Biophilia (album)
Encyclopedia
Biophilia is the musical project and eighth full-length studio album by Icelandic singer Björk
. The album was released on 10 October 2011, over four years after her previous studio album, Volta
(2007).
The album is "partly recorded" on an iPad
and, as well as a standard CD release, will be released in the form of a series of apps
. Biophilia will be the world's "first app album" in collaboration with Apple. Björk has described the project as a multimedia
collection "encompassing music, apps, internet, installations, and live shows". Material from the album debuted during a concert series which was held in the summer of 2011 at the Manchester International Festival
.
includes ten separate apps, all housed within one "mother" app. Each of the smaller apps will relate to a different track from the album, allowing people to explore and interact with the song's themes
or even make a completely new version of them. It will also be an evolving entity that will grow as and when the album's release schedule dictates, with new elements added. Every app includes a game related to the song, the score of the song created by Björk and Jónas Sen, animations and a musical essay written by Nikki Dibben. Scott Snibbe
, an interactive artist who was commissioned by Björk back in the summer of 2010 to produce the app, as well as the images for the live shows (which will combine his visuals with National Geographic imagery, mixed live from tablet computers on the stage), describes how Björk saw the possibilities of using apps, not as separate to the music, but as a vital component of the whole project. While it is technically not the first app-album (the first is Bluebrain's The National Mall, a location-aware album that is available in no other form and was composed specifically for the iPhone) it is Björk's first venture into experimenting with apps.
For one song, "Virus", the app will feature a close-up study of cells being attacked by a virus to represent what Snibbe calls: "A kind of a love story between a virus
and a cell
. And of course the virus loves the cell so much that it destroys it." The interactive game challenges the user to halt the attack
of the virus, although the result is that the song will stop if the player succeeds. In order to hear the rest of the song, the players will have to let the virus take its course. Using some artistic license, the cells will also mouth along to the chorus. It's this determination to fuse different elements together, be it juxtaposing a female choir from Greenland
with the bleeps and glitches of electronic music
pioneers Matmos
during the Vespertine tour, or meshing soaring strings and jagged beats on Homogenic, that "helps explain the power and success of Björk's collaborations".
"Crystalline
", the first single released, is a mostly electronic song, featuring a continuous "gameleste" base and electronic beats and rhythm. After the bridge, the song features a gameleste solo, and ends with an uproarious breakcore section which uses the Amen break
.
New musical instruments were specially developed for the album, and specially for the shows at the Manchester International Festival
that took place in mid-2011 to introduce the album. The Tesla coil
was used as a musical instrument on the song "Thunderbolt". A "gameleste", a mixture between a gamelan
and a celesta
which was programmed in order to be played remotely by a tablet computer, was also used in several songs. A group of pendulums were put together, creating patterns with their moves, transmitting the movements of the Earth to the sound of a harp
.
For the music, Björk related the phenomenon the song describes to a musical structure or resource. For example; the song "Moon
" has different musical cycles
that repeat throughout the song; the song "Thunderbolt" contains arpeggio
s, inspired by the time between when lightning is seen and thunder is heard; and in "Solstice", the counterpoint
makes reference to the movement of planets and the Earth's rotation, and the pendulums used on the song make tribute to the Foucault pendulum
.
The lyrics also present metaphors to those phenomena. "Dark Matter" features heavy gibberish
since the dark matter
phenomena are directly "unexplainable". "Virus" describes "fatal relationships" such as the relationship between a virus and a cell, as Björk explained: "It's like I have this new neighbour that I have to sort of learn to live with"; "Solstice" presents the relation between the gravity effect on celestial bodies
and on human beings and in "Hollow", Björk took inspiration from her "ancestors and DNA, that the grounds open below you and you can feel your mother and her mother, and her mother, and her mother, and her mother 30,000 years back. So suddenly you're this kinda tunnel, or trunk of DNA… All these ghosts come up so it ended up being a Halloween song and quite gothic in a way… It's like being part of this everlasting necklace when you're just a bead on a chain and you sort of want to belong and be a part of it and it's just like a miracle."
Björk also breaks the typical 4/4 time signature
structure for many of the songs on Biophilia. For example, "Solstice" features 7/4 and 6/4 times bars; "Hollow", 17/8 times bars; "Moon", 17/8 times bars; "Crystalline," 17/8 time bars; "Mutual Core", 5/4 times bars and "Virus", 3/4 times bars.
Just one month before the album's release, the date was pulled back due to conceptual issues on the album. According to Björk, the album needed to have more "live feeling" and a more determinated "body" than the versions on the apps. Björk worked with long-time friend Leila Arab
in re-producing some songs, adding new beats to "Sacrifice" and used a live recording from the Manchester International Festival in "Solstice".
in England between 27 June and 16 July 2011. Björk called the performances a "meditation on the relationship between music, nature and technology". Björk performed Biophilia tracks and music from her back catalogue with a small group of musical collaborators, including Graduale Nobili, an Icelandic female choir. The show featured a range of specially-conceived and crafted instruments, among them a Tesla coil
, a bespoke pipe organ that accepts digital information and a pendulum that harnesses the Earth's gravitational pull to create musical patterns. Stephen Malinowski designed some animations which are displayed for Björk's use as a teleprompter; one animation is also projected to be viewed by the audience. Malinowski's animations are also included in the iPad app.
Björk performed at Bestival
on 11 September. The press release stated that this was to be her only outdoor concert of the year. She also performed eight shows during the Iceland Airwaves
Festival at Harpa
in Iceland from 12 October to 3 November.
A stem of the song "Cosmogony" was released to promote the album, on the iPad
Solar System app. This instrumental was played by the Wonderbrass, the brass players who accompanied Björk in her previous album Volta
.
Björk and Michel Gondry
collaborated on a video for the track, which Gondry described as "a very ambitious project, a sort of scientific musical". Björk said on her website that the collaboration was about "both zooming out, like the planets, but also zooming into the atoms. And in that way, aesthetically sympathising with sound and how sounds move and the physics of sound, and how notes in a room behave ... it's kind of more similar to how planets and microscopic things work."
On 22 November a "Crystalline" performance was broadcasted on BBC2's Later... with Jools Holland. On 25 November "Cosmogony" and "Thunderbolt" were shown.
s, each one adjusted to the tone
of a Biophilia track, covering a complete octave
in a non-conventional scale
(There are two forks which produce the same note and another one which is silent). The ultimate edition is limited to 200 units, each one numbered and made to order, and every single book and fork pack will only be produced once.
" is the lead single from the album, released on 27 June 2011. The release of "Crystalline
" was preceded by three teasers: in the first, entitled "Road to Crystalline", we can see Björk driving on her van through a road in Iceland while playing an excerpt of a thus far unreleased version of the song; in the second, we could see one of the new instruments developed for the Manchester performances, which also plays on the track: the 'gameleste', a celesta
which was modified so that it could be played remotely by a tablet computer; and in the third teaser, recording sessions of the remix featuring Omar Souleyman
were shown. The Serban Ghenea mix of the song leaked onto the Internet on 25 June 2011.
Three songs on Biophilia were released in iTunes
as solo singles beside the expansion app. The first promo single-app released was "Cosmogony" on 19 July, followed by "Virus" on 9 August, then "Moon" on 6 September. A music video for "Moon" was released 23 September. The rest of the apps were released on October 10 with the release of the album.
and Inez & Vinoodh
. In the photographs, we can see Björk wearing a big, orange, entangled wig and a brown and golden ribbon dress which features a harp-belt designed by Three-as-Four; she is standing in front of a black background holding an orange crystal
(likely mimetite
). There are white ornaments superimposed
. In some photos, Björk is wearing a sleeveless red and blue ribbon dress with the belt, and holding a blue geode
. The photo session inspired the video for "Moon
".
, which assigns a normalised
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average
score of 79, based on 36 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Critical acclaim came from BBC Music
's Mike Diver
, who described the album as "mesmerizing" and "an amazing, inventive and wholly unique eighth album from an artist without peer", praising both her voice as a "controlled presence" and her composition work: "Björk has crafted sounds which are entirely hers alone". Möhammad Choudhery of Consequence of Sound
praised the "asteroid-bass volley" of "Mutual Core" and "apocalyptical breakbeat coda" of "Crystalline" and stated that "they blend archaic instrumentation with blistering electronica" and even if he labelled Biophilia as "hardly listening", he found that "it'll stand as one of the more rewarding albums of her storied career". Biophilia was named "CD of the week" by The Daily Telegraph
, whose writer Helen Brown described the album as "wilfully weird" yet "surprisingly accessible, hypnotic and beautiful if you give it time and concentration: the audio equivalent of looking through a microscope at crystals growing". According to NME
s Luke Turner, "[looking] past the techno wizardry, the grand designs and the brainy philosophy", Biophilia is "intimate, playful and beautiful" and "a wonderful distillation of ideas, playful and serious, intimate yet the most fantastic journey. [...] A record so particular to Björk's own artistry that no-one could ever hope to replicate it." Now
magazine's Kevin Ritchie praised the album as "one of Björk's best and most challenging records" and that "[i]ts accompanying iPad suite [...] isn't required to enjoy the album, which has a satisfyingly messy and unhinged quality, much like the natural wonders that inspired it". Similarly, Gareth James of Clash
felt that the album "sounds beautifully warm and compellingly human", and stated that "while much of the fuss around the album has centred on its innovative and hugely interactive app release, this music really doesn't need any window dressing because it's as good a collection of songs as she has put her name to in ten years".
Kyle Andersen of Entertainment Weekly
stated that Biophilia is "an ingenious marriage of faerie and machine. But the singer's greatest strength remains the glistening natural resource flowing from her throat". For Heater Phares of Allmusic, "Biophilia is easily her most ambitious project as a whole", whose "boldest innovations are in its presentation rather than in the actual music" and "sometimes feels like a soundtrack", but further adds that "just because the music is only one part of the Biophilia experience doesn't mean it's unsatisfying". Daniel Paton of musicOMH
viewed Biophilia as a "synthesis of Björk's work thus far", yet "it sees her continue to pursue her own radical and individual path with unshakeable conviction." He also complimented her language, "English [...] always sounds so enticing and odd when delivered in her syntax." Rolling Stone
s David Fricke
compared the album to Nico
's work, "[with its] organ, squishy electronics and the high sighs of a women's choir in stark fields of echo, [Biophilia is] like a haunted digital sister of Nico's 1969 album, The Marble Index
". Alexis Petridis
of The Guardian
wrote that "Biophilia never feels like hard work, however much the accompanying bumf tries to convince you it is." Despite his skepticism over interactive music and apps, he stated the quality of the music is "far less questionable". PopMatters
music editor Arnold Pan complimented Björk as being "innovative by nature and eager to take risks" and praised Biophilias songs, despite claiming "there are some moments on Biophilia that are too atmospheric and subtle [...] especially the low profile 'Dark Matter' and the overly abstract 'Hollow', with its cold modern classical stylings". A more mixed review came from Pitchfork Media
's Mark Pytlik, which felt that the singer "prioritized the superficial aspects of Biophilias presentation over, well, the music", further adding that "she combats the lack of any real structure or melody by over-singing, or lapsing into one of her familiar and increasingly lazy-sounding house vocal runs." He also wrote that "[a]s an innovator, she's as vibrant as ever, but as a songwriter, she sounds tired". Andy Gill of The Independent
gave the album a negative review, dubbing it as "hard to love" and added that "at times, it's hard not to conclude that the music and lyrics were devised totally separately, and then forced together in forms it's difficult to acknowledge as songs".
on the issue dated 29 October 2011. The album also opened at number one on the Dance/Electronic Albums, number two on the Tastemaker Albums, number five on the Alternative Albums, number eight on the Rock Albums and number nineteen on the Digital Albums. It debuted at number twenty-one on the UK Albums Chart
, becoming Björk's first album not to break the top ten. In Japan, the album debuted at number eighteen with first-week sales of 6,525 copies. The following week it plunged down to number twenty-three, selling additional 4,412 units. In Taiwan, Biophilia debuted at number nine on the G-Music Western Albums Chart for the week of 14 October 2011, sharing the rank with Joe Jonas
's album Fastlife, with 1.03% sales volume; the album managed to outrank her previous album, Volta, which debuted at number fourteen on the same chart over four years before. The limited edition of the album debuted at number sixteen on the Gaon International Albums Chart
in South Korea, while the standard edition debuted at number twenty-two.
performances. While some subtitles refer to the physical phenomena related to the song, others may refer to musical resources also related to those physical phenomena. Also, every song has a characteristic color, featured on the album artwork and in the apps, and every tuning fork is also painted in the colour of the track.
The Digipak edition of the album includes one of Björk's previous non-album single, "Náttúra
", while the Japanese edition will also include her 2010 Moomins tie-up single "The Comet Song
".
All tracks were produced by Björk except:
- "Crystalline", which was produced by Björk & 16bit
- "Sacrifice", which was produced by Björk & Current Value
Björk
Björk Guðmundsdóttir , known as Björk , is an Icelandic singer-songwriter. Her eclectic musical style has achieved popular acknowledgement and popularity within many musical genres, such as rock, jazz, electronic dance music, classical and folk...
. The album was released on 10 October 2011, over four years after her previous studio album, Volta
Volta (album)
Volta is the seventh studio album by Icelandic musician Björk, released in May 2007. It was produced by Björk, Mark Bell, Timbaland and Danja. The music of Volta was a new style for Björk, focusing on similar sounding music combining African beats and other instruments with songs in tribute to Africa...
(2007).
The album is "partly recorded" on an iPad
IPad
The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its size and...
and, as well as a standard CD release, will be released in the form of a series of apps
Application software
Application software, also known as an application or an "app", is computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks. Examples include enterprise software, accounting software, office suites, graphics software and media players. Many application programs deal principally with...
. Biophilia will be the world's "first app album" in collaboration with Apple. Björk has described the project as a multimedia
Multimedia
Multimedia is media and content that uses a combination of different content forms. The term can be used as a noun or as an adjective describing a medium as having multiple content forms. The term is used in contrast to media which use only rudimentary computer display such as text-only, or...
collection "encompassing music, apps, internet, installations, and live shows". Material from the album debuted during a concert series which was held in the summer of 2011 at the Manchester International Festival
Manchester International Festival
The Manchester International Festival is an international cultural festival of original new work, held in the English city of Manchester. It is a biennial event, first taking place in June–July 2007, and subsequently recurring in the summers of 2009 and 2011...
.
Concept
Biophilia for iPadIPad
The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its size and...
includes ten separate apps, all housed within one "mother" app. Each of the smaller apps will relate to a different track from the album, allowing people to explore and interact with the song's themes
Theme (music)
In music, a theme is the material, usually a recognizable melody, upon which part or all of a composition is based.-Characteristics:A theme may be perceivable as a complete musical expression in itself, separate from the work in which it is found . In contrast to an idea or motif, a theme is...
or even make a completely new version of them. It will also be an evolving entity that will grow as and when the album's release schedule dictates, with new elements added. Every app includes a game related to the song, the score of the song created by Björk and Jónas Sen, animations and a musical essay written by Nikki Dibben. Scott Snibbe
Scott Snibbe
Scott Snibbe is an interactive media artist, researcher, and entrepreneur. He is one of the first artists to work with projector-based interactivity, where a computer-controlled projection onto a wall or floor changes in response to people moving across its surface, with his well-known full-body...
, an interactive artist who was commissioned by Björk back in the summer of 2010 to produce the app, as well as the images for the live shows (which will combine his visuals with National Geographic imagery, mixed live from tablet computers on the stage), describes how Björk saw the possibilities of using apps, not as separate to the music, but as a vital component of the whole project. While it is technically not the first app-album (the first is Bluebrain's The National Mall, a location-aware album that is available in no other form and was composed specifically for the iPhone) it is Björk's first venture into experimenting with apps.
For one song, "Virus", the app will feature a close-up study of cells being attacked by a virus to represent what Snibbe calls: "A kind of a love story between a virus
Virus
A virus is a small infectious agent that can replicate only inside the living cells of organisms. Viruses infect all types of organisms, from animals and plants to bacteria and archaea...
and a cell
Cell (biology)
The cell is the basic structural and functional unit of all known living organisms. It is the smallest unit of life that is classified as a living thing, and is often called the building block of life. The Alberts text discusses how the "cellular building blocks" move to shape developing embryos....
. And of course the virus loves the cell so much that it destroys it." The interactive game challenges the user to halt the attack
Infection
An infection is the colonization of a host organism by parasite species. Infecting parasites seek to use the host's resources to reproduce, often resulting in disease...
of the virus, although the result is that the song will stop if the player succeeds. In order to hear the rest of the song, the players will have to let the virus take its course. Using some artistic license, the cells will also mouth along to the chorus. It's this determination to fuse different elements together, be it juxtaposing a female choir from Greenland
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
with the bleeps and glitches of electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
pioneers Matmos
Matmos
Matmos is an experimental electronic music duo originally from San Francisco but now residing in Baltimore signed to the Matador Records label. M. C. Schmidt and Drew Daniel are the core members, but they frequently include other artists on their records and in their performances, including...
during the Vespertine tour, or meshing soaring strings and jagged beats on Homogenic, that "helps explain the power and success of Björk's collaborations".
Composition
Björk has previously revealed that Biophilia was partly composed on a tablet computer; she has said that because she does not play conventional instruments like piano or guitar, this way of composing appeals to her."Crystalline
Crystalline (song)
"Crystalline" is a song by Icelandic artist Björk, released as the lead single from her seventh album Biophilia. The song was released as a single on June 28, 2011 accompanied by an iPad app developed exclusively for the song...
", the first single released, is a mostly electronic song, featuring a continuous "gameleste" base and electronic beats and rhythm. After the bridge, the song features a gameleste solo, and ends with an uproarious breakcore section which uses the Amen break
Amen break
The Amen break is a brief drum solo performed in 1969 by Gregory Cylvester "G. C." Coleman in the song "Amen, Brother" performed by the 1960s funk and soul outfit The Winstons...
.
Manchester International Festival
The Manchester International Festival is an international cultural festival of original new work, held in the English city of Manchester. It is a biennial event, first taking place in June–July 2007, and subsequently recurring in the summers of 2009 and 2011...
that took place in mid-2011 to introduce the album. The Tesla coil
Tesla coil
A Tesla coil is a type of resonant transformer circuit invented by Nikola Tesla around 1891. It is used to produce high voltage, low current, high frequency alternating current electricity. Tesla coils produce higher current than the other source of high voltage discharges, electrostatic machines...
was used as a musical instrument on the song "Thunderbolt". A "gameleste", a mixture between a gamelan
Gamelan
A gamelan is a musical ensemble from Indonesia, typically from the islands of Bali or Java, featuring a variety of instruments such as metallophones, xylophones, drums and gongs; bamboo flutes, bowed and plucked strings. Vocalists may also be included....
and a celesta
Celesta
The celesta or celeste is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. Its appearance is similar to that of an upright piano or of a large wooden music box . The keys are connected to hammers which strike a graduated set of metal plates suspended over wooden resonators...
which was programmed in order to be played remotely by a tablet computer, was also used in several songs. A group of pendulums were put together, creating patterns with their moves, transmitting the movements of the Earth to the sound of a harp
Harp
The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
.
For the music, Björk related the phenomenon the song describes to a musical structure or resource. For example; the song "Moon
Moon (Björk song)
"Moon" is a song by Icelandic artist Björk. It is the first track on her album Biophilia and was released as the fourth single. Each song in the album features a theme related to nature...
" has different musical cycles
Cycle (music)
A music cycle is when a section of a song/music is repeated.In music a cycle is a section which is repeated or repeatable indefinitely, with the end of a preceding repetition leading to the beginning of a succeeding repetition. Cycles may be melodic, harmonic, rhythmic, or based on some other...
that repeat throughout the song; the song "Thunderbolt" contains arpeggio
Arpeggio
An arpeggio is a musical technique where notes in a chord are played or sung in sequence, one after the other, rather than ringing out simultaneously...
s, inspired by the time between when lightning is seen and thunder is heard; and in "Solstice", the counterpoint
Counterpoint
In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm and are harmonically interdependent . It has been most commonly identified in classical music, developing strongly during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period,...
makes reference to the movement of planets and the Earth's rotation, and the pendulums used on the song make tribute to the Foucault pendulum
Foucault pendulum
The Foucault pendulum , or Foucault's pendulum, named after the French physicist Léon Foucault, is a simple device conceived as an experiment to demonstrate the rotation of the Earth. While it had long been known that the Earth rotated, the introduction of the Foucault pendulum in 1851 was the...
.
The lyrics also present metaphors to those phenomena. "Dark Matter" features heavy gibberish
Gibberish
Gibberish is a generic term in English for talking that sounds like speech, but carries no actual meaning. This meaning has also been extended to meaningless text or gobbledygook. The common theme in gibberish statements is a lack of literal sense, which can be described as a presence of nonsense...
since the dark matter
Dark matter
In astronomy and cosmology, dark matter is matter that neither emits nor scatters light or other electromagnetic radiation, and so cannot be directly detected via optical or radio astronomy...
phenomena are directly "unexplainable". "Virus" describes "fatal relationships" such as the relationship between a virus and a cell, as Björk explained: "It's like I have this new neighbour that I have to sort of learn to live with"; "Solstice" presents the relation between the gravity effect on celestial bodies
Astronomical object
Astronomical objects or celestial objects are naturally occurring physical entities, associations or structures that current science has demonstrated to exist in the observable universe. The term astronomical object is sometimes used interchangeably with astronomical body...
and on human beings and in "Hollow", Björk took inspiration from her "ancestors and DNA, that the grounds open below you and you can feel your mother and her mother, and her mother, and her mother, and her mother 30,000 years back. So suddenly you're this kinda tunnel, or trunk of DNA… All these ghosts come up so it ended up being a Halloween song and quite gothic in a way… It's like being part of this everlasting necklace when you're just a bead on a chain and you sort of want to belong and be a part of it and it's just like a miracle."
Björk also breaks the typical 4/4 time signature
Time signature
The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....
structure for many of the songs on Biophilia. For example, "Solstice" features 7/4 and 6/4 times bars; "Hollow", 17/8 times bars; "Moon", 17/8 times bars; "Crystalline," 17/8 time bars; "Mutual Core", 5/4 times bars and "Virus", 3/4 times bars.
Just one month before the album's release, the date was pulled back due to conceptual issues on the album. According to Björk, the album needed to have more "live feeling" and a more determinated "body" than the versions on the apps. Björk worked with long-time friend Leila Arab
Leila Arab
Leila is an Iranian recording artist, producer and dj based in London.She has worked with prominent European musicians such as Björk, and has released music on Rephlex Records, XL Recordings and Warp Records....
in re-producing some songs, adding new beats to "Sacrifice" and used a live recording from the Manchester International Festival in "Solstice".
Promotion
Björk debuted songs from the album during a series of performances at the Manchester International FestivalManchester International Festival
The Manchester International Festival is an international cultural festival of original new work, held in the English city of Manchester. It is a biennial event, first taking place in June–July 2007, and subsequently recurring in the summers of 2009 and 2011...
in England between 27 June and 16 July 2011. Björk called the performances a "meditation on the relationship between music, nature and technology". Björk performed Biophilia tracks and music from her back catalogue with a small group of musical collaborators, including Graduale Nobili, an Icelandic female choir. The show featured a range of specially-conceived and crafted instruments, among them a Tesla coil
Tesla coil
A Tesla coil is a type of resonant transformer circuit invented by Nikola Tesla around 1891. It is used to produce high voltage, low current, high frequency alternating current electricity. Tesla coils produce higher current than the other source of high voltage discharges, electrostatic machines...
, a bespoke pipe organ that accepts digital information and a pendulum that harnesses the Earth's gravitational pull to create musical patterns. Stephen Malinowski designed some animations which are displayed for Björk's use as a teleprompter; one animation is also projected to be viewed by the audience. Malinowski's animations are also included in the iPad app.
Björk performed at Bestival
Bestival
Bestival is a four-day music festival held at the Robin Hill country park on the Isle of Wight, England. It has been held annually in late summer since 2004. The event is organized by DJ and record producer Rob da Bank and is an off-shoot of his Sunday Best record label and club nights. The initial...
on 11 September. The press release stated that this was to be her only outdoor concert of the year. She also performed eight shows during the Iceland Airwaves
Iceland Airwaves
Iceland Airwaves is an annual music festival held in Reykjavík, Iceland on the third weekend of October. The festival spans five days and its main focus is showcasing new music, both Icelandic and international.-Festival:...
Festival at Harpa
Harpa (concert hall)
Harpa is a concert hall and conference centre in Reykjavík, Iceland. The building is in the final stages of construction. The opening concert was held on May 4, 2011. Harpa was designed by the Danish firm Henning Larsen Architects in co-operation with Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson...
in Iceland from 12 October to 3 November.
A stem of the song "Cosmogony" was released to promote the album, on the iPad
IPad
The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its size and...
Solar System app. This instrumental was played by the Wonderbrass, the brass players who accompanied Björk in her previous album Volta
Volta (album)
Volta is the seventh studio album by Icelandic musician Björk, released in May 2007. It was produced by Björk, Mark Bell, Timbaland and Danja. The music of Volta was a new style for Björk, focusing on similar sounding music combining African beats and other instruments with songs in tribute to Africa...
.
Björk and Michel Gondry
Michel Gondry
Michel Gondry is an Academy Award winning filmmaker, whose works include being a commercial director, music video director, and a screenwriter. He is noted for his inventive visual style and manipulation of mise en scène. - Life and career :...
collaborated on a video for the track, which Gondry described as "a very ambitious project, a sort of scientific musical". Björk said on her website that the collaboration was about "both zooming out, like the planets, but also zooming into the atoms. And in that way, aesthetically sympathising with sound and how sounds move and the physics of sound, and how notes in a room behave ... it's kind of more similar to how planets and microscopic things work."
On 22 November a "Crystalline" performance was broadcasted on BBC2's Later... with Jools Holland. On 25 November "Cosmogony" and "Thunderbolt" were shown.
Ultimate edition
The "ultimate edition" of Biophilia includes the Biophilia CD; a second CD with exclusive recordings; the Biophilia Manual, which includes photographs, stories behind the songs, scores and lyrics; and a wooden box with 10 chromed tuning forkTuning fork
A tuning fork is an acoustic resonator in the form of a two-pronged fork with the prongs formed from a U-shaped bar of elastic metal . It resonates at a specific constant pitch when set vibrating by striking it against a surface or with an object, and emits a pure musical tone after waiting a...
s, each one adjusted to the tone
Pitch (music)
Pitch is an auditory perceptual property that allows the ordering of sounds on a frequency-related scale.Pitches are compared as "higher" and "lower" in the sense associated with musical melodies,...
of a Biophilia track, covering a complete octave
Octave
In music, an octave is the interval between one musical pitch and another with half or double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referred to as the "basic miracle of music", the use of which is "common in most musical systems"...
in a non-conventional scale
Musical scale
In music, a scale is a sequence of musical notes in ascending and descending order. Most commonly, especially in the context of the common practice period, the notes of a scale will belong to a single key, thus providing material for or being used to conveniently represent part or all of a musical...
(There are two forks which produce the same note and another one which is silent). The ultimate edition is limited to 200 units, each one numbered and made to order, and every single book and fork pack will only be produced once.
Singles
"CrystallineCrystalline (song)
"Crystalline" is a song by Icelandic artist Björk, released as the lead single from her seventh album Biophilia. The song was released as a single on June 28, 2011 accompanied by an iPad app developed exclusively for the song...
" is the lead single from the album, released on 27 June 2011. The release of "Crystalline
Crystalline (song)
"Crystalline" is a song by Icelandic artist Björk, released as the lead single from her seventh album Biophilia. The song was released as a single on June 28, 2011 accompanied by an iPad app developed exclusively for the song...
" was preceded by three teasers: in the first, entitled "Road to Crystalline", we can see Björk driving on her van through a road in Iceland while playing an excerpt of a thus far unreleased version of the song; in the second, we could see one of the new instruments developed for the Manchester performances, which also plays on the track: the 'gameleste', a celesta
Celesta
The celesta or celeste is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. Its appearance is similar to that of an upright piano or of a large wooden music box . The keys are connected to hammers which strike a graduated set of metal plates suspended over wooden resonators...
which was modified so that it could be played remotely by a tablet computer; and in the third teaser, recording sessions of the remix featuring Omar Souleyman
Omar Souleyman
Omar Souleyman is an Arab musician from Ra's al-'Ayn, Syria, in the north eastern region of Syria. He began his career in 1994, working with a number of musicians with whom he still performs, and around five hundred studio and live albums have been released under his name...
were shown. The Serban Ghenea mix of the song leaked onto the Internet on 25 June 2011.
Three songs on Biophilia were released in iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
as solo singles beside the expansion app. The first promo single-app released was "Cosmogony" on 19 July, followed by "Virus" on 9 August, then "Moon" on 6 September. A music video for "Moon" was released 23 September. The rest of the apps were released on October 10 with the release of the album.
Artwork
The main Biophilia artwork is based on a photo session by M/M ParisM/M Paris
M/M is an art and design partnership consisting of Mathias Augustyniak and Michael Amzalag , established in Paris in 1992....
and Inez & Vinoodh
Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin
Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin are a Dutch fashion photographer duo, well known for their work for fashion magazines, advertising campaigns, and for their independent art work.-Biography:Vinoodh Matadin studied fashion design in Amsterdam between 1981 and 1985, and started...
. In the photographs, we can see Björk wearing a big, orange, entangled wig and a brown and golden ribbon dress which features a harp-belt designed by Three-as-Four; she is standing in front of a black background holding an orange crystal
Crystal
A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are arranged in an orderly repeating pattern extending in all three spatial dimensions. The scientific study of crystals and crystal formation is known as crystallography...
(likely mimetite
Mimetite
Mimetite, whose name derives from the Greek Μιμητής mimethes, meaning "imitator", is an arsenate mineral which forms as a secondary mineral in lead deposits, usually by the oxidation of galena and arsenopyrite. The name is a reference to mimetite's resemblance to the mineral pyromorphite...
). There are white ornaments superimposed
Superimposition
In graphics, superimposition is the placement of an image or video on top of an already-existing image or video, usually to add to the overall image effect, but also sometimes to conceal something .This technique is used in cartography to produce photomaps by superimposing grid lines, contour lines...
. In some photos, Björk is wearing a sleeveless red and blue ribbon dress with the belt, and holding a blue geode
Geode
Geodes are geological secondary sedimentary structures which occur in sedimentary and certain volcanic rocks. Geodes are essentially spherical masses of mineral matter that were deposited sygenetically within the rock formations they are found in. Geodes have a Chalcedony shell containing...
. The photo session inspired the video for "Moon
Moon (Björk song)
"Moon" is a song by Icelandic artist Björk. It is the first track on her album Biophilia and was released as the fourth single. Each song in the album features a theme related to nature...
".
Critical reception
Biophilia received generally positive reviews from music critics. At MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a normalised
Standard score
In statistics, a standard score indicates how many standard deviations an observation or datum is above or below the mean. It is a dimensionless quantity derived by subtracting the population mean from an individual raw score and then dividing the difference by the population standard deviation...
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average
Weighted mean
The weighted mean is similar to an arithmetic mean , where instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others...
score of 79, based on 36 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Critical acclaim came from BBC Music
BBC Music
BBC Music is a team working in the department of Audio and Music Interactive at the BBC. Responsible for the BBC Music website - the portal site to music content across the BBC website....
's Mike Diver
Mike Diver
Mike Diver is a British music journalist. He started his career at music website Drowned in Sound, where he became editor, before moving on in 2008 to become editor of Clash magazine's website. He has contributed to several magazines including NME and Rock Sound.Diver is currently album reviews...
, who described the album as "mesmerizing" and "an amazing, inventive and wholly unique eighth album from an artist without peer", praising both her voice as a "controlled presence" and her composition work: "Björk has crafted sounds which are entirely hers alone". Möhammad Choudhery of Consequence of Sound
Consequence of Sound
Consequence of Sound, also known often as CoS, is a Chicago-based music website featuring news, album and concert reviews, and editorials. In addition, the website also features the Festival Outlook micro-site, which serves as an on-line database for music festival news and rumors...
praised the "asteroid-bass volley" of "Mutual Core" and "apocalyptical breakbeat coda" of "Crystalline" and stated that "they blend archaic instrumentation with blistering electronica" and even if he labelled Biophilia as "hardly listening", he found that "it'll stand as one of the more rewarding albums of her storied career". Biophilia was named "CD of the week" by The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
, whose writer Helen Brown described the album as "wilfully weird" yet "surprisingly accessible, hypnotic and beautiful if you give it time and concentration: the audio equivalent of looking through a microscope at crystals growing". According to NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
s Luke Turner, "[looking] past the techno wizardry, the grand designs and the brainy philosophy", Biophilia is "intimate, playful and beautiful" and "a wonderful distillation of ideas, playful and serious, intimate yet the most fantastic journey. [...] A record so particular to Björk's own artistry that no-one could ever hope to replicate it." Now
NOW (magazine)
Now is a free weekly newspaper in Toronto, Canada. It was first printed on September 10, 1981 by Michael Hollett and Alice Klein. Now is an alternative weekly mixing arts and entertainment news with political coverage....
magazine's Kevin Ritchie praised the album as "one of Björk's best and most challenging records" and that "[i]ts accompanying iPad suite [...] isn't required to enjoy the album, which has a satisfyingly messy and unhinged quality, much like the natural wonders that inspired it". Similarly, Gareth James of Clash
Clash (magazine)
Clash is a popular music and fashion magazine based in the United Kingdom. Its magazine title is published 12 times a year. It has a circulation of around 40,000....
felt that the album "sounds beautifully warm and compellingly human", and stated that "while much of the fuss around the album has centred on its innovative and hugely interactive app release, this music really doesn't need any window dressing because it's as good a collection of songs as she has put her name to in ten years".
Kyle Andersen of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
stated that Biophilia is "an ingenious marriage of faerie and machine. But the singer's greatest strength remains the glistening natural resource flowing from her throat". For Heater Phares of Allmusic, "Biophilia is easily her most ambitious project as a whole", whose "boldest innovations are in its presentation rather than in the actual music" and "sometimes feels like a soundtrack", but further adds that "just because the music is only one part of the Biophilia experience doesn't mean it's unsatisfying". Daniel Paton of musicOMH
MusicOMH
musicOMH is a United Kingdom-based website which publishes independent reviews, featues and interviews from across all musical genres including classical, metal, rock and R&B.-History:...
viewed Biophilia as a "synthesis of Björk's work thus far", yet "it sees her continue to pursue her own radical and individual path with unshakeable conviction." He also complimented her language, "English [...] always sounds so enticing and odd when delivered in her syntax." Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
s David Fricke
David Fricke
David Fricke is a senior editor at Rolling Stone magazine, where he writes predominantly on rock music. In the 1990s, he was managing editor before stepping down.-Background:David Fricke is a graduate of Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania...
compared the album to Nico
Nico
Nico was a German singer, lyricist, composer, musician, fashion model, and actress, who initially rose to fame as a Warhol Superstar in the 1960s...
's work, "[with its] organ, squishy electronics and the high sighs of a women's choir in stark fields of echo, [Biophilia is] like a haunted digital sister of Nico's 1969 album, The Marble Index
The Marble Index (album)
The Marble Index is the second solo album by Nico, recorded in 1968 and released in 1969. The album featured long-term associate John Cale, who had worked briefly with Nico during her stint with The Velvet Underground...
". Alexis Petridis
Alexis Petridis
Alexis Petridis is a British journalist, head rock and pop critic for UK newspaper The Guardian, as well as a regular and contributor to the magazine GQ.Petridis began his career writing for Varsity whilst a student at the University of Cambridge...
of The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
wrote that "Biophilia never feels like hard work, however much the accompanying bumf tries to convince you it is." Despite his skepticism over interactive music and apps, he stated the quality of the music is "far less questionable". PopMatters
PopMatters
PopMatters is an international webzine of cultural criticism that covers many aspects of popular culture. PopMatters publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater,...
music editor Arnold Pan complimented Björk as being "innovative by nature and eager to take risks" and praised Biophilias songs, despite claiming "there are some moments on Biophilia that are too atmospheric and subtle [...] especially the low profile 'Dark Matter' and the overly abstract 'Hollow', with its cold modern classical stylings". A more mixed review came from Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
's Mark Pytlik, which felt that the singer "prioritized the superficial aspects of Biophilias presentation over, well, the music", further adding that "she combats the lack of any real structure or melody by over-singing, or lapsing into one of her familiar and increasingly lazy-sounding house vocal runs." He also wrote that "[a]s an innovator, she's as vibrant as ever, but as a songwriter, she sounds tired". Andy Gill of The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
gave the album a negative review, dubbing it as "hard to love" and added that "at times, it's hard not to conclude that the music and lyrics were devised totally separately, and then forced together in forms it's difficult to acknowledge as songs".
Commercial performance
Biophilia debuted at number twenty-seven on the US Billboard 200Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
on the issue dated 29 October 2011. The album also opened at number one on the Dance/Electronic Albums, number two on the Tastemaker Albums, number five on the Alternative Albums, number eight on the Rock Albums and number nineteen on the Digital Albums. It debuted at number twenty-one on the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
, becoming Björk's first album not to break the top ten. In Japan, the album debuted at number eighteen with first-week sales of 6,525 copies. The following week it plunged down to number twenty-three, selling additional 4,412 units. In Taiwan, Biophilia debuted at number nine on the G-Music Western Albums Chart for the week of 14 October 2011, sharing the rank with Joe Jonas
Joe Jonas
Joseph Adam "Joe" Jonas is a Pop American singer, musician, actor, and dancer. He is a member of the Jonas Brothers, a pop-rock band made up of him and his two brothers, Nick and Kevin...
's album Fastlife, with 1.03% sales volume; the album managed to outrank her previous album, Volta, which debuted at number fourteen on the same chart over four years before. The limited edition of the album debuted at number sixteen on the Gaon International Albums Chart
Gaon Chart
The Gaon Chart is a national record chart of South Korea. It is complied by the Korea Music Content Industry Association and sponsored by South Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism; with an aim to create a national chart for Korea similar to the Billboard charts and Oricon charts...
in South Korea, while the standard edition debuted at number twenty-two.
Track listing
Every song has a subtitle, announced live at the Manchester International FestivalManchester International Festival
The Manchester International Festival is an international cultural festival of original new work, held in the English city of Manchester. It is a biennial event, first taking place in June–July 2007, and subsequently recurring in the summers of 2009 and 2011...
performances. While some subtitles refer to the physical phenomena related to the song, others may refer to musical resources also related to those physical phenomena. Also, every song has a characteristic color, featured on the album artwork and in the apps, and every tuning fork is also painted in the colour of the track.
The Digipak edition of the album includes one of Björk's previous non-album single, "Náttúra
Náttúra
"Náttúra" is a song written and recorded by Icelandic singer Björk. The track was released as a single promoting the protection of the Icelandic environment. All proceeds from the single will be donated to the Náttúra Foundation, the environmental preservation campaign after which the song is named...
", while the Japanese edition will also include her 2010 Moomins tie-up single "The Comet Song
The Comet Song
"The Comet Song" is a song by Icelandic artist Björk, written by herself and long-time friend and collaborator Sjón as the title theme of the 2010 movie Moomins and the Comet Chase. The song is released as a charity single and all the benefits are donated to the victims of the 2010 Pakistan...
".
All tracks were produced by Björk except:
- "Crystalline", which was produced by Björk & 16bit
16bit
16bit are an electronic music act from London, UK, consisting of Eddie Jefferys and Jason Morrison. They are signed to Chase & Status' MTA Records.-Biography:16bit are electronic music artists best known for producing dubstep...
- "Sacrifice", which was produced by Björk & Current Value
Charts
| Chart (2011) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums Chart ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
31 |
| Austrian Albums Chart | 17 |
| Belgian Albums Chart Ultratop 50 Ultratop 50 singles, often just Ultratop 50, is the weekly chart of fifty best-selling singles in Flanders, Belgium, and is produced and published by the Ultratop organization. The chart has existed since March 31, 1995... (Flanders) |
13 |
| Belgian Albums Chart Ultratop 50 Ultratop 50 singles, often just Ultratop 50, is the weekly chart of fifty best-selling singles in Flanders, Belgium, and is produced and published by the Ultratop organization. The chart has existed since March 31, 1995... (Wallonia) |
16 |
| Canadian Albums Chart Canadian Albums Chart The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS... |
27 |
| Croatian Albums Chart | 8 |
| Czech Albums Chart | 21 |
| Danish Albums Chart IFPI Denmark IFPI Denmark is the Danish branch of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry and is the official charts provider and recording sales certification body for Denmark.-Gold and platinum awards:... |
5 |
| Dutch Albums Chart MegaCharts MegaCharts is responsible for the composition and exploitation of a broad collection of official charts in the Netherlands, of which the Mega Top 50 and the Mega Album Top 100 are the most known ones. Mega Charts also provides information to the Stichting Nederlandse Top 40, of which the Dutch Top... |
17 |
| Finnish Albums Chart | 15 |
| French Albums Chart Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry... |
4 |
| German Albums Chart Media Control Charts The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie... |
14 |
| Greek Albums Chart IFPI Greece International Federation of the Phonographic Industry Greece or IFPI Greece is the Greek branch of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry and is the official charts provider and recording sales certification body for Greece. Currently two charts are compiled, one for sales of... |
6 |
| Irish Albums Chart Irish Albums Chart The Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on its behalf by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured electronically... |
15 |
| Italian Albums Chart Federation of the Italian Music Industry The Federation of the Italian Music Industry is an umbrella organization that keeps track of virtually all aspects of the music recording industry in Italy.... |
13 |
| Japanese Albums Chart Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc... |
18 |
| Mexican Albums Chart | 27 |
| New Zealand Albums Chart Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand... |
18 |
| Norwegian Albums Chart VG-lista VG-listen is a Norwegian record chart. It is weekly presented in the newspaper VG and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation program Topp 20. It is considered the primary Norwegian record chart, charting albums and singles from countries and continent around the world. The data is collected by... |
17 |
| Polish Albums Chart Polish Music Charts The Polish Music Charts are two official album charts and seven singles charts in Poland, provided by ZPAV, the Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry . The first, the Top 100, is a monthly chart based on data received from the album companies... |
22 |
| Portuguese Albums Chart Associação Fonográfica Portuguesa The Associação Fonográfica Portuguesa is currently the only recording industry association in Portugal. Created in 1989, it succeeded GPPFV and UNEVA .... |
10 |
| Russian Albums Chart Russian Music Charts The Russian Music Charts are Russian music industry standard popularity rankings compiled weekly by 2M and Tophit . Albums and tracks rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through retail data captured electronically each week from Russian music retailers... |
17 |
| Scottish Albums Chart | 22 |
| South Korean International Albums Gaon Chart The Gaon Chart is a national record chart of South Korea. It is complied by the Korea Music Content Industry Association and sponsored by South Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism; with an aim to create a national chart for Korea similar to the Billboard charts and Oricon charts... |
16 |
| Spanish Albums Chart | 12 |
| Swedish Albums Chart Sverigetopplistan Sverigetopplistan, earlier known as Topplistan and Hitlistan and other names, is since October 2007 the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from Swedish Recording Industry Association .... |
14 |
| Swiss Albums Chart Swiss Music Charts The Swiss Music Charts are Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland.The Swiss Charts include:* Singles Top 75... |
9 |
| Taiwanese Western Albums Chart | 9 |
| UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
21 |
| UK Indie Albums Chart UK Indie Chart The UK Independent Chart or Indie Chart is a chart of the best-selling independent record releases in the UK.- History :In the wake of punk, small record labels began to spring up, as an outlet for artists that were unwilling to sign contracts with major record companies, or were not considered... |
3 |
| US Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
27 |
| US Dance/Electronic Albums | 1 |
| US Rock Albums | 8 |
| US Alternative Albums | 5 |
Release history
| Country | Date | Label |
|---|---|---|
| Japan | 5 October 2011 | Universal Music Universal Music Group Universal Music Group is an American music group, the largest of the "big four" record companies by its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations... |
| Netherlands | 7 October 2011 | |
| Poland | ||
| Germany | Polydor Polydor Records Polydor is a record label owned by Universal Music Group, headquartered in the United Kingdom.-Beginnings:Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Its name was first used as an export label in 1924, the British and German branches of the Gramophone... |
|
| Ireland | One Little Indian One Little Indian Records One Little Indian Records is a London-based independent record label that rose from the ashes of punk record company Spiderleg Records. It was set up in 1985 by members of various anarchist punk bands, and managed by ex-Flux of Pink Indians Derek Birkett. The first success came with A.R. Kane and... , Polydor |
|
| United Kingdom | 10 October 2011 | |
| Iceland | Smekkleysa Bad Taste (record label) Bad Taste is one of Iceland’s most important record labels; located in Reykjavík and known worldwide for being home to The Sugarcubes, it also publishes poetry books, short films, greeting cards and Icelandic gifts... |
|
| France | Universal Music | |
| Sweden | ||
| Hong Kong | ||
| Australia | 11 October 2011 | |
| Italy | ||
| Canada | Nonesuch Nonesuch Records Nonesuch Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed by Warner Bros. Records.-Company history:Nonesuch was founded in 1964 by Jac Holzman to produce "fine records at the same price as a trade paperback", which would be half the price of a normal LP... |
|
| United States | ||
| Argentina | 14 October 2011 | Universal Music |
| South Korea | ||
| Taiwan |