Homogenic Live

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EDITOR'S PICK // LIVE

Total Tracks: 16   Total Length: 69:06

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Andy Battaglia

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Andy Battaglia writes about music and culture of various other kinds from a home base in New York. His work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Wire, t...more »

05.10.10
The show-tune goddess, against a dramatically pent-up backdrop
2010 | Label: One Little Indian / IODA

Recorded mostly in 1998, when Björk was busy cramming her biggest gestures into moody little corners, Homogenic Live finds the show-tune goddess shrieking and sulking against a dramatically pent-up backdrop. Culled from her first three albums (with seven songs from Homogenic proper), the varied tracklist flows through shattered electronic beats by producer Mark Bell and grand orchestration by the Icelandic String Octet, who give icy details a warm rub. The future-shock single "Hunter" takes on an Old World feel, with organic accordion pushed to the foreground and strings haunting beats that mimic a parade band in a bad mood. Björk's voice takes center-stage in a swooning, airy rendition of "You've Been Flirting Again," but "Isobel" quickly returns to crinkly rhythms that call for more in the way of digestion; Bell's production hand waves over an antic mix that pans and zooms through the song's internal and external squirm. Such real-time electronic treatments lend these live versions extra dynamism-from the squint-inducing synth glare of "All Neon Like" to the industrial swirl and clang underlying a terrific take on "Human Behaviour." All the while, Björk sounds both commanding and commanded, her strong vocal presence answering to ears wowed by what the songs… read more »

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