Why the hate for Sigur Ros?

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.