Album Review//Björk - Bastards: Biophilia Remix Album

Following the release of the much anticipated eighth volume of the Biophilia Remix Series comes an album of, hand selected by the artist herself, the best remixes from both series of remixes (the Crystalline series and Biophila Remix Series) released over the last two years. 


It opens with one of the best collaborations on the album, the Omar Souleyman remix of Crystalline. Starting with such an invigorating, timeless remix is a successful move and starts the album off in good fashion, removing the idea that most of the remixes of Björk's work are ear bashing noise - a view not shared by those listen properly. This followed by the mellow take on Virus by Hudson Mohawke, with the horn samples and lightness of touch impressing. It's hard to deny the beauty of this version of Virus and it knows it!


But it's not long before we get to Death Grips curiously restrained take on Sacrifice, unrecognizable if you've heard their trademark discordant production on their own releases. But they produce an excellently subdued version, with all the charm of their own work and surprise to boot. Other highlights include the an Alva Noto Remodel of Dark Matter, taking an ethereal approach to the track rather than the expected straight ahead bmp format. Make sure also to listen to Current Value's take on Solstice, with a best of both worlds mix of atmospherics and crunching electronic effects to savour. 

In conclusion then, this is a remix album but not by the traditional standards. This is almost an alternative take on Biophilia, with the vague warmth and artful noise of the  originals played up into a collection that is as atmospheric as the best of Björk's work  and one of the best remix collections we've heard in a long while.

Reviewed by Sebastian Gahan. 


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