Never quite sure which side she falls on… First heard about her new project on Colbert last night. Just sharing my further look into what is going on in her world (which is very likely a slightly different and stranger world than our own)…
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Bjork | ||||
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CultureLab: Björk: I was always a bit of a nerd:
We are together to talk about Biophilia, Björk's new album and suite of smartphone apps that will combine science-themed songs with computer games that aim to teach music theory to the uninitiated, like me. "Music education's not as hard as people make it out to be, but it's been put on this pedestal for a chosen few," she says. It is for this reason that, like a modern-day Maria von Trapp, Björk is giving me an impromptu music lesson.
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Biophilia, her most experimental project to date, looks set to divide opinion yet further. Its name - inspired by neurologist Oliver Sacks's book Musicophilia - evokes humankind's empathy with nature, which Björk has borne out with songs about genetics, crystallisation, plate tectonics and dark matter. The accompanying apps will be released in place of music videos, while the live shows have so far included a recorded voice-over by British naturalist David Attenborough, a live Tesla coil and four "gravity harps" suspended on 3-metre pendulums.
Bjork's Coder is Joining Her on Tour, But He Isn't Old Enough to Drink Yet | Motherboard:
You may know that Bjork is a big nerd, but you are not yet enough of a Bjork nerd to know that the developer behind some of her gorgeous new apps – the ones that constitute her Biophilia album – is only 20 years old. And yes, Max Weisel, who started making apps for the iPhone at 16 and designed the very wonderful and free Soundrop app, did that leave-school-and-run-to-California-to-launch-a-startup thing. For now though, he’s on the album tour, swiping iPad screens on stage behind Bjork, 26 years his senior.
I wondered who the fellow was playing the iPads in the performance below…
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Bjork - "Cosmogony" | ||||
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There is some interesting stuff going on here. Unfortunately, I don’t have access to a platform to explore these apps, but I think this is very interesting and a potentially ground breaking direction for music to move towards…
There are a lot of demonstrations on Bjork’s YouTube channel. I am going to be wasting some time today checking them out.
The album Biophilia is available in traditional formats as well. (Wow, things are moving fast for this old Luddite when I found myself, for the first time, refering to MP3 downloads as a traditional format. But it is also available on Vinyl, so I am absolved.)
Listen on Spotify: Bjork - Biophilia (13 Tracks)
