Inquiry

 Here's one of my favorites, a review i wrote a few years ago, in my own characteristically hyperbolic style:

Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works Vol. II

A masterpiece from the twisted genius of Aphex Twin, this was the soundtrack to my very first experience of spontaneous awakening.  It is supernatural - sonic vapors waft heavily, gently, in the air; disembodied flavors never quite coalescing into actual melody, never committing to any real rhythmic structure, yet somehow suggesting a harmonic cohesion that seems at once other-worldly while remaining profoundly familiar.  It is the soundtrack to a reoccurring dream, a musical déjà vu, a vibrational matrix that fills the immensity of the Moment and reveals the secrets of its stillness.  Implying form without imposing it, it wraps ethereal tendrils around shapes just beyond the periphery of imagination, empty objects whose essences can be felt just behind the sonic atmospheres they supend. Bathed in gentle colors, flavors, timbres and textures, a delicate symphony of such sublime subtlety, a musical massage for my poor aching soul....

 

The song «Out of the dark, into the light» from the great Austrian musician Falco was one of the things which changed my life about 8-9 years ago. Then i had such experience which is often called an awakening.

I would not consider this song integral but still when i listen to it i feel the same as i felt some years ago, a little sadness and helplessness and the wish to step out of the circle of life and get in light of my own true self and groundless ground of being. It inspired me to find a way out of the dark, not to taking refuge to all the impermanent things in this world but to lasting values as the goal, the path and the vehicle (Buddha, Dharma, Sangha) in Vajrayana Buddhism. Since this i meditate and try to be a good Bodhisattva and inspire others to find there way to there shining light.

The music of the rock band Yes had eased itself into my awareness over the course of a decade or more until one day when I heard Roundabout on the radio and asked my sister if she knew who performed it.  When she answered me, "Yes", that memory locked itself into a prominent space in my mind and set me on a long course, searching out their music and performances. 

Jon Anderson's lyrics spoke to me on a soul level, that is to say, I didn't understand what he was saying so much as I knew and felt at some level of awareness beyond my ordinary consciousness.  It is perhaps fitting that my first post here at Integral Life should be homage to Jon and Yes, as he was largely responsible for opening me to the broader, fuller truth that is not contained in any one place or perspective.  Jon is also frequently in my thoughts these days as I am  praying for his health and well being as he deals with acute respiratory issues.

As I have pursued a mystical path, the lyrics of Yes have become clearer and more definitive to me, and the music, rich in complexity, rhythm, and texture, rarely fails to delight me with previously unnoticed depths or subtleties.  Furthermore, my pursuit of the band's history has led me to an entire genre of music that is similarly inspirational for me - progressive rock.

Above I mentioned one album, Tales from Topographic Oceans, which was originally an epic concept piece with two records containing one song per side and based on the Upanishads (as I recall).  The second piece I mention is the song "Awaken" from the album Going for the One, that song seems to me to be a fitting encore to the earlier Tales.  Hearing some of these performed live, or sometimes even just relaxing between the speakers at home, has resulted in several peak-type experiences for me.  The band's music has supported me through many difficult periods by the force of its hopefulness and confidence.

Yes' music contains elements of rock, jazz, classical, and folk - once again leaning toward a more integral feel.  The lyrics from song to song also often take the listener through multiple perspectives.

If you have not heard them, I recommend that you buy a download of "Awaken" as a start.  As a matter of fact, inspired by the law of giving and receiving as layed out by Deepak Chopra in his book, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, I bought a copy of the CD that it is on in order to give it to Deepak when I went to hear him speak at Harvard several years ago.   It remains for me the quintessential Yes song.

This is something I think I can answer pretty well.  As a consumer of music, I've been through thousands of artists and dozens of genres the world over.  Music has played and continues to play a very special role in it's ability to transform my consciousness, get me in touch with my authentic self, and liberate that into an infinitly vast experiential reality.  Oftentimes when I feel myself in these states of absorption with music I am being informed, almost intuitively by the music's socio-historical contexts.  I feel my world being submerged in an aesthetic reality that is by it's own self-containing nature, emotionally rich and intuitivitely arising.  I can no less say that listening to music, being a consumer of it and experiencing the deep textures that artists fabricate with their bodies, words, and instruments puts me in touch with Mind and transcendent potential.  What I gain from music is nothing short of unitive/non-dual listening states.

With that being said, I'd like to use this to give some creds. to some of the musicians who have provided me with a context for experiencing universality.  Patti Smith, with her first three albums Horses, Radio Ethiopia, and Easter offered me with the first rebellious synthesis between rock n' roll, poetry, and mystically informed prose-style lyrics.  I was in High School and her message of non-conformist, D.I.Y. liberation was nothing short of enlightening.  Her ability to generate poetic abstractions and visceral narratives was revolutionary to my consciousness and altered the way I revised my-self in spite of my environment.  She was able, through the constraints of time and space to provide a cultural subtext to my own inner longing to rebel from my environment and pursue truth from within.  She gave me the courage to feel samsara as ecstatically, sorrowfully, and angst-ridden as I needed.

PJ Harvey is another artist who I feel deserves credit for profoundly affecting me.  I credit her with helping me enter into post-modern deconstructive analysis of God and literature with her first two albums Dry and Rid of Me.  These albums were informed by British postmodern culture and were produced in the early 1990's as part of the post-punk movement.  The lyrical content of Dry, for instance, removed religious imagery from it's original context and revised it into songs that maintain a relevant spiritual presence, undeniably from a woman's vantage.  Harvey's ability to rewrite the Christian narrative for her artistic purposes helped me make the leap into green-deconstruction and opened my world-view further to conceptualize religion as a social construct.   

Ooh - I love this topic! Saul Williams goes without saying, but onto things less often mentioned in integral circles....

My primary criteria here is that the lyrics indicate a diversity of topics and/or a depth of comprehension for complexity.

Of course, my first response has to be The Dresden Dolls (and solo work carried forward by Amanda Palmer).  She packs a lot into those lyrics, although their "genre" of punk cabaret won't be to everyone's liking. Still, her ability to put wit and humor alongside hard-hitting personal or social analysis and a healthy dose of personal exploration makes for incredible work. I'd particular recommend a first look at "Sing" (an incredible liberation manifesto of sorts -- which has an amazing video as well if Warner Bros. ever lets it back onto youtube), "Modern Moonlight", "Guitar Hero" (a look at the use of video games to train US soldiers), "We'll Have to Drive" (an incredible nuanced fantasy exploring personal responsibility, depression, liberation and... road kill).

Also, while I don't know too much of their work, the heavy art rock of Tool bears a look. Specifically check out the lyrics and video (again youtube) to the song Parabola, which features an incredible animated sequence ala Alex Grey, which I enjoyed more than I like Alex's work static.

Frankly, though I've seen threads in other integral forums before decrying this notion, I have to submit recent work by Madonna as an integral candidate. While I'd never been a fan of hers, the recent stuff has worked for me, and while she uses simple language, I feel a depth shining through. I'd recommend the album she first starts exploring mysticism: Ray of Light. As I said, I was never a Madonna fan, but I think people's preconceptions of her may have limited their openness to recent work. Maybe it's just me....

Also, while no one's ever heard of him, I'd highly recommend checking out Jedidiah Parish. He's a mostly unknown songwriter in Boston, and former front man for a great rock band called The Gravel Pit. Particularly, his most recent album, Torch and Swan, is an incredible work of depth. It packs romance, political and historical analysis, and much more into a tightly woven concept album that has great hooks and lyrics that will keep you discovering for a long time.

Those are a few to start. And here are a few quick tosses: 

Also check out Karnak from Brazil. Diverse subject matter, musical styles, genres, languages, etc.

Peter Gabriel (seems so obvious to mention, but certainly relevant), particular on his last two albums: Up and Us.

Another goodie is Cloud Cult from Minnesota. Still just starting to explore their work, but there seems to be a depth here....

Yea Integral Music!

--I think that Sting is certainly among the most integrally informed artists on the planet today. This is a man who, early in his musical career, dismantled his very successful band and decided that he wold switch genres altogether and become a jazz musician. Not only did he not fail but he succeeded beyond his wildest dreams and earned credibility for much of his work in jazz. 

   In fact, throughout his career, Sting has delved in many different genres, each starkly divergent from the former. From reggae to pop, to adult contemporary to arabic and RAP and R&B. He has even recently released a classical album for which he learned to play the lute. He is a true student of his craft and has as his intention to aid in the evolution of the planet. He is not fundamental about his spiritual beliefs and in fact has, through his music, embraced many religious traditions east and west. 

   Sting is a master at melding together various types of influences into one album-sometimes into a single song (See "Fill Her Up"). Into his music he will combine genres and messages creating songs with such texture and so layered they will stand the test of time and I believe even become more relevant in the course of time.

Michael Ezell

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zYOKFjpm9s

 

C Em Am G F do you realize that you have the most beautiful face?? C Em Am D7 do you realize we're floating in space?? C Em Am G F do you realize that happiness makes you cry?? C Em Am F Fm C Cadd9 C Cadd9 do you realize that everyone you know someday will die F Am G and instead of saying all of your goodbyes C F let them know you realize that life goes fast C G it's hard to make the good things last C Em you realize the sun doesn't go down G Fmaj7 G C Fm it's just an illusion caused by the world spinning 'round Bb Eb Gm Cm Ab do you realize?? F C Em Am F Fm C Cadd9 do you realize that everyone you know someday will die F Am G and instead of saying all of your goodbyes here the guitar stops, and these approximate chords are played by an orchestra: C6 let them know you realize that life goes fast F6 (xx323x) it's hard to make the good things last Am you realize the sun doesn't go down F6 (xx323x) F (xx3211) F6 (xx3231) Am G it's just an illusion caused by the world spinning 'round F C Em Am G F do you realize that you have the most beautiful face?? C (sweep pick) do you realize??

--

नमस्ते

--

Adam Sanders

integral? rock? well, rock has been influenced by a number of other styles... as is the case, i believe, with many styles nowadays... alot of the rock that i listen to is melancholy if not just all about problems (mostly).... it doesn't really (to me) integrate very many different approaches to life... basically just one, anger.. i think i am integral in my approach to music in that i consider myself eclectic...

Grateful Dead - Late sixties (www.archive.org) Jerry Garcia was a direct disciple of Neil Cassidy who might have been one of America's greatest and unorthodoxed Spiritual teachers. Jerry could transmit the satori experience through his guitar to people who were ready. They were about transcendence which should be an important module of the integral path.

It happened that I saw the great and unrevaled concert-film "Stop Making Sense" few days after I first encountered the Integral Approach.. And it worked. It blew my mind. :)

After researching David Byrne's work I stumbeled upon such songs like "everything that happens will happen today" "and she was", "love->building on fire", "people like us", "life is long" and so on. I can't really explain why his lyrics touch me so deeply but some verses like in "life is long" :

"Ev'rybody says that the living is easy
I can barely see ‘cause my head's in the way.."     

make it quite obvious.

or in "don't worry about the government":

I see the clouds that move across the sky
I see the wind that moves the clouds away
It moves the clouds over by the building
I pick the building that I want to live in

I smell the pine trees and the peaches in the woods
I see the pinecones that fall by the highway
That's the highway that goes to the building
I pick the building that I want to live in

It's over there, it's over there
My building has every convenience
It's gonna make life easy for me
It's gonna be easy to get things done
I will relax alone with my loved ones

Loved ones, loved ones visit the building,
take the highway, park and come up and see me
I'll be working, working but if you come visit
I'll put down what I'm doing, my friends are important

Don't you worry 'bout me
I wouldn't worry about me
Don't you worry 'bout me
Don't you worry 'bout me

I see the states, across this big nation
I see the laws made in Washington, D.C.
I think of the ones I consider my favorites
I think of the people that are working for me

Some civil servants are just like my loved ones
They work so hard and they try to be strong
I'm a lucky guy to live in my building
They own the buildings to help them along

It's over there, it's over there
My building has every convenience
It's gonna make life easy for me
It's gonna be easy to get things done
I will relax along with my loved ones

Loved ones, loved ones visit the building
Take the highway, park and come up and see me
I'll be working, working but if you come visit
I'll put down what I'm doing, my friends are important

I wouldn't worry 'bout
I wouldn't worry about me
Don't you worry 'bout me
Don't you worry 'bout me..

(all rights by david byrne.. I hope i was allowed to copy the lyrics)

 

The songs on David Sylvian's album Secrets of the Beehive are still an inspiration to me.

The third track on the album "Orpheus" with its beautiful three-quarter rhythm creates a strong sense of space and openness. All coming together in this beautiful line "Sunshine falls, my wings open wide, there's a beauty here I can not deny...".Then there's the fifth track that's deceptive in its arrangement and lines. The music is beautifully transparant whereas the song is about abuse and pure intimidation. This tension between the music and lyrics makes the track even more interesting.The eighth track "let the happiness in", sung by David Sylvian in his slightly detached, lazy way makes the happiness more palpable.

Although the album was published in 1987, for me its a timeless source of inspiration thanks to its beautiful music, intelligent lyrics and David Sylvians masterful way of singing.

 

 

I struggled with suicidal thoughts (which would circle around my pyche like a moon) until suddenly I had nothing left to me but toxic moonglow. Age 18 til 38. Then my 29 year old niece shot herself. As it happened I had bought an album by a Canadian artist I had never heard of. It helped me survive. The title track starts out....

 

"I dig my heels into the dirt
'Cause this one's gonna hurt
Won't let the waves wash me away
Is what I always pray
In my heart I know you couldn't see
In the dark or find your way through me
Now I'm alone, my hands are numb
How do I carry on?"

It is an album I would have shared with me neice. My favorite music is always in a kind of communion with her.

As for it its "integral" value.... despite my efforts to understand the concepts and ideas, I don't know.

--------------

"It is kindness that puts the world in my hands for me to hate; fortune that opens the surface which is, after all, beauty."  Killarney Clary

Jessica Lynn (Tueting) Esch
13 October 1977 - 23 Dec 2006

Support mothers who need their own time out now and then. More than any magic pill, help them obtain space, sleep, and time alone to heal and re-find the balance required for joy.

Did you know that the conventional 12 tones (the ones on a piano) are merely approximations of where the actual harmonics lie?  However, the even-tempered scale (notes all being evenly spaced apart) allows for more melodic flexibility.  I use that as an excuse for my tone-deaf singing.

Microtonal music uses more than 12 notes to hopefully get closer to the correct harmonics, and just-tone music uses the correct harmonics.  I did a web search on these two types of music and was totally blown away.  Such beauty (and also, such dissonance!).  There's a world of expression that remains to be explored.  I was so affected by just-tone intonation that I took the frets off my guitars!  I have some of my music posted at www.myspace.com/zentaimusic  that utilize these fretless guitars.

Since I'm more of a harmonics / melody / musical theory guy, I can't say that this genre is integral.  It's just more right... to my ears, or more beautiful.  Just-tone intonation is the closest thing to "spiritual" music.  It has inspired me to "feel" music more, to look into myself and study the emotional or energy flow as I listen to the music.

 

On another note, silence is the best music for me now.  I drive with the radio turned off.  I tell people silence is better music than music.  I guess all that meditation has made me comfortable enough with myself that I don't want the distraction of music.  When I drive with music I feel as if I'm being taken on someone else's journey, and not my own journey.

Recently a friend on Facebook asked us to come up with the 15 albums that had a profound impact on us. Some I might classify as integral. Others just reached deep down inside and opened me up. Here is a cut-and-paste of my 15 profound albums with my comments:

1 - Meet The Beatles - The record that kicked off my love affair with rock 'n' roll (1963)
2 - Blonde On Blonde (Bob Dylan) - My mother just loved when my brother and I sang along to "Rainy Day Women" in the car (1966)
3 - Magical Mystery Tour (The Beatles) - John Lennon wrote my favorite song lyric "Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see" (1967)
4 - Days of Future Passed (The Moody Blues) - A soaring mixture of rock and the London Symphony Orchestra (1967)
5 - Waiting For the Sun (The Doors) - Jim Morrison's lyrics, Ray Manzarek's keyboards and Robby Krieger's guitar blazed trails through psychedelic LA in the late '60s (1968)
6 - Relics (Pink Floyd) - Syd Barrett's strange and twisted lyrics combined with early synthesizer turned me to the dark side (1969)
7 - Tommy (The Who) - John Entwistle's french horn in the "Overture" and Keith Moon's manic drum rhythms on "Sparks" hooked me for life on my favorite live band (1969)
8 - Live at the Fillmore East (Allman Brothers) - Duane Allman could make the slide guitar cry on the best live album ever (1971)
9 - Imagine (John Lennon) - John's lyrics of raw emotion brought tears to my eyes (1971)
10 - Horses (Patti Smith) - Irreverent lyrics from the punk poet queen. A breath of fresh air from insipid disco music (1975)
11 - Talking Heads '77 - Started my love affair with punk/new wave. I couldn't help but love lyrics like, "Psycho killer, quest que cest, fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa", along with Tina Weymouth's driving bass beat. (1977)
12 - Regatta de Blanc (The Police) - Sting's vocals and pounding bass, Andy Summers' reggae/ska guitar, Stewart Copeland's percussion. I totally wore out side 1 of this vinyl listening to "Message in a Bottle", "Bring on the Night" and "Deathwish". Side 2 featured "Walking on the Moon". This album followed up their debut "Outlandos d'Amour"and blew the doors wide open for the 80s New Wave era. (1979)
13 - Los Angeles (X) - My favorite punk band's debut. A fusion of rockabilly with the singing duo of John Doe and Exene Cervenka, and the stinging guitar of Billy Zoom just kicked my head in (1980)
14 - The Joshua Tree (U2) - I couldn't get enough of of this album with "In God's Country" (sad eyes, crooked crosses) and "Bullet the Blue Sky" (into the arms of America) (1987)
15 - The Man Comes Around (Johnny Cash) - Johnny never ceased to amaze. His cover of Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt" left me absolutely stunned the first time I heard it. (2002)
16 - In Rainbows (Radiohead) - I went one over, but today's best band just keeps getting better. The inventive rhythms and Thom Yorke's soaring vocals on "Reckoner" . . . whoa (2007)

Brian Cox

ExtraWelt Soopertrack

This has been my favourite song for about 2 years.

Pig & Dan - Sly Detector

Headphones or insane sound system recommended

 

Lost At Last's TechnoTribal Dance Party set Harmonyfest 2004?    Real shame that their Tear Down the Walls doesn't seem to be in print anymore.  Get it if you can.   Great musicianship - techno energy, with more varied instrumentation than most, and genuinely healing vibes.  Could trust my soul in a very open vulnerable state to them and it paid off wonderfully well.  Really love everything by Adham Shaikh; any comp by DJ Sam Popit, and maybe throw in Gretchen Wilson's Here for the Party or Redneck Woman for fun.    For me there is nothing close to as fine for dancing and loving as trance as in the Buddha Bars and so many more collections.  Grounding rhythms and lifting melodies woven together into a synergistic whole.

Randy Mack

Franco Battiato siempre me produjo esa sensación de sorpresa, ilusión y visión que hace que escuchar sus canciones y su música sea en cualquier momento una fuente de inspiración y entusiasmo...

Gracias Battiato...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iKp6bN4zvQ&feature=related

I've been a fan of Tori ever since she broke out with Silent All These Years in 1991.  Which isn't so small a detail, I was only 9 years old at the time!  While it took me many years to come to understand some the lyrics she had strung together, she was instantly embedded in my psyche.  Several years later, during my tumultuous teenage years, I decided to come out as gay to my parents... Tori's first single off her From the Choirgirl Hotel, Spark, gave me something I desperately needed at the time: the chance to look outside myself and see something  beautiful that came from something so very painful (the song was inspired by a recent miscarriage Tori had experienced).  Over the years Tori has taught me how to be a father AND a mother, a son AND a daughter, a brother AND a sister, most importantly she has helped me to open my eyes, my mind and my heart to so many things which I would not have had access to without her guidance.  As a man, she has helped me learn what it means to be a woman, but she has also helped me to learn what it really means to be a man.  But the thing that struck me most in recent years (upon studying Integral Theory) is that she can and has been part of the Integral journey.  She speaks about so many different ideas and subjects in her music it's hard not to see her as anything but an Integral artist.  She's covered everything from rape to motherhood to friendship to masculinity/femininity to religion to politics to love to angst to heartbreak and around again.  I can honestly say that quite literally Tori has saved my life, more than once.  She will always hold a very special place in my heart.

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I've been a fan of Tori ever since she broke out with Silent All These Years in 1991.  Which isn't so small a detail, I was only 9 years old at the time!  While it took me many years to come to understand some the lyrics she had strung together, she was instantly embedded in my psyche.  Several years later, during my tumultuous teenage years, I decided to come out as gay to my parents... Tori's first single off her From the Choirgirl Hotel, Spark, gave me something I desperately needed at the time: the chance to look outside myself and see something  beautiful that came from something so very painful (the song was inspired by a recent miscarriage Tori had experienced).  Over the years Tori has taught me how to be a father AND a mother, a son AND a daughter, a brother AND a sister, most importantly she has helped me to open my eyes, my mind and my heart to so many things which I would not have had access to without her guidance.  As a man, she has helped me learn what it means to be a woman, but she has also helped me to learn what it really means to be a man.  But the thing that struck me most in recent years (upon studying Integral Theory) is that she can and has been part of the Integral journey.  She speaks about so many different ideas and subjects in her music it's hard not to see her as anything but an Integral artist.  She's covered everything from rape to motherhood to friendship to masculinity/femininity to religion to politics to love to angst to heartbreak and around again.  I can honestly say that quite literally Tori has saved my life, more than once.  She will always hold a very special place in my heart.

I've been a fan of Tori ever since she broke out with Silent All These Years in 1991.  Which isn't so small a detail, I was only 9 years old at the time!  While it took me many years to come to understand some the lyrics she had strung together, she was instantly embedded in my psyche.  Several years later, during my tumultuous teenage years, I decided to come out as gay to my parents... Tori's first single off her From the Choirgirl Hotel, Spark, gave me something I desperately needed at the time: the chance to look outside myself and see something  beautiful that came from something so very painful (the song was inspired by a recent miscarriage Tori had experienced).  Over the years Tori has taught me how to be a father AND a mother, a son AND a daughter, a brother AND a sister, most importantly she has helped me to open my eyes, my mind and my heart to so many things which I would not have had access to without her guidance.  As a man, she has helped me learn what it means to be a woman, but she has also helped me to learn what it really means to be a man.  But the thing that struck me most in recent years (upon studying Integral Theory) is that she can and has been part of the Integral journey.  She speaks about so many different ideas and subjects in her music it's hard not to see her as anything but an Integral artist.  She's covered everything from rape to motherhood to friendship to masculinity/femininity to religion to politics to love to angst to heartbreak and around again.  I can honestly say that quite literally Tori has saved my life, more than once.  She will always hold a very special place in my heart.

I've been a fan of Tori ever since she broke out with Silent All These Years in 1991.  Which isn't so small a detail, I was only 9 years old at the time!  While it took me many years to come to understand some the lyrics she had strung together, she was instantly embedded in my psyche.  Several years later, during my tumultuous teenage years, I decided to come out as gay to my parents... Tori's first single off her From the Choirgirl Hotel, Spark, gave me something I desperately needed at the time: the chance to look outside myself and see something  beautiful that came from something so very painful (the song was inspired by a recent miscarriage Tori had experienced).  Over the years Tori has taught me how to be a father AND a mother, a son AND a daughter, a brother AND a sister, most importantly she has helped me to open my eyes, my mind and my heart to so many things which I would not have had access to without her guidance.  As a man, she has helped me learn what it means to be a woman, but she has also helped me to learn what it really means to be a man.  But the thing that struck me most in recent years (upon studying Integral Theory) is that she can and has been part of the Integral journey.  She speaks about so many different ideas and subjects in her music it's hard not to see her as anything but an Integral artist.  She's covered everything from rape to motherhood to friendship to masculinity/femininity to religion to politics to love to angst to heartbreak and around again.  I can honestly say that quite literally Tori has saved my life, more than once.  She will always hold a very special place in my heart.

This comment has been deleted by the author.

Hi there

I'm wondering if the real attention should not be so much on the music but the listener? It might be that you like a bit of punk, reggae, classical music, opera, folk, jazz etc etc-this would inviolve opeing the "musical" line of development on the ole pyschograph into a response(s) guided by so many possible lines of bodily, emotional, intellectual and spiritual needs.

Any one up for a selection of responses that might create an integral top ten of music?

My track for passion is Light My Fire by The Doors

Graeme

 

 

-- Love to read a commentary from Wilber on "Mediated" by Tomas De Zengotita...........

Tricia

Vespertine (which means tiny religious songs) and the sister album Homogenic.

Elven Queen of Collaboration. She lives art, like Yayoi Kusama. 

 Bjork once told a reporter that she doesnt like leaving the house until her outer appearance matches her inner state. Swan Dress. Remember when she was up for a grammy and laid an egg on the red carpet? Like Picaso, Bjork doesnt stay in one phase to please the world, but keeps going in crazy artistic directions, usually not very popular. As many of you know, Bjork really gets weird...When an interviewer told her that some songs on her new album are hard to listen too, she said"that's fine...some songs are like difficult experiences you only need to have once. not all art is supposed to be pleasant." 

I found that Madonna-particularly her Ray of Light album is so huge in helping me know that it is OK to think outside the box. Also, Gwen Stefani's new songs all are somehow related to knowing 'the secret'. I anxiously await more music that states truths of human existance.

www.youtube.com/watch

www.youtube.com/watch