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’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