Choice Is Yours Vol. 78: Kala vs. Homogenic
M.I.A. – Kala (2007)
Vs.
Björk – Homogenic (1997)
The Game is simple… if only one could exist which would it be? What’s more important… personal relevance, cultural significance, or simply being the better album all other things aside? Choice is yours…
- My Pal the Crook
May 18th, 2010 at 1:38 pm
im gonna have to go with Bjork on this one,
to be honest i really only loved a few tracks on kala,
i thought Arular was far superior.
but thats just me
May 18th, 2010 at 2:20 pm
MIA……bjork is awesome but I like Maya better!!!!
May 18th, 2010 at 2:35 pm
damn, definitely bjork. you can only hear “paper planes” in so many movies before youre done.
May 18th, 2010 at 2:39 pm
Bjork. I actually don’t think this is a good pairing.. Bjork just has more weight/ significance overall.
May 18th, 2010 at 2:40 pm
Homogenic all the way. The first time I saw the Joga video I was completely blown away. This is my favorite Bjork album.
May 18th, 2010 at 3:30 pm
Erik: How so? Bjork has more weight to you because you grew up with her from your teens through your 20s. M.I.A. Has very much replaced Bjork as the alternative Electronic Pop Starlet to a new generation of kids in their teens through their 20s. I think the choice between the two is very fair and timely as M.I.A. has her marketing machine humming in anticipation of her new album, which in all likelyhood cement her as Bjork’s heir apparent.
He’ll I’ll even one up as someone who also grew up with Bjork and say i’d pick Kala over Homogenic. I find Kala infinitley more enjoyable and interesting while Homogenic just makes me wish it was over as soon as it starts.
May 18th, 2010 at 4:00 pm
Homogenic is light years beyond MIA in both production and composition. LIGHT YEARS.
Also, I would say Karin Dreijer Andersson is more of a Björk protegé or heir apparent than MIA. Didn’t we speak about this before? Not taking anything away from MIA, she rules, but Björk is just on a whole other level. What’s your beef with Björk anyway?
May 18th, 2010 at 4:08 pm
MIA cause she totally dresses better and she was a true punk not some shitty icelandic crass records whore! Yes I called Bjork a whore! Who wants to fight?!?
May 18th, 2010 at 5:01 pm
I don’t have anything against Bjork, i just don’t really find her as great as most other people do… same with Radiohead. But I’m not an M.I.A. fanboy by any means either, I do however find her a much more enjoyable and engaging listen.
And no Karin Dreijer Andersson isn’t the heir apparent to Bjork. You’re confusing a comment I made about how with Karin Dreijer Andersson I get how other people got all obsessive with Bjork. While sure Bjork’s music and Karin Dreijer Andersson are more similar with one another than M.I.A.’s that doesn’t make one the heir apparent to the other for a few reasons.
1) Karin Dreijer Andersson , the Knife or Fever Ray do not have the widespread mainstream appeal both Bjork and M.I.A. enjoy, putting them in league with one another even if there is a generation gap between the two.
2) Karin Dreijer Andersson produces most of her own music, while both Bjork and M.I.A. have an ear for good and interesting producers to work with.
May 18th, 2010 at 6:00 pm
Kala for me. I grew up with Bjork, and totally love and respect her, but could only ever really get behind a few tracks here and there, and found myself more into her as a person than her music.
With MIA I’m way into both the person AND the music.
May 18th, 2010 at 6:02 pm
To heck with you and your inferences gathered from well crafted analytical lists! I pose this question though, which is the fundamental basis of the Björk/KDA comparison…are college males getting laid more from playing Fever Ray/The Knife in their dorm room or M.I.A.?
May 18th, 2010 at 6:09 pm
I think college males are getting their grind on dance floors to M.I.A. way more than anyone is getting laid to The Knife or Fever Ray in a dorm room.
May 18th, 2010 at 6:13 pm
Yeah, I can’t argue with that. Shit.
May 18th, 2010 at 6:15 pm
Yeah and most of the people getting laid to The Knife or Fever Ray are people who are trying to drown out their sex sounds so their roommate doesn’t hear them boning their ex.
May 18th, 2010 at 6:23 pm
I agree with erikerikerikerik and I think the idea of an heir apparent to Bjork is silly. I don’t see M.I.A. winning any Polar Music Prize.
May 18th, 2010 at 6:37 pm
Karen O of Yeah Yeah Yeahs
May 18th, 2010 at 6:39 pm
Courtney Love of HOLE
May 18th, 2010 at 7:34 pm
The abstract poetry of Bjork complimented her musical fusion. But the roots of M.I.A. were set in Hip Hop and Electro. Both artists were experimental as well as artistic, but M.I.A. was definitely more political. If you read M.I.A. lyrics you will find underlying messages about Terrorism, Disease, Poverty, Extremism, Urban Decay, Civil War, and Genocide. Bjork had her head in the clouds, while M.I.A. set the tone for a world in turmoil.
May 18th, 2010 at 8:12 pm
Bjork wore that Swan dress one time…
And another one time I met her and she asked me to recommend her space movies…
May 18th, 2010 at 8:50 pm
ez Homogenic…
May 19th, 2010 at 2:27 am
I think this is an unfair comparison. These albums are 10 years apart and worlds away from each other.
If I had to pick strictly on contribution to the music scene in general, I’d have to go with M.I.A and Kala; Why?
Because Kala is probably one of the strongest representations of early 21st Century Music. It will go down in history as having shown the beginning of the Global Tribe sounds. It was recorded all over the world using different flavors but the now global language of hip-hop to bring it all together.
Bjork was at the end of a Century when different things were on our minds. It’s beautiful to say the least and excellently crafted but I think it’s maybe too esoteric to have had as large an impact as Kala but maybe that’ because it came along at the wrong time.
May 19th, 2010 at 7:23 am
Bjork.
Better music to fuck to.
*n
May 20th, 2010 at 5:18 am
Bjork…far more enjoyable and also light years ahead of MIA. Kala totally past me by compared to Arular. I’d still pick Vespertine ahead of Homogenic though.
August 23rd, 2010 at 10:15 pm
If they ever get rid of that timbaland-produced track at the end of Kala, i would choose Kala.
Both are very awesome though. One album features electronic beats and ambient icelandic strings, the other one finds its roots in electro-hiphop beats and srilanka ethnic music. And strangely both are london-based.