Bjork: Telegram (180g) Vinyl 2LP Bjork

Collection of b-side remixes from Bjork’s Post singles. If Telegram looks and feels like an original Bjork album, it’s because she herself considers it to be just as authentic and personal as any of her other records: “It’s like the core of Post. That’s why it’s funny to call it a remix album, it’s like the opposite. Telegram is more stark, naked. Not trying to make it pretty or peaceable for the ear. Just a record I would buy myself. Like a letter to myself. Sort of… ‘fuck what people think’. It’s a truth thing.” Includes woozy & loungey mixes of “Possibly Maybe”, “I Miss You” and “Army Of Me” by LFO (R.I.P. Mark Bell), Dobie and 808 State’s Graham Massey, respectively. Dillinja comes through with the dark & deep Metalheadz-style ruffage on his version of “Cover Me” (Bjork was dating Goldie around this time and was a regular at London drum & bass institutions Metalheadz and Speed). Outcast (not to be confused with Outkast) flip the already super-heavy “Enjoy” into a proto-breakcore 5-alarm fire that reminds us a little bit of Andy Stott’s overdrive-loving Faith In Strangers LP. While some of the mixes subvert Bjork’s vocals into a chaotic barrage of beats & bass, mixes of “Hyperballad” and “You’ve Been Flirting Again” are devoid of beats entirely and instead rely on new orchestral arrangements to bolster Bjork’s powerful vocal performances. Also includes the exclusive original track “My Spine”. Original pressings condensed the tracks onto a single LP, while the 2008 reissue spread the tracks onto two LPs but is impossible to find at a reasonable price, 180 gram double vinyl version is a true blessing for all Bjork freaks worldwide. Housed in a highly-framable sleeve featuring an alluring portrait by Japanese photographer Nobuyoshi Araki with printed inner sleeves. Recommended.

• 180 gram double vinyl pressing
• printed inner sleeves
• photography by Nobuyoshi Araki
• music label: One Little Indian 2016

reviewed by peanut dust 03/2017