homogenic = never for ever?

[Brian Dillard <dillardb@pilot.msu.edu>]

LOTS OF KATE KONTENT - PLEASE BE PATIENT

The exciting thing to think about in terms of Homogenic is whether, 20
years from now,
it will be remembered as Bjork's "Dreaming" or as her "Never for Ever."
Yes, the disc
is being billed as Bjork's first self-production, but with the
beat-construction and mixing
talents of LFO's Mark Bell and DJ Howie Bernstein an integral part of
the album, a
closer parallel might be NFE, which was CO-produced by Kate and marked
the
_beginning_ of her artistic maturity rather than the apex.

With Kate, the first two albums consisted of disparate songs, written
over the many
years of her musical adolescence. Ditto with Debut and Post, whose songs
were
scribbled in hotel rooms between Sugarcubes gigs. It was on NFE that
Kate began
writing albums from scratch in one organic process - exactly the process
Bjork
has been describing in the press for Homogenic.

NFE was also Kate's first BIG break away from ethereal pop music that
could have been
- if not for the challenging lyrics and unique singing voice - not too
far from the
Carpenters or Elton John. NFE was her first foray into deliberately
abrasive textures
(Violin), art-rock-pop epics (Breathing), etc. Likewise, Bjork's
previous work existed mostly within
the boundaries of her chosen genres (techno- and house-inspired dance
music, jazz,
chamber music, hip-hop and show tunes). With Homogenic we see these
genres
wedded to one another WITHIN a track, creating a whole new genre that's
neither
classical nor jazz nor techno but something more.

It's also interesting to not the similar trajectory in criticism of the
two artists.
If you listen to comparisons of Homogenic to Debut and Post, most people
think
Homogenic is a quantum leap forward, while a vocal minority are
wondering where
the recognizable house/techno dancefloor-fillers disappeared to, and
more than
one person is pining for something completely retro and genre-based,
like It's Oh
So Quiet or Like Someone in Love.

This seems to me to directly parallel the long-running split amongst
love-hounds
between those who fell in love with the angel-voiced popstress of The
Kick Inside
and Lionheart and those who were drawn to the art-rock diva of
(NFE,) TD and HoL. A common thread among long-time Kate fans is that
TD and HoL are the "true classics," but they'll never forget their early
love
of TKI and LH. Eventually, Bjork fans (myself included) who thought
Debut
and Post were brilliant when they came out may look back on them as
flawed
early steps in the right direction.

It's also interesting to note the two artists' differing views of the
early,
collaborative stages in their careers. Kate has been vocal in discussing
her
frustration over the lack of control she felt at the start of her
career; indeed,
everything since - including the long delays between albums that so many

of us seem to be bitching about as we hit the fourth anniversary of TRS
-
can be seen as a direct consequence of her struggle for control.

But with Bjork, things aren't as clear-cut. Her first collaborators,
the Sugarcubes, she has likened to a loving but eventually stifling
family.
She has referred to her solo-album producers, from Nellee Hooper to
Tricky to Graham Massey, as "midwives" to her songs. Homogenic
can't be seen as TOO bold a dismissal of the collaborative process,
considering that it came on the heels of a remix album wherein Bjork's
songs were - as they had always been on her EPs and maxi-singles -
cheerfully torn apart and rebuilt by others, with her blessing. Bjork's
positive views on collaboration could be the result of her post-punk
coming-of-age, her alliance with the radically decentered artistic
aesthetics of rave culture, or her many years as one among many
bandmembers in the Sugarcubes. Or it could just be that she's a
different person than Kate ... less of a control freak.

What's frustrating to me is seeing so many artists, from the obvious
ones like Bjork and Tori to the less-obvious ones like Goldie and
Tricky and Polly Harvey, learning so much from Kate while Kate
remains holed up in her own little cocoon, oblivious to the new
dimesnions
 that dance music has opened in the pop world. One can only imagine
what the results of the Why Should I Love You sessions would have
been like if Kate were as open to the give-and-take of collaboration as
Bjork. Instead of sifting through Prince's 48 tracks of instrumentation
and vocals to try and reconstruct the song as she'd originally
envisioned it
- as Kate did - Bjork probably would have mixed things up, gone with
the new ideas, been inspired to go off in new directions - and probably
released about 5 different versions, all with something interesting to
say.
But with Kate, we got an enjoyable pastiche that sounded like about
three different songs spliced together - not bad, but not exactly
groundbreaking, either.

With the icons of Nu Soul (Maxwell), jungle (Goldie), trip-hop
(Tricky)  and techno (Aphex Twin) either vocally praising her
or drawing on aspects of her work, I sincerely hope that Kate
is paying attention and not just holing up in the same self-referential
world that produced the competent, enjoyable, and utterly
non-revolutionary TRS.

 
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Brian J. Dillard     dillardb@pilot.msu.edu   773.348.9319
+++ "State of emergency ... that's where I want to be."  --Bjork +++
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