Tuesday, April 17, 2007

INTERVIEW: Bjork

DOWNLOAD Bjork - Bachelorette (RZA Remix) (MP3) Via SC
DOWNLOAD Clipse - Momma I'm Sorry (MP3) Via PopTarts
DOWNLOAD Bjork - Earth Intruders Extended Mix (MP3) Via CharlesRequina

by Olga Oliynyk

Bjork is one of my favorite artists so you can imagine how thrilled I was when I got to ask her some question as part of an interview for BrooklynVegan. Downright giddy really.

Here's an excerpt, one of the questions I asked her, with her answers. To read the full interview, that also include questions by BV and David Bruno, go here. I focused on the Hip Hop end of things as she collaborated with another favorite of mine, Timbaland, on her upcoming album Volta.

W: How did you end up picking Timbaland? What did he bring to the table?

Bjork: I have said this before but he was a big fan of venus as a boy , the bollywood strings and i remember him coming up to me at a party and saying he loved the bassline in that song and i felt pretty chuffed because i wrote that ! He also sampled “jóga” for a missy elliott track so we have had an eye on each other for a while . We were always going to work together one of those days . So i wasn´t really after a hip hop thing , i am just into him as a musician . It was kinda weird after we did that stuff together some hot hip hop producers contacted me thinking i was going to do a hip hop album . I was really flattered but that was not what i had in mind . I first sent timbaland some of the brass stuff i was working on but he felt it was too weird ( one of it was in 9/8 ) I walked into the studio with timbaland and he immediately played a rhythm and i sang on top even though i had a throat problem that day and 5 minutes later “earth intruders” was ready . Two hours later we had 3 tracks . I then walked away with the mutlitrack and edited it for a year and added other musicians on top . “Earth intruders” and “innocence” kinda happened in the studio with him and nate but “hope” i added on bassline later and then took it to mali , africa and toumani diabate played on top .

W: Are you a big fan of any specific previous work by Timbaland? What about Hip Hop in general?

Bjork: I think he is a genius . His beats have so much of his character and have so much humour in it , not gangsta kinda prangsta ! My favorite timbaland stuff is probably “slide” and “ain´t that funny “ with missy.

My favorite hip hop stuff of all time has to be public enemy : it takes a nation of millions to hold us back , nowadays i like clipse a lot . But overall i´m not too into the gangsta stuff like dr.dre , it is not musical enough for me ... The rappers too nasal ...

RZA of the Wu Tang Clan remixed one of your songs in the past, and there were rumors of a possible single, or even an EP together. Is that still something that might happen? Either way, can we look forward to any other hip hop-influenced Bjork in the future?

Oops , i don´t know , i guess i don´t think in these terms . I remember missy saying she thought homogenic was hip hop so it is a little abstract to me what is hip hop and what not . I go more for emotion , i was up for action and prangsta and that´s why i was up for timbaland . I wasn´t thinking hip hop.

This interview first appeared on BrooklynVegan in a longer format with more questions. The above is just my section.

Go here for the full interview.

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1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

i already gushed about how incredible this interview is on BVegan's page... you all came up with the best questions! it is so rare to read an interview with questions that show a deep appreciation for what the artist has done and what she thinks, you gave Bjork great ideas to bounce off of. Nice work! from a huge Bjork fan, thank you for doing such a great job.

03:52  

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