say, Atlantic or any other major - is going to let people hear music they want to listen to without buying lumps of plastic and scads of useless cardboard and pouring money into their coffers. Lesson over.

user avatar

NOT AVAILABLE..?!

khuya

in Italy too !!??

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Björk

By eMusic Editorial Staff

Björk's got a lot going for her: eccentric songwriting, visual presence, a smartly chosen bunch of collaborators, high-flying conceptual grandeur. More than anything, though, she's got a voice like nothing else on the planet. It's bizarre and lovely, a sound that seems at home both on radio hits and in avant-garde art spaces. It communicates at least as much as her songs themselves, and in fact presenting lyrics is pretty far from the point: unless… more »

They Say All Media Guide

Once again finding harmony and creating alchemy between seeming opposites, on Volta Björk is bold but thoughtful, delicate yet strong, accessible and avant. The intricacy and complexity of projects like Medúlla and Drawing Restraint 9 suggested that she might have left the more direct side of her work behind, but Volta’s opening track and lead single, “Earth Intruders,” puts that notion to rest: the song literally marches in, riding a bubbling, ritualistic beat courtesy of Timbaland and Konono No. 1′s electric thumb-pianos. Björk howls “Turmoil! Carnage!” like incantations over the din, and after several albums’ worth of beautiful whispers, it’s a joy to hear her raise her voice and volume like this. “Wanderlust” follows and provides the yin to “Earth Intruders”‘ yang, its horns and brooding melody giving it the feel of a moodier, more contemplative version of “The Anchor Song.” These two songs set the tone for the rest of Volta’s pendulum-like swings between sounds and moods, all of which are tied together by found-sound and brass-driven interludes that give the impression that the album was recorded in a harbor — an apt metaphor for how ideas and collaborators come and go on this album. Timbaland’s beats resurface on “Innocence,” another of Volta’s most potent moments; a sample of what sounds like a man getting punched in the gut underscores Björk’s viewpoint that purity is something powerful, not gentle. Antony and the Johnsons’ Antony Hegarty lends his velvety voice to two outstanding but very different love songs: “The Dull Flame of Desire” captures swooning romance by pairing Björk and Hegarty’s voices with a slowly building tattoo courtesy of Lightning Bolt drummer Brian Chippendale; “My Juvenile,” which is dedicated to Björk’s son Sindri, closes Volta with a much gentler duet. Considering how much sonic and emotional territory the album spans — from the brash, anthemic “Declare Independence,” which sounds a bit like Homogenic’s “Pluto,” to “Pneumonia” and “Vertebrae by Vertebrae,” which are as elliptical and gentle as anything on Vespertine or Drawing Restraint 9 — Volta could very easily sound scattered, but this isn’t the case. Instead, it finds the perfect balance between the vibrancy of her poppier work in the ’90s and her experiments in the 2000s. – Heather Phares

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Activity

  • 02.09.12 due to heath issues, tonight's björk show at the new york hall of science is cancelled. refunds will be available at point of purchase.
  • 01.13.12 tickets and vip sponsor packages for the ny residency are on sale now: http://t.co/T7t3jrmk. vip sponsor package info: http://t.co/7lUTyXff
  • 01.11.12 ny biophilia residency presale is on. pword: Biophilia Live. vip sponsorship bundles available. http://t.co/nLT3q8to
  • 12.20.11 a winter solstice message from björk http://t.co/rdfojwtv
  • 12.20.11 a new holiday version of the solstice app is available in the app store. create a song and gift as a christmas e-card! http://t.co/ShXhKoVJ
  • 12.19.11 if you bought single biophilia apps before the full app was released, the full app album is on discount today only! http://t.co/VfNkxrki
  • 12.19.11 you can now download the full biophilia app in one go! http://t.co/VfNkxrki 
  • 12.14.11 lots of festival appearances confirmed for next summer and more to come! http://t.co/nLT3q8to
  • 12.14.11 biophilia is named one of the top five music apps of 2011 by apple! download it here: http://t.co/VfNkxrki
  • 11.19.11 björk has answered a selection of submitted questions in the ask section on http://t.co/bIdeXOKD . http://t.co/VPe9KEmw
  • 11.17.11 5 festivals confirmed for next summer. have a look at the new events for june + july: http://t.co/nLT3q8to
  • 11.07.11 björk wins 'digital genius' at o music awards! http://t.co/M6R2FvGT
  • 11.04.11 björk has answered a selection of submitted questions in the ask section on http://t.co/bIdeXOKD . http://t.co/VPe9KEmw
  • 11.03.11 here comes a recording of thunderbolt live . please use headphones or proper speakers when you listen . warmth , björk http://t.co/Ib4qRmzx
  • 10.31.11 cosmogony lyrics competition update: thanks to all who have submitted so far! keep it coming. closing date nov 7th - http://t.co/xcAKb5uX
  • 10.26.11 you can post a review of any björk show you have seen in the gigography section on http://t.co/bIdeXOKD http://t.co/xQpmEN4s
  • 10.24.11 björk has answered a selection of submitted questions in the ask section on http://t.co/bIdeXOKD http://t.co/VPe9KEmw
  • 10.24.11 competition: create your own verse for cosmogony around a creation myth. björk will sing the winning verse live! http://t.co/xcAKb5uX
  • 10.22.11 for lots more details on biophilia see the brand new album page in the discography on http://t.co/bIdeXOKD. http://t.co/CKHbrYyn
  • 10.14.11 win a trip to see biophilia live in reykjavik! click "iceland flyaway" on the side of björk's facebook to enter http://t.co/zKom20dE