In a note titled “Time To Put It Right,” Björk sets the record straight about who did what on Vespertine. She posted the message at her site on Friday after reading a story in Iceland’s English language paper The Grapevine that incorrectly credited Valgeir Sigurðsson with writing all the instrumentals on the 2001 collection.
i have noticed last 7 years that mr. sigurðsson has often been credited for either writing or producing that album. i’d like to say that he didn’t write it or produce. he was a computer programmer for a third of it and a recording engineer for a third. The other two thirds were done by other engineers and programmers.
After saying she doesn’t understand “where that misunderstanding has come from,” she offers four options for what might’ve caused it. Pitchfork shows ups twice.
could be one of four options:
1: the pop critics of this world have not totally yet worked out the difference between engineering, programming, writing and producing electronic music. visually this appears very similar. a man/woman sitting in front of a computer. not as different as for example a drummer, a brass arranger and an engineer. but these are 3 completely different jobs which journalists must start to see the difference
2: it could be that this is some degree of sexism. m.i.a. had to deal with this with the respected website pitchfork.com where they assumed that diplo had produced all of her kala album without reading any credit list or nothing, it just had to be, it couldn’t have been m.i.a. herself! it feel like still today after all these years people cannot imagine that woman can write, arrange or produce electronic music. i have had this experience many many times that the work i do on the computer gets credited to whatever male was in 10 meter radius during the job. people seem to accept that women can sing and play whatever instrument they are seen playing. but they cannot program, arrange, produce, edit or write electronic music .
3: i’ll admit that one thing could confuse things: people have to use their ears and actually read the creditlist to get this information. all the music i have made: like for example string arrangements, synthbasslines or programming of electronic patterns, i never play myself live because i want to give 100% of myself into the singing i either ask the computers to play it or i get other musicians to play it. this could confuse things .
4: one thing that could have kept this misunderstanding alive is that neither me nor valgeir sigurðsson have bothered to correct it
but i am doing it now
i hope this correction will be a positive input into more discussion about this
warmth
björk.p.s. just read that pitchfork.com credited nico muhly for the choir arrangement of “hidden place” from vespertine. also that he has done string arrangements for me. this is not true. journalists: please read the creditlist before you write your articles
If you want to see for yourself who did what on Vespertine, there’s a direct link to the credit list in Björk’s update. (Note: Valgeir Sigurðsson did not contribute anything to Enjoyed.)
UPDATE: Pitchfork responds.
[Photo by Erez Sabag]
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I’d like to see Bjork do one of her patented “assaults” on Ryan Schreiber for the errors of all journalists re: this matter.
Way to go, Bjork, for calling out PF for what it is: just a bunch of pretentious hacks.
What is with all the anti Pitchfork bullshit? Get a f*cking grip people. Or at the very least do yourself a favour and read Pitchfork’s response and actually inform yourself. Is there anything worse than uninformed opinions?
No.
This isn’t the first time i’ve seen something where people are talking shit on Pitchfork, and they mention it as pitchfork.com instead of pitchforkmedia.com. Big difference, I think pitchfork.com might actually have something to do with pitchforks.
What’s worse: not knowing the difference between music engineering and programming, or not correctly referencing a website that one critiques?
Seriously?
I like talk write in English while shit on pitchfork computer screen and mold into castle transfer sound with audio recording box
She was tactful and got her (good) points across. Get over yourself.
wow, good morning, zenophobe.
in all seriousness, i think the main problem with her argument is that she assumes pitchfork and its internet ilk (i guess by extension that means the ‘gum, though i like you so much more than pfork) are “journalists” at all. journalists do things like fact check, conduct BASIC amounts of research prior to interviewing musicians, and generally consider their profession a craft. most internet writers (including pitchfork) are basically fans, and typically fairly young fans, who have recently been given the opportunity to write about music. this is all well and good except that pfork and the like have recently been granted an outsized degree of influence and cache in relation to their skill as critics or even as writers. it’s a weird era.
Good job Bjork, I’ve heard her talk about it pretty often, the sexism.
And I completely agree.
Really, she did it all. I call bull on her and M.I.A. Fact of the matter is that they’re pretty and dance well on stage. What else can they do??? Certainly not write electronic music. Least of all spell.
Sadly, “Verspertine” was her last good album.
Sadly, Vespertine was the last Bjork album that was at all listenable. I doubt that she didn’t have her had in every bit of that album, or those since, but damn if she didn’t fall off since then. Maybe the cosmic forces came back to her after ripping us all off for that Selmasongs EP which the sold at full price. Or maybe the dodgy fan club which took my money, and that of others, without nary a mention is why. Loved you like family, even after being slighted, but damn if I can figure out these freaking songs. At least the packaging is good!
yes. sexism. sure. that HAS to be it.
Annie, if you don’t think sexism plays a part at all in this, then you’re incredibly ignorant. Posts like “stay in the kitchen’s”, although a lame attempt at humour, sadly often demonstrate the feeling in popular music, that the girls are there to dance and be fashion divas, and have great voices from time to time (not always required).
But the truth is, if you actually looked into Bjorks albums/documentaries, you’d see the insane amount of time she spends on every single song she makes, and she’s one of the few female musicians that even get labelled with that “musical genius” thing thats so easily laid on men.
so anything that sparks discussion of it, like this “correction” of bjorks, is important.
Homogenic was released in 1997, but if released today it would be considered still ahead of its time I believe.
im not claiming that sexism doesnt exist or anything, but inthis case, if she really thinks that pitchfork miscredited stuff because of it, shes even more delusional than we think. oh no! a woman couldnt do those things! all she can do is open her cooter wider to push out babies!. i call shennanegans.
well, no, she was correcting Pitchforks mistake. and then was discussing that this happens often to her (with her given examples) partly due to sexism.
More and more women are becoming independently capable of wearing the technical hats that once only men wore with computers, studios, and gear.
I, for one, found it easier to learn how to write, program, produce, engineer, sing and play the instruments and music myself so when I did work with producers/engineers
and programmers, the song is just pretty much the way I want it and their contribution is there to enhance the song. I find the male programmers, producers & engineers I’ve worked with have been totally thrilled that I can communicate with them on their level, and they’re always interested in helping me learn as we’re working together. I’m much more interested in Diamond bundles than diamond necklaces, anyway.
i like the idea that bjork is scouring the p4k archives looking for articles about her.
I agree that it was sexism that cost Bjork the Democratic nomination.
Wait, what?
my only thing is that speaking out against sexism just isn’t enough, and rarely helps. often it makes those with opposing views roll their eyes. in fact, this is true regarding most issues. few writers can truly capture a balance between what they want to say and what they need to say, both of which are valid.
in these situations action speaks far louder.
course, I don’t really know off hand what actions should be taken here, but that’s what makes them so brilliant. they’re not obvious, but they’re hella important.
but hey, don’t mind me
No one questions whether Solex is behind her own music. No one is ragging on Ellen Alien. Might there be something else about Bjork provoking the issue beyond her gender and the other things she mentioned?
i think nobody questions female artists like ellen allien because she clearly performs behind a pair of decks or some electronic equipment, and her music is largely instrumental. even bjork mentions this misunderstanding – if you see the artist singing only, then how can you assume they do anything else, so it’s sad artists like bjork are stuck feeling the need to prove themselves. it seems these kinds of sexist assumptions are born out of songs with vocals only – nobody questions the talents of sawako, mileece, grouper etc.
Anyone else find it adorable that she wrote that she “asks the computer”
LOLOCAUST!
I think it is also born, perhaps more relevantly, out of assumptions about pop singers. Solex sings on her tunes. Plenty of other indie musicians do, too. I think it is a combination of their status as famous individual singers/artists [whom I believe indie music writers are inherently suspicious of, with the dogmatic exception of Radiohead] and second, those artists use of famous, distinct musicians on particular albums and tracks. When a singer collaborates with artists as diverse as Robert Wyatt, Mike Patton and Matmos on a single record, I don’t think it is unreasonable to assume the contributions of those individuals [all geniuses] are not insignificant.
Beyond that, I believe these assumptions aren’t limited to women. Many Beatles still credit George Martin with being responsible for the Beatles’ work. I will disagree that sexism is a factor, but I believe it is merely a part of series of influences and frankly, second or third in the line.
hi all – check out the last.fm group – women in electronic music – they’re talking about this over there as well… http://www.last.fm/group/Women+in+Electronic+Music
oh wikidemia.
I liked it, and I dont mind the knock on pitchfork because quite frankly they blow and their ratings for bad albums makes me wonder whether or not they actually listen to the albums they review.
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