Why the hate for Sigur Ros?

a) boring, clueless people now listen to their music thanks to media coverage and inclusion on the soundtrack to some wretched tom cruise movie

b) they're pompous about how good they are despite the fact that agaetis byrjun is now almost three years old. releasing a live ep (although very good) and appearing on some other soundtrack with some boring icelandic guy that sounds like enya is not proof of genius.

c) okay, maybe the voice and the non-english thing gets a bit tiring after a while.

d) rock music (according to shite but inexplicably powerful) music journalists everywhere is now "stripped down, raw, and bluesy" -- not "completely overproduced prog". maybe if the sigur ros were to sound more like the strokes they'd enjoy continued relevance.

ugh, that's a scary thought.

But it is noodling. You must listen to Ram Narayan rendition of Raga Lalit. he plays the sarangi, an indian bowed instrument.

Across 72 minutes he produces these beautiful, slow drones whereas sigur ros produce noodling.

Comparing some indie band to an indian classical musician may not be wise but once you wrote the above, that's the first that came to my head.

'Use your own ears, and writing skills if you have them'

I didn't think the people at pitchfork had any writing skills. But this is the internet where amateurs like us can write what we like- and if you don't like it then that's your problem.

Fields of salmon- I just heard the music and thought 'this is shit' (just as the DJ said that their latest single was one of the tracks of the year).

This doesn’t justify hatred per se: but if, unlike me, you don’t even go for this sort of thing in the first place, I can sympathize with the inclination to be provacatively dismissive of it.

then again, maybe not ...

Sugar Walls do remind me of all those bands mentioned earlier to an extent. It's fluffypuff precious art-twaddle and of course there aren't any 'tunes'. So yes, I understand completely why someone wouldn't like their records just as I understand why someone wouldn't like the Cocteau Twins.

They don't exactly hit me with that level of familiarity Nitsuh speaks of. I would think that the familiarity issue would work to the detriment of a guitar-based indie pop band more than it would a band like Sugar Walls. (This is an extreme situation, but I was even more perplexed by someone who told me they didn't like the Pernice Brothers 'cause 'it had been done before' right before they went back to listening to Sloan.

Proof of sorts: Any band that sounded remotely like Joy Division shortly after the release of Unknown Pleasures was risking mockery. Now that all of those '80s bands that either emulated them or concurrently grew with them have long since vanished, it appears any band current band that incorporates something JD-like will be hailed for that quality. Off the top of my head, I can think of Low and Interpol (the Penguin).

That's all I'm saying re this.

Jamming= Group improvisation that should break a groove.

'I think they succeeded at the very specific goals they set for themselves on Agaetis Byrjun: record an album in which rich tones swell and swoon, over which Jonesi can issue his dolphin-mating cry'

It sounds like your listening to New age.

'but it's absolutely perfect for the moments when it's needed -- wearied by the workweek, feeling sick, snuggle up in your bed, turn off the lights, and feel like you're being lulled in the womb again'

ambient chill-out: so this is what the electric guitar is reduced to.

Because Sigur Ros are neither of those things. It's music to fall asleep to on long plane flights. I do not mean that in a complimentary way.

Hey, has Melissa W opened her mouth on this subject? I'm curious...

You're very very wrong there.

'Reduction of the electric guitar to useless whalesong appendage = long-overdue!'

Maybe for people who don't like what the electric guitar can do but that's not for me.

'Sigur Ros = still no interest to me, wonder why.'

Something we can agree on.

At least Jimmy Page knew it was just a schtick for onstage. Maybe he should tell that to Jonsi.

[/SARCASTIC}

new album out this year for all you fans of good music

I can actually imagine him saying all of the stuff on this thread with a broad un-malicious smile, though!

when did roger turn into Geir?

to the first two, yes, they are not songs nor were they ever meant to be, you couldnt play them on an acoustic guitar, yr right. Jerusalem however is a very great song indeed - whether you can play it well on the piano (and i'm sure you could) does not affect that.

Song A song, in classical music, is a short and self-contained piece for one or more voices; it can be accompanied or not, and either sacred or secular in nature. In popular music, however, just about any musical composition (vocal or instrumental) is called a song.

I'm a big fan. Loved them the first time I heard them, just before ágætis byrjun came out, ( ) is one of my 5 favouritest albums ever, Takk took a while to grow on me but I now totally get it.

I saw the screening + acoustic set they did in Ghent of the DVD they've got coming out next week, it's stunningly breathtaking ( trailer here: http://www.heimafilm.com ), the Hvarf/Heim reworkings are superb ( listen here: http://www.myspace.com/sigurros ) - more info about Heima/Hvarf/Heim here: http://sigur-ros.co.uk/band/disco/heima.php

I understand the hate, on paper/in theory I should hate them too, I shouldn't like anything about them, but it just works and I love them.

ok, start hating again, everyone :-(

I don't hate them. When anyone asks me to name some of my favourite artists, I always (always!) forget about Sigur Rós, but usually when I'm alone and in a certain pensive mood for which even Radiohead are too upbeat (ha!) and Joy Division are too heavy-dark, I'll rediscover something like "Starálfur" or "Olsen Olsen" or "Njósnavélin" or "Glósóli" etc., and be half-pleasantly, half-unsettlingly transported again into a half-world of ambient orchestral underground caverns in which the very twisted columns are built from crystalline sugar -- granted, haha -- but which also deflect, reflect and echo some kind of ebbing, flowing hesitant/grandiose beauty.

So yeah, at times, I really do like and even love Sigur Rós, recognising the "pretentious noodling" tag as being really very ridiculous indeed. I.e./ they're not noodling at all and who the fuck cares about pretentious?

I suppose I should also say I've been a long-time Yes and Cocteau Twins fan (respectively, from Close To The Edge and Garlands onward, really) so much so that so-called whale music has never been alien to me. It's a definite prog streak that, if you're not onboard with it, precludes you from loving the Icelandic chamber music (cosmic inflation-collapse) Sigur Rós specialise in. They're hit and miss in terms of timing and pacing and all that subjective shite, though. F'rinstance right now I'm listening to a song by them called "Flugufrelsarinn" and it's taken waaa-aaa-aay too long to reach the sublime payoff before dissipating waaa-aaa-ay too quickly. Although undoubtedly painfully gorgeous while it lasted.

Why the hate people?
-- Gregg, Monday, March 11, 2002 7:00 PM (5 years ago) Bookmark Link

Because it's ambient noodling for fuck's sake. Use your ears.
-- Julio desouza, Monday, March 11, 2002 7:00 PM (5 years ago) Bookmark Link

One of my favorite immediate answers to an ILM thread, ever ^^^

As for the band -- wouldn't say I'm a fan, don't own anything they've done, don't love em or hate em. Sigur Ros is just one of those indie institutions (so to speak) that is perpetually overrated by the kids who haven't found artists who have done/are doing what Sigur Ros is doing, but infinitely better.

Yeah, this is a critical and undervoiced position: Agaetis Byrjun versus "Blue Skied and Clear." I'm really not one for the whole "someone did that ten years ago so it's not good now" arguments, but I suspect that on some level this is why Sigur Ros strike me as good but inessential.
-- [ban me], Monday, March 11, 2002 7:00 PM (5 years ago) Bookmark Link

[ban me] OTM, as usual, waaaaaay upthread.

(Going back to that "is there any good music writing left?" thread: Is [ban me] currently writing for anyone? Last saw a Pfork review by him at least a year ago, can't recall much else. Love his writing though, and generally agree with his tastes.)

(...why was N*tsuh changed to [ban me]??)

lets cyberfuck

tl;dr

Sigur Ros may be the only act on the ILM hate list that does not write traditional verse-chorus-based songs.

their albums can be kind of dull but they were amazing live a few years back, i was shocked. i think they work much better in a live setting, surprisingly.

I don't know how I feel about them, but I will say that they've never really sounded at all like anything anyone on ILM has compared them to. Their layers of vocals that distort as they grow louder really don't sound anything like the Cocteau Twins or any shoe-gazing band. Like it or hate it, it's definitely its own thing.

Agaetis Byrjun was pretty good, I thought, but ( ) was better. I also thought they were pretty amazing live when I saw them maybe 4 years ago. Heard bits and pieces of Takk but it never really stuck.

I think the hate towards them often just amounts to kind of silly, knee-jerk reactions - "fuckin new age innit?!?" "fuckin ambient prog noodling" bla bla, come on guys. There is plenty of great stuff that could be saddled with the new age or prog labels, and shouting those labels was/is never a good substitute for decent criticism. That said I suppose the hate is just backlash towards the hyperbolic praise given to them from the indie press, and now I guess from the NPR crowd.

But decent enough ambient/post-rock band, even if there are a few songs that sound a little syrupy.

Pulled from the Stylus archives today, in the Bluffer's Guide to Stylus retrospective:

Haiku Marathon 2005 (Stylus Staff)
Sigur Ros
Just one step away
From being Enya, you daft
Secret hippy scum!

M83 are similar in some ways (large swelling orchestral cosmic ambience). I don't listen to NPR so maybe I've missed the backlash urge. (I'm not American.)

But, regardless, they sometimes hit heights of beauty that cause me to lose control of my entire skin. Which, for the most part, means they are a lot better than the ILM massive has traditionally given them credit for -- there was one poster who always, always posted on Sigur Rós threads and completely took the fucking piss out of them to the extent that any casual observer would think they were utterly dismissed here, which was not altogether fair.

(i.e. Search "Sigur Rós" and you'll see one name crop up consistently... in a negative way, obv.)

my boss listening to these guys on high volume this morning. i don't liek!

Caught their BBC Electric Proms performance the other night; seem to remember enjoying the record on first few listens, but live they seemed to expose the song for what it really was; i.e. no real backbone, in other words, what [ban me] mentioned at the start of the thread.

it sounds like new age crap. is that waht they were going for?

Ok then, but don't let their music put you off from viewing Heima, the views of Iceland are breathtaking (and it may add something to the music as well).

http://gigwise.com/contents.asp?contentid=36563

Oh come on. I'm a big fan, but this is WAY over the top, anonymous (why?) writer:

"To make all this a bit more concise: Sigur Rós are arguably the best music band in the world today."

http://www.ireland.com/theticket/articles/2007/1026/1193293628660.html

Well sure, they might be the best music band, but that's only one of like how many kinds of bands?

There's a trailer I keep seeing at the moment for a BBC4 documentary about photography, which uses a track I'm sure must be by Sigur Ros because it's got those eeeeeeoooooooooooooeeeeeeeee vocals. But it's loud, and quite fast, and I like it. Can anyone ID it?

Rubber? Don't think they're the most elastic. (xpost)

Is it online somewhere, Jim? Can't get 4 over here :-(

sigur ros now seem to exist solely for the purposes of providing music for bbc documentaries

so? even if it were true.

Can't find it online I'm afraid. The show is called "The Genius of Photography".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ajm-m2jPgc4

Hmm. I would be very surprised if it wasn't them, but I don't recognise the track. And I thought I had everything :-/

Duh. It's the final bit of Svo Hljótt, from "Takk..." (2005)

Hmm. Remix perhaps? Or something from here?

http://www.hvarf-heim.com/

oh, xpost. ace! Thanks. :)

so? even if it were true.

so nothing. just making an observation, wasn't a comment on their music.

phew. :-)

Post-release blues? (taking a break, may quit or not, don't know yet)

http://www.vanityfair.de/articles/kultur/sigur-rA-s/2007/10/31/04288/
(in German)

No link to this more than embarrassing NPR interview yet? It confirmed all the prejudices I ever had about them and their music. If it was a joke it wasn't very funny. They seem to be even more serious/sad than their music.

I don't see how remaining obtuse and quiet in a boring interview in a language that isn't your native tongue confirms more about their music than it does about your "prejudices." I think it's hilarious.

They're able to create a unique aesthetic with conventional instrumentation, and they usually have great melodies. It's just easy to take shots at them because they're not screaming like idiots over badly played punk guitars and sixteenth note hi-hat rhythms.

boy you sure just zinged all of ILM

ban everyone except plastic tipped cigar.

Sorry, I was just being pretentious enough to further allow people to judge them on anything but their music. They're readily emotional and some of their songs would kind of sound at home in an AT&T commercial, so naturally a certain crowd of people have a knee-jerk response towards them (for instance, the Enya comparison is off base to anyone with ears). Obviously, my namesake confirms that I also enjoy people screaming like idiots over badly played guitars.

ban everyone except plastic tipped cigar.

-- StanM, Thursday, November 1, 2007 9:30 PM (33 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

^^
Except for one condition: leave Geir Hongro unbanned. Then we'll have the ultimate ILM cockfite!

They do put on a great live show. More than once I have seen people cry at their gigs.

I like Ágætis byrjun, ( ), and Takk... and I don't really see much of a quality difference between them. Also, I don't find them all that on the fringe probably because it is very pretty music and no matter what other whack stuff is happening -bow strummed guitary, made up words, etc, everyone can connect to very pretty music.

Zactly.

More than once I have seen people cry at their gigs.

Dude I've seen people cry at a Blink-182 gig. So what?

And I have seen people cry at New Kids On The Block gigs. On TV anyway. ;)

Nice recovery.

Anyone see Heima yet? It's just glorious.

:-(

Won't bother anyone with the new album info then, sigh ("you sigh" ;-) )

oh, come on...new single is fuckin' great. sounds like a mixture of animal collective and peter gabriel. the video is full of naked people running in a forest. and the album is produced by flood. how can anyone not be excited about this?

seems like all ilm wants nowadays is a dfa beat to shake their asses to.

tell me about this new album, these dudes are all right.

this new song is the first i've ever heard by them and it's incredible

More info on the new album at http://sigurros.com/fifth-album.asp and free download of the first track at http://sigurros.com/dvd3.asp

Also, there's an album special at the http://www.sigur-ros.co.uk with more to come.

more flood, less sigur ros

I loved Agaetis Byjrun (sic) when it came out; quickly getting into Cocteau Twins and Talk Talk made it seem a lot less impressive. The {} album left me a big 'meh', but I quite liked Takk initially. Any antipathy from me towards them probably comes from seeing them live in 2000 or maybe early 2001 at Shepherd's Bush Empire; they played mainly from a soundtrack thing they'd done, and I just wasn't feeling it. We left halfway, wet to Walkabout, and watched Aussies bottle fight. Plus the ubiquity of that tune on BBC nature documentary trailers has left it slightly over familiar.

Or; I thought Vidrar Vel Til Loftarosa was AMAZING until I heard Bloodrush by Bark Psychosis and realised that the EXACT SAME SONG with the EXACT SAME BASS SOUND THAT I LOVED had been done 8 or 9 years prior.

I don't mind the influences as long as the end result works, and to me, it does. Don't like that Odin's Raven Magic thing you saw either, so fair enough.

Oh, and I don't like Agaetis Byrjun that much anymore, my favourite by far is ( )

It's not that I mind the influences - I love them - I just... it's not Sigur Ros's fault, but so many people I know were full of praise for their originality and otherworldliness, and then you realise... not original at all, and go back to source and stay there. It's the music snob way!

I think the brevity of their acoustic performances in Heima is what got me back into them after feeling a little battered by the BBC or whoever's overuse of those songs from Takk.

The new song might as well BE Animal Collective. The only problem is that Animal Collective sucks balls now and Sigur Ros is ripping off their newer stuff.

I'm excited for the new album if only because, based on this track, it's gonna be different. I loved AB when it came out and have loyally purchased everything else (well, not Heima), but the epic/ambient thing was getting pretty damn tired by Takk. It sounds like they are trying to reinvent themselves with this new track, which they sorely need to do.

more flood, less sigur ros

This ^^^

Hmmm Nick, I find that surprising. Cocteau Twins and Talk Talk aside, can't you appreciate the fact that Agaetis Byrjun *sounds* excellent? And I mean, really sounds incredible. To me it's skill lies in its use of space, not so much that they use it all that well, but they certainly give off the illusion that they're recording in outer space, or the bottom of the ocean, or some other far-fetched geographic or universal location. Isn't that why there's some weird alien-angel fetus on the cover? Isn't that part of its mystery?

Also, I remember hearing lots of Radiohead comparisons, and they sound nothing like Radiohead.

Nick, Agaetis Byrjun would be pretty excellent on those chest-high speakers you got. Loud. In the dark. With the drugs.

Sigur Ros + drugs of any sort = laughable

People snarkily making jokes about taking drugs to music = predictable.

Why would you assume I was making a joke at all? Much less a snarky one? I like the band, ok, they're often lovely, and yes, I do indeed believe, in all sincerity, that mild to mid-grade hallucinogens would perfectly suit a dedicated listening.

Not that I have tried it. I'm more of an uppers/free-jazz guy lately.

I know, people altering their consciousness and listening to music, GAWD it's so passe.

wasn't directed at you, kenan.

Oh.

super earnest grocery store music for the future. no edge whatsoever. horrible music to take drugs to i'd think. maybe wine and vico would work. something about icelandic artists i hate.

horrible music to take drugs to i'd think.

this is OTM; i wasn't talking about taking drugs to music in general, as talrose suggests, just that Sigur Ros in particular are not at all suited for this. (and i think talrose knows this, he's just being snooty)

I didn't. But I appreciate the rebuttal.

maybe wine and vico would work.

Nah, "Future Days" is my go-to wine and vico album. Slot's been taken. :)

excellent choice. mine is Biosphere's Dropsonde.

did sigur ros become the standard bbc documentary soundtrack band before or after "the life aquatic"?

i thought Staralfur fit that one scene perfectly. you could almost believe it was a real shark.

Hmmm Nick, I find that surprising. Cocteau Twins and Talk Talk aside, can't you appreciate the fact that Agaetis Byrjun *sounds* excellent? And I mean, really sounds incredible. To me it's skill lies in its use of space, not so much that they use it all that well, but they certainly give off the illusion that they're recording in outer space, or the bottom of the ocean, or some other far-fetched geographic or universal location. Isn't that why there's some weird alien-angel fetus on the cover? Isn't that part of its mystery?

I'll have to go back to it. Thing is, I only ever liked three tunes - the single, it's b-side (Vidrar Vel Til Loftarosa, as mentioned) and Olsen Olsen, all of which (Olsen Olsen in particular) I remember sounding awesome. I've not listened to it in years, though. I'll try and revisit this weekend.

I've barely touched any drugs whatsoever in 8 years.

Vi&rar Vel Til Loftirasa is by FAR my favourite Sigur Ros song. This thread in fact inspired me to make it my first post-exam-laptop-retrieval spin. Most of their other efforts don't cut it in comparison.

xpost Olsen Olsen is a fine song indeed, particularly the lovely version on the film, with the strings and brass band going at it full tilt.

Man, not that I'm especially keen on thread derailments but a Cardiacs handle? Colour me impressed.

Olsen Olsen is good, definitely my second-fave on the album (although behind a couple of () tracks in the great holistic ranking). The riff is just a tad simple for my tastes, if anything.

Well thats kind of been the Sigur Ros template, cycle around two or three nice sounding major or minor 7th chords for 8 mins with maybe a 'chorus' change of chord/pace/texture and hey presto...

I know that's a little harsh but it did occur an awful lot.

30-second clips

"vidrar vel til loftarosa" (assuming that this is the song i think it is: exquisite piano-led melody, about halfway through the second-album-that-everyone-thinks is the first album, yeh?) was pretty much "our song" back in 2000 :)

i'm really not entirely sure about the new single. it is borderline fucking irritating. mrs fiendish is somewhat more damning about it.

clip @ abbey road with the orchestra

http://dot.sigurros.com/widget/ (click the film camera and then the first link - watch out, if you remain at http://dot.sigurros.com/widget/ without clicking anything the video is NSFW - nudity)

Sigur Ros=Icelandic Clannad

this ^^

nope, still a fan. can't hear you. lalalalala! ;-)

4 preorder options @ http://sigurros.com

Anyone see Heima yet? It's just glorious.

I don't think anyone ever answered StanM's question. Personally, Heima might well be my favourite music-related DVD that I own, or have ever seen; I just keep returning to it. I like Sigur Rós while sort of understanding a lot of the criticism, but I absolutely love this thing. There's a visceral feel to it, like you can feel the warmth in the heart of a cold country or something. It's lovely.

what's the deluxe edition look like/come with?
if it's just a bigger pictures of some man ass, i don't think i want it.

they are probably not worthy of anyone's hate, but they are certainly over praised. even the much heralded live show, which is still about a thousand times better than how the band sounds on disc, was cripplingly laboured and dull for me. i was probably meant to get enthused about the vague little aesthetic flourishes on stage, but for me they didn't contribute much to the sound and dynamic of the band, which while polished, left me rather on the nonplussed side.

xpost: deluxe Heima only contains an extra picture book, disc content is exactly the same. Nice, but very much fan-only, to be honest.

dOES extra picture book COME WITH DFA BEAT?

lol

album stream

just bought new cd.
listening now.
sounds great.
no dfa beats.

I'm really liking this one so far. The Animal Collective bite on "Gobbledigook" is great, as is the really upbeat second track. Track 7 is my favorite of the bunch I think.

Revived this specifically to mention how much the new single is a flagrant Animal Collective rip. Because I just saw the video for it, which features lots of hot totally naked hipsters running through the forest (it looks like a specific Vice photoshoot I once mocked while ogling desperately).

I never had much interest in this band, but I loved the tune and the video!

Was just watching Heima on Pitchfork.tv - I used to play Agaetis Byrjun quite often back in the day. Everything they released afterwards made me fall out of love with the band and that album. I never realized how limited their sound palette and ideas are until I heard the rest of their catalogue. They do make a really strong impression on people not accostumed to slowcore tho.

I pick Svefn-G-Englar and throw away the rest.

Oh yes, that said, Heima is actually worth watching, if only for the very pleasant cinematography.

I love Heima, think its one of the best (and certainly most beautiful) music films I've seen.

nope, still a fan. can't hear you. lalalalala! ;-)

My favorite Sigur Ros songs are "Glosoli" and "Untitled #8."

I mostly agree, Moka. I think each subsequent album has one song that is pretty outstanding, in the sense that if you'd never heard them before it would bowl you over. (None more so than S-G-E though). But, yeah, the bigger the discography gets the less essential the band seems to become. Boy did I think they were the next big step back in 99-00, though.

Boy did I think they were the next big step back in 99-00, though.

I thought this as well very briefly back then, until I realised that "Svefn-g-englar" was precious, plodding, self-regarding twaddle. Nothing I've heard since has diminished my view that this seems to be their prevailing aesthetic.

i'll admit to really loving their latest album

They didn't really enter my listening sphere until Takk came out, ad so I find it impossible to dislike that album (not even that I'd like to). I love agaetis byrjun and (_), and can recognise their greatness, but preference just lies with Takk.

Songs like Glosoli, Andvari, heysatan, and of course the Takk singles, just can't be beat.

The most recent album hasn't struck me in the way any of the others have, yet at least.

Thoughts on the kompakt remixes?

i will always rep for these guys--maybe one of the best 10-15 shows i've seen.

The newest album is great, best thing they've done since SGE. Love pretty much all of it, except that very obvious Animal Collective "homage".

I thought this as well very briefly back then, until I realised that "Svefn-g-englar" was precious, plodding, self-regarding twaddle.

Someone's been reading my mind...

I still haven't heard the last album, though will probably check it out at some point. Takk was the album that, when I first got it, finally made me think I was done with these guys. That said, I listened to it a couple of months ago and it was better than I remember. I can see how if that was your first experience it would be your favorite. That might be true of all their albums.

And, yes - excellent live show. Saw them about... wow, maybe seven or eight years ago? I still remember the show, though.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/67/Jonsi-go-cover.jpg

Go is the upcoming debut studio album by Icelandic musician Jónsi, frontman of the band Sigur Rós. The album is expected to be released on the week starting on April 5, 2010, through XL Recordings.

According to a late May 26, 2009 post on Sigur Rós official site, the album will feature predominantly acoustic music and string arrangements from composer Nico Muhly. The album was co-produced by Alex Somers, Peter Katis and Jónsi himself, during summer 2009, in Reykjavík and Connecticut. A worldwide tour across the US and Europe is also to take place upon the album's release from April-May 2010, featuring Jónsi performing songs from the album and a "unique, cinematic" performance stage designed by 59 Productions.

Track listing:

"Go Do" – 4:40
"Animal Arithmetic" – 3:23
"Tornado" – 4:15
"Boy Lilikoi" – 4:27
"Sinking Friendships" – 4:42
"Kolniður" – 3:53
"Around Us" – 5:16
"Grow Till Tall" – 5:17
"Hengilás" – 4:14

Okay I'm bailing out here

was Riceboy Sleeps worth a shit?

Depends, how many friends do you have who get snippy about Ziggy Ross?

Heard a song on Scott Mills last night called something like Hoppy Polar by Ziggy Ross?

i passed on Riceboy Sleeps, but i really like Sigur Ros, so i should check that and this out

Oh beautiful. There's a charty house cover of hoppipolla by the Bryan Adams dudes or somebody? It's pretty fucking nice if you're twotted in a pub and you suddenly get all "WTF can I hear ziggy ross or sump'n???" kind of perspextive.

It's on the last Now Music album but 1 I think. There's something instructive about how it bangs but doesn't satisfy like the orig. Foreplay's all well and good but y'know etc etc

lol at julio "improv" desouza's first post

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/67/Jonsi-go-cover.jpg http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_lEeR2OMliho/SXoFezick_I/AAAAAAAACso/eSmw0h248N0/s400/joaquin_gladiator.jpg

'go' sounds like what i fantasize a sigur ros album produced by owl city would be

uh is "fantasize" really the word you wanted to use there

the world where a collaboration like that could happen might be more interesting

That world would be called the Sixth Circle of Hell.

the Jonsi album is great!

Yes, it is, and so is everything by Sigur Rós, but ILM hates them, for the most part. :-(

i mean, this song (for example) felt like it actually reawakened some arcane variety of joy in me, which sounds way dumb i know, but is sincere.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBgPmw3JCN4

Being a fan I always check this thread when it comes back around and the first three exchanges never fail to bring the lols.

Apparently, their whole catalog is a hoax and is just Justin Bieber songs slowed down or something. :-(((

glad to be entertaining if not insightful. maybe is why i stopped posting here.

i think he meant the first three threads of this whole thread.

Kim you either sink or swim as they say. just talk about stuff you like and ILM will amaze you with its info and fandom.

threads posts

Well I for one miss ya, Kimmo.

band needs to put out a new record imo

Yes, markers, many bands do. Not this band, though.

RIP

I did mean the very first three posts of this thead fwiw. :(

I can't really express why, but this band had the quickest trajectory from "OMG they are AMAZING" to "GTFO of my face" for me. If they'd been a one-hit wonder that came up with Itchy Woo and then disappeared back to whatever Icelandic fairytale they emerged out of, they would be secure in "all time favourites" category but they just kind of hung around and outstayed their welcome and then became an irritant. Kind of like the first time you hear them do THAT THING it's the most astonishing trick ever, but it's like marzipan, it tastes great in small doses but any more than that and you feel completely sick.

bands like this kind of make me envious of their fans

I mean, the fans LOVE these guys a lot and get rapturous joy from them. I would love to get that type of delirious joy from them; instead, I get aggravated that I find the actual music super annoying, which is then magnified by the feeling that I'm missing out on something and if I just looked at it like this I would get it and be just as mind blown as their fanbase, which prompts me to listen to way too much of something I really don't care for before giving up in frustration and proclaiming them the worst fucking thing ever.

I don't feel this way about every band I dislike (brokenCYDE, for example, could jump into a bonfire and it would be zero skin off of my nose) but Sigur Ros is a band that, on paper, I should really really dig, so it's frustrating when I don't and I don't have a concrete reason for it. (Well actually I do, I really hate the singer like to unreasonable levels, but it's not like he's super idiosyncratic or the worst singer in the world or anything like that.)

That's the thing. That I hate bands which I should by all rights like, but just leave me cold, way more than I hate bands in which I am completely uninterested and uninvested. It's almost more of an insult to do something I'm generally in favour of badly, or in a way that misses the mark, than it is to do something I would not otherwise like at all.

Mind you, I haven't listened to a Sigur Ros album since {} so I'm going to go on Spotify now and work out if I still hate them, or just hate the idea of them.

For me it's fairly simple — their chord changes are boring and predictable, Jónsi's voice is irritatingly twee and their songs go on for far too long without any development. (I'm a former fan, fwiw)

I am now listening to the one with the naked butts on it. And timing how long it takes me to get cross, give up and go back to Altern8.

We're really living in strange times. Who could've imagined Justin Bieber could trigger a Sigur Rós revival?

Two and a half songs and I've started skipping. This doesn't even sound like Sigur Ros, it just sounds like generic indie. I'm gonna try another album because this doesn't even sound like what I started hating Sigur Ros for, it just sounds like Keane run through Babelfish.

I'm still down with Agaetis Byrjun and a few other select tracks. But I've no desire to hear new Sigur Ros.

the record with the naked butts is bad

but i'll def ride for agaetis, (), like half of takk, and that weird double ep they released

I was tempted by naked Nordic butt, alright?

Takk is sound more Sigur Ros-y but I think I have just completely burned out on this kind of music, possibly forever. I just reached saturation point with that sweeping-post-rock-soundscape stuff through overexposure and can no longer put any more in my ear holes.

Also, enough with the plinky plonky glockenspiel noises, argh.

Ok, halfway through Glosoli they actually turned into Sigur Ros again and I actually quite like it.

Now if I could find a way to play this with Altern8 beats underneath, *that* would be the best thing in the history of the world forever.

if you make half of takk all of takk, cad more or less otm

Mares -- ohhhhhkay, duh! just my own paranoia about sounding naive. haven't talked much about music in a while.

am ten years familiar with ILM, Bee. it has sometimes amazed me, yes. :)

(miss you too stinku!)

That album cover is totally frightening, it's like something you'd expect from Billy Corgan. I think I'm over it now and I'm ready to give this album a chance. Thanks for the thread revival Kim!

I really really really don't understand people who were floored by "Agetis Byrjun" and then claimed to have stopped listening to Sigur Ros because they got boring. "Agetis Byrjun" is by far their most boring, least focused, most meandering album.

^ OTFM

you might have a harder time getting over it then Barry because it's not just the album cover. Jonsi seems to be into this whole woodsy birdman sprite "look" (check out some live performances and the vid for Go Do). it's like he's channeling the spirit of Jon Anderson circa Brother of Mine or Gowan's Strange Animal phase. yet, still i like it.

agaetis byrjun contains their only truly brilliant song though (Nice Weather For Airstrikes)

I'm sorry, I can't do any more than 20 minutes, I'm back to Full On Mask Hysteria on Spotify.

Somewhere, my dirty dronerock past is weeping into its oscillator banks.

Gowan's Strange Animal phase

I was cringing and having serious second thoughts until I read this, now I'm stoked to hear it again!

The acoustic song on the last Sigur Ros album was easily the worst thing on the record though.

http://www.sigur-ros.co.uk/?utm_source=sr1108&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=inni

http://prettymuchamazing.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/SIGUR-ROS-INNI.jpg

Icelandic post-rock pioneers Sigur Rós are releasing a concert film and double live album called Inni soon, and you can download a piece of the magic even if you don’t want to drop $79 on a deluxe package that includes a piece of band member clothing (for real!).

I would be interested in a Lou Reed/Sigur Ros collab as long as Lou's the only one allowed to sing

ok but Reed has to sing in hopelandish.

I went to see the concert film at the cinema on Friday night and, though I don't pay much attention to Sigur Ros these days, I loved the film.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/af/Sigur_Ros_-_Valtari.jpg

Valtari (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈval̥tarɪ], Steamroller) is the sixth full-length studio album by the Icelandic band Sigur Rós, to be released on May 28, 2012.

Track listing:
1. "Ég Anda" 6:15
2. "Ekki Múkk

" 7:45
3. "Varúð

" 6:37
4. "Rembihnútur" 5:05
5. "Dauðalogn" 6:37
6. "Varðeldur" 6:08
7. "Valtari" 8:19
8. "Fjögur Píanó"

single is a bit long:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INWZy3-Vw80

so i like this song alright, it is just too long for a single and really go nowhere. i have hopes for the album however.

Man, haters (or anybody left that's interested enough) are going to have a field day.
The entire record sounds like the keyboard players dog died so he listened to Arvo Pärt for a week straight then wrote the album while the rest of the band were on holiday.

Who's that rapper on track 4 ?

Really looking forward to this.

Ding dong.

http://www.vulture.com/2012/06/shia-labeouf-naked-sigur-ros-video-fjogur-piano.html

Link SFW -- the video in it isn't.

Between this and working w Nick Cave, Shia Labeouf's "arty" period is going to be amazing.

You dislike this video. Thanks for the feedback!

jesus christ man is this like.. how did we even... like fuckin 500 years ago people were making beautiful art/... fuckin leonardo da vinci was doing amazing things... and now some lesbian in a jumpsuit is doing slow motion footage of naked sam witwicky murdering a babe while the sound of a slow motion plane crash goes on

I'm not sure what's worse; his penis, his ponytail, or his sad eyes.

^^^ a sentence I never expected to read

Popped up on blog view, mistook it for the cheesecake thread and was about to complain "why are you being so MEAN about Thom Yorke?"

Um never mind then.

I like that this thread now has a definitive answer to the question posed.

haha I was thinking that too

Why the hate for Sigor Ros? Shia Labeouf's ponytailed penis.

just saw shia's la boeuf ... God, these Icelandic motherfuckers DEFY parody,

Alack:

"Sigur Rós would like to apologise to anyone disappointed not to see the band's Bestival performance live online last night. Early in the day a decision had been made to delay broadcast till after the show to give the band a chance to review the footage ahead of webcast, since they were dismayed that their guaranteed 'darkness' slot had been pushed into daylight by the expansive demands of the headliner.

"The band's only UK show of the year, this would-be highlight of the 2012 calendar, would have to be conducted without proper lights or visuals. Sadly then, a perfect storm of production issues and technical problems conspired to mean that the band went on to have a thoroughly miserable experience onstage too. And to spare everyone’s blushes a decision was made to draw a discrete veil over proceedings."

All of which is their way of saying "We wish we didn't have to have photos like this taken of us in broad daylight oh god please delete":

http://static.nme.com/images/gallery/2012BestivalSigurRosDB100912.jpg

they lost a member and got heavier and i find myself liking the new song, which would make it the first thing i've enjoyed from them in ages

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc6zXSdYXm8

here's the artwork for the new album, kveikur

http://pitchfork-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/content/kveikur.jpg

Got a friend's ticket to their show at MSG last night, a more muscular performance than expected. Between that and this single, genuinely looking forward to this album.

They played the title track on Jimmy Fallon the other night and it's pretty intense, too.

New album out today.

Have the vinyl on reserve for pick up on Wednesday. Oh yes, it will be a good day.

album is great

Not really doing it for me.

it's a neat album, but i think valtari was a bit better.

i liked the riceboysleepiness of valtari.

the opening track on this one kind of announces itself and then ... the album goes nowhere.

Loved Valtari .. but the Valtari Film Experiment did nothing for me whatsoever - actually, it was at risk of making Valtari slightly less good.

Surprised to hear Sigur Ros in a cream cheese advert ...

Having completed a Gus Gus best of, now making a CDR80 of Sigur Ros.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMbv3Lm8BCQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qVtQItpmUg

^ Just found while pottering on the internet. Surprised I hadn't heard before.

http://fieldrecording.net/2014/08/06/sound-jokulsarlon-1/

Still my favourite initial exchange of any thread, anyways, much expanded ágætis byrjun coming soon -

"announcing the expanded limited edition boxset of ágætis byrjun

to mark its 16th birthday, a definitive, much expanded edition of ágætis byrjun is in the works for early summer. the deluxe boxset edition will feature previously unheard studio recordings and rare live versions from this pivotal period in the band's development, as well as a welter of photographic and documentary material from their personal archives and plenty more besides. it will be a beautiful thing to behold, and the last word in completist editions of sigur rós catalogue releases.

while we are still finalising design and content - and will share with you as soon as it's fixed - we wanted you to know about this now [as well as other expanded editions of von and ( )], since the band's first three albums have all just become available on re-mastered, heavyweight vinyl for the first time in ages. go either look for the vinyl reissues now, or hang on for something grander still."

wax cylinder?

man, i remember when sigur ros were (in my mind) the most exciting band in the world. i had to order the ny batteri EP from my local indie and i devoured ágætis byrjun when it came out. but never has my interest in a band waned so quickly than after that. but those records were GOOD and I could be tempted to return to them. Think I still have Ny Batteri and ágætis byrjun in their OG cardboard sleeves. Wonder if they're worth anything at all.

This remains my favourite thing they ever did. Verges on black metal:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTGLiV6QwZA

man, i remember when sigur ros were (in my mind) the most exciting band in the world. i had to order the ny batteri EP from my local indie and i devoured ágætis byrjun when it came out. but never has my interest in a band waned so quickly than after that. but those records were GOOD and I could be tempted to return to them. Think I still have Ny Batteri and ágætis byrjun in their OG cardboard sleeves. Wonder if they're worth anything at all.

I loved Ágætis byrjun too. I revisited it recently and still enjoyed it. (), however, is boring in 2015.

yeah everything they did afterwards sounded very boring indeed. tv ident music. or am i just saying that because a tv station in the UK did use one of their songs as an ident? i liked SR when they hinted at folky grimness, but they decided to go down a more ambient/Radiohead-lite path I wasn't mad keen on. 2000 felt like post-rock was going to be the saviour of music music but so few bands managed to follow up on their promises.

Agetis Byrjun is easily their worst album.

( ) has my fave bits on it.

I had the same experience. Absolutely blown away by the Sven-g-Englar and Ny Batteri singles, and I loved the album. I thought it was a refreshing take on the quiet/loud dynamic that Mogwai and Godspeed were doing--it was just more sensuous and less didactic. My love of that record kept me on board for ( ) and Takk, though I never really connected beyond a couple of tracks on that latter album. I never bought another album after that though I paid attention to singles.

Now I'm totally uninterested in new stuff and the idea of going back to those earlier albums feels like a chore, aside from some nostalgia for Sven-g-Englar.

remember REALLY liking (). i still have it but haven't felt a desire to hear it in years. i jumped off the bus after that though.

Absolutely loved Agetis Bryjun and ( ), was pretty meh on Takk, really enjoyed Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust, and haven't been too big either way on the ones since.

Ny Batteri and Sven-G-Englar are possibly my two favorite songs by them. I lost track after Takk.... they're kind of a one-trick pony, no? Whichever album you heard first might be your favorite by them, they seem exchangeable. They make a good first impression but as soon as you get to a second album it feels like more of the same. A friend describes them as the AC/DC of post-rock.

the last album was really good and intense and kinda post-hardcorey in a way. haven't really listened to it since it came out though

Some of you that faded away with Takk should really give Með suð... a go, it really is quite an outlier from the rest of their discography. It's pretty lacking in post-rock, the songs are more traditionally formed and have a lot of folk and almost jazz influenced bits. A couple of the songs remind me of Animal Collective too. It doesn't all work, but it worked for me as a way to get interested in them again, since they weren't chasing down the same formula.

Of their relatively recent releases, I love this track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DnPtTzUb9s

I really liked Med Sus i Eyrum... and the first Jonsi solo album even more. Lost track after that. I've always liked them most when they played a sort of twisted popmusic. My favorite song on Agætis is Staralfur.

Mind you, I still find it odd to hear them sound-tracking Philadelphia Cream Cheese and (I think, Jonsi solo) HSBC adverts.

i'm listening to agaetis for the first time in about 10 years and maybe i'm falling in love with these guys all over again. might be ready for a 1999 revival round my way soon.

philadelphia is a quality cream cheese

I'm not disputing that, Jón.

Because it's ambient noodling for fuck's sake. Use your ears.

Ágætis byrjun

live at íslenska óperan 1999

at 21.00 gmt friday, to mark the 16th birthday of their second album, ágætis byrjun, sigur rós will be streaming the release day concert played at the icelandic opera house on june 12, 1999. unless you were there, this 1hr 40min never before heard concert, will be streamed through once in its entirety. exclusively via agaetis.sigur-ros.co.uk, at 21.00 Icelandic time (14.00 pst / 17.00 est / 22.00 bst / 23.00 cet / 06.00 jst), the same time as the original reykjavík show all those years ago.

missed it, but it's going to be in the box set anyway

I'm liking this Circe thing a lot more than anything that's come out from them since 2008.

Circe = Sígur Rós members Georg Holm, Orri Páll Dýrason & Kjartan Holm with Hilmar örn Hilmarsson, instrumental soundtrack for an upcoming (2016?) BBC documentary film about vaudeville, circus acts etc with loads of old footage

docu will be called "The Show Of Shows" btw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFfyt6Hdmnk.

Weird. Bought it having played that ... but now it is doing absolutely nothing for me.

I finally got around to buying Kveikur. It's got some good songs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pU3TYFSNybg

http://www.dooloop.tv/iframe/embed/?vid=4323187&as=0&ivw=specials/extern_as&

^^ 24 hour slow TV thing.

^ Curious new video.

3 nights in LA with an orchestra etc, April 2017

http://www.laphil.com/tickets/reykjavik-festival

I still like some of the early stuff but I still cant believe how badly the third album drops in the last three tracks. How unvarying the vocals are in them, it sounds like slight variations of the same sounds. Keep hearing "You sigh alone, you sign on a lot, you siphon a load".

tbf those lyrics would be an awesome encapsulation of millennial anomie

Definitely sums up my issues with () quite well!! Felt very lazy

Disagree.

The words were never meant to be anything other than another instrument on that album.

Far and away their best work.

I knew the vocals were not proper words, the problem is those last three tracks and much of Takk isn't creative enough with the vocals to carry off this approach.

Less like Liz Fraser and Magma and more like When Dinosurs Ruled The Earth ("akita!") and Team America ("durka durka"). Although Fraser and Magma used made up words rather than sounds, or maybe a mixture?

This isn't a problem in the earlier Sigur Ros stuff, so it's more frustrating.

first album and eps all great. lost interest after that

First album is seriously great. Remember I was in a stage production of Little shop of Horrors and hearing that album was deeply therapeutic. Untitled was also good, but christ after that I fell off pretty deep.

Once a band becomes a peak and valleys catharsis and reprieve formula, it's time to jet. They were pretty amazing live in the early days

So, wait, when you guys are saying "first album", are you referring to Von? Because that's a pretty brave statement, considering how dull most of that record is.

And I will still ride pretty hard for Kveikur, and especially Valtari.

Agaetis Byrjun is the album everyone thinks is their first. it's like that with Mew's Frengers too.

Von has some good tracks but Agaetis Byrjun was a massive step up.

Always forget Von is their first, largely because Agaetis was pushed as their "debut" of sorts at the time

I looooooooooooved Sigur Rós circa 2001 - 2005 (the rooftop scene at the end of Vanilla Sky was my gateway). I also fell off hard after Takk, which I really liked. By the time the next record came out (2008?), their shtick and post-rock's schtick in general had already been completely exhausted and started showing up everywhere in movies, tv, commercials... proto-"epiphany core" music defined by Arcade Fire's "Wake Up." it was just like grunge, there was only so much you could do with epic quiet-loud-quiet instrumental rock. Same thing happened for me with Explosions in the Sky - I adored The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place, but the 2007 record was in one ear out the other for me. They're another band that was liscened a lot.

yeah flappy bird, well said

lol didn't mean to italicize EITS...

also i gotta stick up for ( ), the first song and the one that was in Vanilla Sky are my favorite Sigur Rós songs. But R.A.G. is right - Jonsi recycles the same vocal melody and made up lines on the back half of the album. It's not that I don't dig him singing in a made up language - just that he's singing the same made-up phrase with similar inflection and melody on half the record.

xp thanks

I’ve listened to new stuff from this band since the album where they’re all naked on the cover - maybe ten years ago now?

But for whatever reason I just gave their new one, “Route 1”, a try - it’s really nice. More of a straight ambient record than what I’d expect a Sigur Ros album to sound like. Jonsi’s voice doesn’t show up until the last track, and even then just barely.

I have a feeling this is an outlier in their discography but I’m inclined to try some more recent albums just to see.

it's a reworking of the software-generated soundtrack to their 24 hour trip on Iceland's route one iirc (the 360° video is on youtube)

Meant to say above I’ve NOT listened to new stuff for the last ten years...

ísjaki off of 'kveikur' is one of my fav sigur ros tunes

drummer orri accused of not just sexual assault but rape

i guess at the time the accuser was working at famed la stripclub the body shop

what do you mean by the latter?

i don't know but she brought it up in her statement on her instagram

https://grapevine.is/news/2018/10/01/drummer-for-sigur-ros-quits-band-in-wake-of-sexual-assault-allegations/

https://pitchfork.com/news/kjartan-sveinsson-rejoins-sigur-ros/

it just wasn't the same without him

the one record they released without him was pretty different

A welcome return.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hMsrhbjJkY

been gingerly revisiting the discog, think i skipped hvarf at the time which is a shame because i love metal sigur rós and here's a shining example of it

I feel like some luster was lost once people started posting "Justin Bieber slowed down x800" videos.

i loved that hvarf/heim stuff. that was pretty much peak fandom era for me. pretty sure i'd love anything that has multiple versions of "von" on it, but that was perfect timing.

i gotta say given how long sigur rós records traditionally are hvarf only being 37 minutes long is a real advantage, i've played it twice this morning already. every song is a stunner too. "hljómalind" is downright dream-pop

or slowcore? or both... at the same time.....

then again maybe these guys were always more of a slowcore dream-pop band than a post-rock band

Yeah, honestly, I always got more of a slowcore/shoegaze vibe from them. Don't know where the post-rock thing came from, maybe because it's in the same loosely similar dynamic neo-classical sheets of sound mode as, I dunno, Godspeed or something?

Wrong link, oops -

I still really like Heima (the film) and watch it often, with that extra disc worth of footage, it's so beautiful. The outdoor version of Olsen Olsen, just great.

There's a 1080 version on their YT channel from last year, I wonder if it'll come out on BluRay at some stage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bvoi8urTzk

then again maybe these guys were always more of a slowcore dream-pop band than a post-rock band

― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Friday, February 18, 2022 8:26 AM

All of that, but they blended it so well with their own ideas of folk music. Their influences were on display pretty well, but nobody really sounded like them. I always just presumed them to be big Pygmalion fans, but mixed with whatever the Icelandic equivalent of goth is.

the album with all the butts on it is very very very good, i'd forgotten

every melody on this album is perfect????

That's the album where it sounded like they got kinda into AnCo and hitting floor toms and bouncing around, then had some time off and made the intensely soporific and sad Valtari.

The elements that folks may highlight to criticize Sigur Ros are really their strengths imho.

The narrow palette of sounds, textures, tempos that they drew from, again and again, the repetition of certain subtle little sound design tricks (pitched down/up backward sounds), (over)use of reverb and drone, that one phrase Jonsi sings over nearly an entire album.

The notion that they're perhaps hiding a lack of songcraft or ideas underneath a banket of drones and string sections, yet they feature a version of Ágætis Byrjun on the film soundtrack, unfettered by production and recorded very simply in a community hall and it is absolutely lovely, along with most of the rest of the performances on the film, kinda disproves the idea.

i like valtari a lot, sounds like the very idea of the band disintegrating

The notion that they're perhaps hiding a lack of songcraft or ideas underneath a banket of drones and string sections

Leading that one album off with "Gobbledigook" was a nice retort.

Valtari was a big favorite at the time, but haven't listened to it in years. I do remember there was a song that they repeated from Inni and I really like that one.

Lúppulagið, yeah that's a marvelous track.

i still always wish they'd let loose more like on "popplagid"

the album with all the butts on it is very very very good, i'd forgotten

― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Friday, February 18, 2022 1:17 PM (two hours ago)

this one has always been my favorite. all their stuff is beautiful, but this one feels the most human to me.

I think I might be due a deep dive, it's been a long time, their YT channel is pretty good, seems there is a 4K version of Heima in the pipeline. There's a nice playlist of all the performances from the second disc that have been mastered in HD and they all sound fantastic too.

i'm so in love with valtari wow

I do remember that record two of Valtari got played at least twice as much as record one. Those four songs are so great.

Also a fun thing about that album on vinyl: side b of record one ends with a perfect loop of the end of "Rembihnútur" in a lock groove. I remember the first time I played it, that look groove went on for about five minutes before I realized what was happening. Trivial as it may have been, that really upped my appreciation for the album.

Looking back through the discography today, I had forgotten how many interstitial releases there are, EPs and collaborations, like Hlemmur, Ba Ba Ti Ki Di Do, or Rimmur with Steindór Andersen, which is lovely.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTcsTMKhUpY

I hope they remaster the extras for Heima too - this is still my favourite version of e-bow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8G075tjMvoI

i’m ready to call valtari their best record, what an experience. on the surface it seems business as usual but there’s something so much more fragmented and fragile about it

They are terrible interviewees for whatever reason, blees 'em, but this is kinda interesting -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVpNkd4jxPM

i like that the record isn't just celestially pretty either, the digitally distorted textures they employ almost as percussion on a few tracks make them feel like there's some mechanical failure going on at their core. i wrote this sentence to go out of my way not to call it "the asmr sigur rós record"

I really enjoyed rewatching Heima over the last few days, then I realised that there's a commentary track by the manager John, and it provides some interesting details.

It really is a beautiful document, a fascinating atmosphere. I still think the individuals are awkward on screen, modest to a fault, and not so interested in discussing the music with depth, like mid-eighties New Order but much less aggressive.

First concert of the tour last night in Mexico City, opened with Svefn-g-englar and Ný batterí, lots from () and Takk, a lovely version of Fljótavík also, and a couple of new songs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etL98SUDqEQ

new album is astonishing, basically a direct follow up to valtari

glad to hear that! i think i'm primed for great new album from these guys in my life

I like this rewind to the stillness of Valtari.

On first listen there are hardly any songs with prominent percussion or even unprocessed guitars really, loads of strings.

^ yeah, it's real floaty stuff, hasn't drawn me in yet