AMS Album of the Week 6

After returning to the limelight with the world’s first app album, Biophilia, Björk has continued her tradition of remix albums with the affectionately named bastards. It’s refreshing to see an artist so accomplished actually acknowledging the remix efforts of other musicians, as opposed to just using them as B-side filler.

However, being a compilation of remixes, the album certainly does not flow in any sort of enjoyable way. Listening to the mostly untouched vocals of the same songs over and over gets annoying, even for a massive Björk fangirl like myself. I don’t really get its purpose, seeing as all of these remixes were previously released, and most of them can be found in the excessively expensive Biophilia Remix Series, which consists of 8(!!) 12” records. Nevertheless, I am inclined to think that it’s more of an exhaustion of art direction than a money spinner.

Special mention must go to Omar Souleyman’s remixes of both ‘Crystalline’, which opens the album, and ‘Thunderbolt’, further down the track list. If you’ve never heard Arab music, you’re in for a treat, as both tracks are wonderfully fun and mesh well with Björk’s vocals.

Contrary to his recent club banger endeavours, Hudson Mohawke’s remix of ‘Virus’ is a lush slow burner. Despite the fact that the original is perfect in every way (yes, it’s a fact), this remix really is a testament to the diversity of Hudson Mohawke’s talent. For those seeking a bit more “wob”, Current Value’s remix of ‘Solstice’ provides just this, albeit in an angry commercial dubstep kinda way.

Another highlight is the incredibly well made remix of ‘Mutual Core’ by These New Puritans, featuring a beautiful sample from traditional music of the Solomon Islands. A perhaps less imaginative but still enjoyable remix of ‘Mutual Core’ by experimental electronic musician Matthew Herbert also appears on bastards, alongside his glitchy stripped back remix of ‘Crystalline’.

I feel that bastards has no conceptual relation to Biophilia, and the themes of nature and technology have been completely lost in the remixing process. It must be said that these remixes have more body to them than their originals, but a lot less of the carefully crafted delicateness mastered by Björk.

Yasmin Malik