Hello, there's a huge storm unleashing everything that isn't stuck, come monday morning the world will look different outside all over north western Europe, this week the storm is called Dennis, yes the Brexiteers are tested again . Usually my sundaze posts are well planned in advance, not so today. Too my own amazement i hadn't posted much of today's artists, yet i remember being as stunned by their free napster download album Ágætis Byrjun as most that got it, a remarkable gift that kept on giving back. In the years that followed i kept with them, so now it's high time i posted some of their work here.
Today's artist excels over pretty much all other (heavy) rock music is that while many have looked across space for inspiration and atmosphere, our boys instead went into the earth. and who knows what impossible number of variables had to come together just so in order to create that magic (yes) that they have, regardless of explanation. that these musicians have gone on to tour and sell-out shows in europe, the americas, and the pacific (something relatively few musicians do) speaks quite a bit considering their unique sound. or vice-versa, because they don't really sound like anyone else, right? They're as much slowcore as they are post-rock, and they certainly have their orchestral, operatic, and minimalistic moments as well, in short ' Victory Rose ' evokes (strong) emotions. .......N-Joy
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Jón Þór "Jónsi" Birgisson (guitar and vocals), Georg Hólm (bass) and Ágúst Ævar Gunnarsson (drums) formed the group in Reykjavík in January 1994. The band's name is Icelandic wordplay: while the individual words Sigur and Rós mean, respectively, Victory and Rose, "Victory Rose" wouldn't be grammatically correct; the name is actually borrowed from Jónsi's younger sister Sigurrós, who was born a few days before the band was formed, and then split into two words. They soon won a record deal with the local Sugarcubes-owned record label Bad Taste, because they thought the falsetto vocals were very cute and would appeal to teenage girls. In 1997, they released Von meaning "hope") and in 1998 a remix collection named Von brigði . This name is also Icelandic wordplay: Vonbrigði means "disappointment", but Von brigði means "variations on Von". The band was joined by Kjartan Sveinsson on keyboards in 1998. He is the only member of Sigur Rós with musical training, and has contributed most of the orchestral and string arrangements for their later work
International acclaim came with 1999's Ágætis byrjun (A Good Beginning"). The band attracted a huge critical acclaim throughout the world in the second half of 2000, particularly in america, after they made the move to offer it as a free download on Napster, who impressed by it, really brought them into the picture. Tens of thousands downloads later and the musiclabels were in a franctic hunt to sign them, they ended up with MCA who let them retain the most artistic freedom. The band toured north america for the first time in april and may 2001, and the vast majority of the dates sold out straight away. perhaps due to the hype in the american media, the shows were attended by many big name celebrities, somewhat to the band's bemusement.The album's reputation spread by word of mouth over the following two years. Soon critics worldwide were praising it effusively, and the band was playing support to established acts such as Radiohead. Three songs, "Ágætis byrjun", "Svefn-g-englar", and a live take, from a summer 2000 concert in Denmark, of the then-unreleased "Njósnavélin" (later 'unnamed' "Untitled #4") appeared in the Cameron Crowe film Vanilla Sky. Sigur Rós spent the first three months of 2001 off the road, setting up their own studio and making their third album. Meanwhile, Ágætis Byrjun found a label in the U.S. and worldwide press became increasingly positive and varied; both Entertainment Weekly and The Wire ran features on the band. The group began touring again in April, playing more shows in Europe, a handful in the States, and several more in Japan throughout the remainder of the year. By the end of the year, Ágætis Byrjun had won the Shortlist Prize for Artistic Achievement in Music; it was also declared Iceland's Best Album of the Century.
In 2001, Sigur Rós christened their newly completed studio by recording an EP titled Rímur with an Icelandic fisherman named Steindór Andersen. The EP contains six songs, all of which feature Steindór Andersen reciting traditional Icelandic rímur poetry. Sigur Rós accompany him on three songs. Two songs feature Steindór alone. The last song on the EP, "Lækurinn", is a duet with Sigurður Sigurðarson. A thousand copies of the EP were printed and sold during the spring tour of 2001. The EP was sold in a blank-white-paper case. In 2001 the band toured in Canada, performing at Massey Hall in Toronto in September. Drummer Ágúst left the band after the recording of Ágætis byrjun and was replaced by Orri Páll Dýrason. In 2002, their highly anticipated follow-up album ( ) was released. Upon release all tracks on the album were untitled, though the band later published song names on their website. All of the lyrics on ( ) are sung in Vonlenska, also known as Hopelandic, a language without semantic meaning, which resembles the phonology of the Icelandic language. It has also been said that the listener is supposed to interpret their own meanings of the lyrics which can then be written in the blank pages in the album booklet.
In 2002, the band also wrote an original score for the Bodyscript dance production by Wayne McGregor Random Dance in collaboration with Sadler's Wells Theatre and the Arts Council England. Sigur Rós collaborated with Radiohead in October 2003 to compose music for Merce Cunningham's dance piece Split Sides; Sigur Rós's three tracks were released on the March 2004 EP Ba Ba Ti Ki Di Do.
Their fourth album, Takk... (["Thanks...") employs the distinctive sound of their second album in a more rock oriented structure with greater use of the guitar, and was released in September 2005. "Hoppípolla" "Hopping into puddles"), the second official single from Takk..., was released in November alongside a new studio remake of "Hafsól" ("Ocean Sun"), a song that was previously released on the band's 1997 debut, Von. "Hoppípolla" was used in the trailers for the BBC's natural history series Planet Earth in 2006, as well as the closing credits for the 2006 FA Cup final, ITV's coverage of the 2006 Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race, advertisements for the BBC's coverage of England games during the 2006 FIFA World Cup, on television advertisements for RTÉ's Gaelic games coverage in Ireland, and on an advertisement for Oxfam. It was also used in the final scene of the movie Penelope, for the trailer of the film Children of Men and for the trailer of the film Slumdog Millionaire.
An extended Sæglópur EP was released in July 2006 in most parts of the world and in August in the United States. Its original release was scheduled in May, but because of the sudden demand of "Hoppípolla" it was pushed back from that date. Sigur Rós recorded three new songs to appear on the EP ("Refur", "Ó friður", and "Kafari"). In July 2006, Sigur Rós finished a major world tour with stops in Europe, the United States (where they played a headline show at the Hollywood Bowl), Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Japan. Upon return to their homeland, Sigur Rós provided a series of free surprise outdoor concerts throughout Iceland in July and August, playing in various venues such as abandoned bunkers and community coffee shops, all of which were included in the 2007 documentary film Heima. They also performed twice in the United States in February.
In August 2007, a limited DVD+CD edition of the 2002 soundtrack to the documentary Hlemmur was released. Hvarf/Heim was released on 5 November (6 November in the U.S.), a double compilation album containing studio versions of previously unreleased songs — "Salka" [ˈsalka], "Hljómalind" (formerly known as "Rokklagið"), "Í Gær" [i ˈcaɪ̯r] and "Von" on Hvarf, and acoustic studio versions of the songs: "Samskeyti" "Starálfur""Vaka" "Ágætis Byrjun", "Heysátan" and "Von", on Heim. On the same day (20 November in the U.S.) Heima, a live DVD of the previous summer's Iceland tour, was released. Just prior to the release of Hvarf/Heim, on 29 October, a single named "Hljómalind" was released.
The band's fifth regular studio album Með Suð Í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust ("with a buzz in our ears we play endlessly"), recorded with producer Flood in downtown Reykjavík, was released in June 2008 to generally positive reviews. Stylistically different from their earlier releases, it featured fewer strings and more guitar, and had more pop-oriented songs, making it "the group's most accessible effort" while maintaining the "majestic beauty that defines the band's music. The final track "All Alright" is the band's first to be sung in English, though all the other lyrics are in Icelandic.
The band were announced as a headlining act for the 2008 Splendour in the Grass Festival in Byron Bay, Australia, Latitude Festival 2008, and the 2008 La Route du Rock Festival in St Malo, France. In addition, the band performed a late-night set at the 2008 Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tennessee, where they blew a speaker at the end of their second song. Jónsi Birgisson commented, "The piano is exploding, I think," one of the few things spoken in English. The band released the first song from the album titled "Gobbledigook" for free on their website, along with a music video. On 8 June, the whole album was made available for free streaming on their website and Last.fm.
In autumn 2008 Sigur Rós embarked on a world tour supporting their newly released album. The band played as a four-piece without Amiina and the brass band, the first time the band had played as a four-piece in seven years. The tour started on 17 September 2008 in the United States, at the United Palace Theater in New York City, and finished with a concert in Reykjavík at Laugardalshöll on 23 November 2008. The majority of the tour was European with the exception of concerts in the United States, Australia, Canada and Japan.
The group ended its hiatus in April of 2010, playing a set at the Coachella Festival. In October of 2011, they released their first live album, Inni, a document of their 2008 tour. Their understated sixth studio album, Valtari (Steamroller), was issued in May of the following year. Quickly returning, Sigur Rós took their sound in a darker, more aggressive direction with their seventh album, 2013's Kveikur, which found them pushing their sound into unsettling areas. After the album's release the band stayed busy touring. They also branched out, making appearances on both the animated series The Simpsons and HBO's Game of Thrones. In 2017, they collaborated with Somers on two instrumental recordings for a season four episode of Black Mirror. Also that year, to coincide with their own Norður og Niður Festival in Iceland, they released the soundtrack/film production Route One, as well as the Jónsi and Somers EP All Animals. Both albums were also reissued on vinyl for Record Store Day, and released to digital platforms in 2018.
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Though darker and more fractured than the string-laden nooks of the follow-up, it's just as sprawling and outright bombastic. It's remarkable that such a young band would be this experimental at this stage in their lifespan, but the sheer breadth gets to be an albatross. Poking fun at '70s prog rock is just as easy as shooting at cement gargoyles on a suburban rooftop, especially when you're an indie kid or a fan of post-rock. But Sigur Rós makes Yes look like the Minutemen. Whittled down to 40 minutes, Von would be considerably more effective than it already is.Von opens up with "Sigur Rós", a near 10-minute ambient piece that immediately displays the album's ominous nature. Triumphant? Not at all. Uplifting? Far from it. In fact, "Sigur Rós" is probably one of the scariest songs ever put to tape. This dark ambient epic sounds like a journey through the scorching infernos of Hell; the mysterious windchimes and shakers, dissonant synthesizer chords, thunder, and bone-chilling, high-pitched screams provide the listener with some absolutely terrifying timbres. Do not listen to this track alone in a dark room; you will probably regret it. Though it might be a rather aimless track compared to some other songs on Von, "Sigur Rós" succeeds at trying to establish the album's dark mood, and is quite literally unlike anything else that the band has ever done. It's an atmospheric masterwork., and a few other spots seem to drag on for the sake of sucking time. That doesn't prevent Von from being impressive, veering from Gavin Bryars-style aquatic minimalism to My Bloody Valentine-style dream pop. Varying states of isolationist ambience run throughout, whether evoking unrest or tranquil rest. You can practically envision a stray headboard floating through the Sinking of the Titanic-type passages, and the lush "Myrkur" comes from a planet where MBV's Kevin Shields and Kitchens of Distinction's Julian Swales are accorded the level or worship that Earth gives to Hendrix and Clapton. And then there's that voice, one of the most distinctly unintelligible voices since the Cocteau Twins' Liz Fraser. Boy? Girl? One would be hard-pressed to guess without liner notes. Based on pure sound, Von is just as much of a treat as the acclaimed follow-up.
Sigur Rós - Von (flac 395mb)
01 Sigur Rós 9:47
02 Dögun 5:50
03 Hún Jörð... 7:18
04 Leit að lífi 2:34
05 Myrkur 6:14
06 18 sekúndur fyrir sólarupprás 0:18
07 Hafssól 12:25
08 Veröld ný og óð 3:29
09 Von 5:12
10 Mistur 2:16
11 Syndir Guðs (Opinberun frelsarans) 7:42
12 Rukrym 8:59
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First of all, one should mention that if the listener expects 1998's "Von Brigði" to be another high quality Sigur Rós work measured upon their standards, he or she is only partially right. Other than most reviews for this album, up to now I cannot find a loss in quality here. Since many listeners long for genres they can put music into... well, maybe think of it as well-crafted and intelligent electronic or drum and bass music that creates some kind of forest in whose branches the tunes from the very first phase of Sigur Rós hide like elves. The whole concept is worked out by electronica artists mostly hailing from Iceland, including Múm, Gus Gus, Hassbræður, and on the final track, Leit af lifi, the album's highlight in my opinion, even Sigur Rós themselves re-invent one of their songs originally entitled Leit að lifi as found on their 1997 masterpiece debut "Von".
Recycle Bin puts songs from the group's debut LP in the hands of Gus Gus, Biogen, and an assorted cast of unfamiliars. As with most full-length remix affairs, the results are hit-and-miss. Somewhat disappointingly, only a handful of Von's tracks are retooled: two are handled twice, and one is thrice reconstructed. Despite the overlap and mostly minor-league remixing, it's still lightly pleasurable. The primary hope for future Sigur Rós remixers would be to mess around more with the vocals. One can imagine that there must be a million and one things that can be done to the elfin, siren-like hymns. All in all, Von Brigði is excellent for fans of Sigur Rós who are opened for the band's music in a fairly new perspective - you are going to listen to some great pieces although it may for sure appear unusual to some at first.
Sigur Ros - Von Brigi ( Recycle Bin) (flac 334mb)
01 Syndir Guðs (Endurunnið af Biogen) 6:58
02 Syndir Guðs (Endurunnið af múm) 4:54
03 Leit af lífi (Endurunnið af Plasmic) 5:28
04 Myrkur (Endurunnið af Ilo) 5:32
05 Myrkur (Endurunnið af Dirty-Bix) 5:04
06 180 sekúndur fyrir sólarupprás (Endurunnið af Curver) 3:00
07 Hún jörð (Endurunnið af Hassbræður) 5:20
08 Leit af lífi (Endurunnið af Thor) 5:35
09 Von (Endurunnið af gus gus) 7:25
10 Leit af lífi (Endurunnið af Sigur Rós) 5:02
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Their first album is called Von (hope). frequently unrecognisable from the bulk of their subsequent work, Von is an experimental and ambient work.The band really found their feet with their second album, Ágætis Byrjun (a good beginning). the album was originally released only in Iceland, but was discovered by brighton's fatcat records, who snapped the band up and released the album in the uk in august 2000. The band attracted a huge critical acclaim throughout the world in the second half of 2000, particularly in america, after they made the move to offer it as a free download on Napster, who impressed by it, really brought them into the picture. Tens of thousands downloads later and the musiclabels were in a franctic hunt to sign them, they ended up with MCA who let them retain the most artistic freedom. The band toured north america for the first time in april and may 2001, and the vast majority of the dates sold out straight away. perhaps due to the hype in the american media, the shows were attended by many big name celebrities, somewhat to the band's bemusement.
Two years had passed since Sigur Rós' debut. By this time, the band recruited in a new keyboardist by the name of Kjartan Sveinsson and it seems to have done nothing but take the band to an even higher state of self-awareness. Even on aesthetic matters, Sigur Rós entitle their sophomore effort not in a manner to play up the irony of high expectations, but in a modest realization. This second album -- Ágætis Byrjun -- translates roughly to Good Start. So as talented as Von might have been, this time out is probably even more worthy of dramatic debut expectations. Indeed, Ágætis Byrjun pulls no punches from the start. After an introduction just this side of one of the aforementioned Stone Roses' backward beauties, the album pumps in the morning mist with "Sven-G-Englar" -- a song of such accomplished gorgeousness that one wonders why such a tiny country as Iceland can musically outperform entire continents in just a few short minutes. The rest of this full-length follows such similar quality. Extremely deep strings underpin falsetto wails from the mournfully epic ("Viðar Vel Tl Loftárasa") to the unreservedly cinematic ("Avalon"). One will constantly be waiting to hear what fascinating turns such complex musicianship will take at a moment's notice. At its best, the album seems to accomplish everything lagging post-shoegazers like Spiritualized or Chapterhouse once promised.
Sigur Rós - Ágætis Byrjun ( flac 358mb)
01 Intro (1:36)
02 Svefn-g-englar (10:04)
03 Starálfur (6:47)
04 Flugufrelsarinn (7:47)
05 Ný Batterí (8:11)
06 Hjartað Hamast (Bamm Bamm Bamm) (7:10)
07 Viðrar Vel Til Loftárása (10:18)
08 Olsen Olsen (8:03)
09 Ágætis Byrjun (7:56)
10 Avalon (4:00)
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Classic songs given the dignified treatment they deserve by one of the best. I would have preferred a variety of singers, but Steindor does a great job. Turn down the lights and imagine yourself huddled in an old Icelandic loft on a rainy autumn night! Worth it alone for track five which is absolutely stunning. I would have liked to have heard them do some more stuff with Steindor Anderson - I love his voice, the quality of his voice is stunning--deep yet melodic.Kind of Ingmar Bergman imagery it creates.
Sigur Ros feat Steindor Andersen - Rimur EP (flac 105mb)
01 Kem ég enn af köldum Heiðum 6:19
02 Til ei ltur tíðin Mér 1:00
03 Fjöll í austri Fagurblá 6:00
04 Slær á hafið Himinblæ 1:29
05 Hugann seiða svalli Frá 6:02
06 Lækurinn 5:50
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Sigur Rós released their third album in october 2002, entitled ( ). the lyricless and titleless album was a darker, rawer and less accessible follow up to ágætis byrjun and came out to favourable reviews around the world, the album sold well and even reached #52 on the american billboard chart. Set the controls for the heart of the sun: Sigur Rós had another baby and they named it ( ). It's just as excessive in length as its elder siblings, it's just as precious and almost as over-the-top sounding, and it's artfully packaged with next to no information provided -- no photo collage from the triumphant world tour, no acknowledgments of the supportive Reykjavik massive. No track titles are present, either -- the band has made them known, but obviously not through the traditional route. Whatever the issues with this record, musical or not, ( ) will only further repel the detractors. Despite the fact that it arrives three years after Ágaetis Byrjun's original release, there are only adjustments -- no significant developments -- in the group's sound. The relentlessly funereal tempos, the elegant arrangements, and the high-pitched warbling/cooing remain in abundance. The overall mood of the album is subdued in relation to its predecessor. This is particularly true for the second half of the album, which is cleaved by a half-minute gap of silence. The sudden stratospheric crescendos resorted to previously are smoothed out, riding subtle gradients that allow for somber, elongated passages of drones and minimal instrumental interplay. The orchestral nuances, contributed by the string quartet Amina, take on a more background role. The fact that the emotional extremes are few and far between makes the album difficult to wade through -- its impact would've been tripled with about half an hour lopped off, but where to begin? None of these eight songs deserve to be left on the cutting-room floor. So perhaps it's most effective when digested in halves. Are Sigur Rós pretentious somnambulists bearing gimmicks, or are they Nordic gods bearing musical bliss? Regardless of the side you're on, ( ) is further proof that this group does what it does very well.
Sigur Ros - ( ) (flac 324mb)
01 [untitled] 6:38
02 [untitled] 7:33
03 [untitled] 6:33
04 [untitled] 7:32
05 [untitled] 9:57
06 [untitled] 8:48
07 [untitled] 12:59
08 [untitled] 11:45
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Today's artist excels over pretty much all other (heavy) rock music is that while many have looked across space for inspiration and atmosphere, our boys instead went into the earth. and who knows what impossible number of variables had to come together just so in order to create that magic (yes) that they have, regardless of explanation. that these musicians have gone on to tour and sell-out shows in europe, the americas, and the pacific (something relatively few musicians do) speaks quite a bit considering their unique sound. or vice-versa, because they don't really sound like anyone else, right? They're as much slowcore as they are post-rock, and they certainly have their orchestral, operatic, and minimalistic moments as well, in short ' Victory Rose ' evokes (strong) emotions. .......N-Joy
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Jón Þór "Jónsi" Birgisson (guitar and vocals), Georg Hólm (bass) and Ágúst Ævar Gunnarsson (drums) formed the group in Reykjavík in January 1994. The band's name is Icelandic wordplay: while the individual words Sigur and Rós mean, respectively, Victory and Rose, "Victory Rose" wouldn't be grammatically correct; the name is actually borrowed from Jónsi's younger sister Sigurrós, who was born a few days before the band was formed, and then split into two words. They soon won a record deal with the local Sugarcubes-owned record label Bad Taste, because they thought the falsetto vocals were very cute and would appeal to teenage girls. In 1997, they released Von meaning "hope") and in 1998 a remix collection named Von brigði . This name is also Icelandic wordplay: Vonbrigði means "disappointment", but Von brigði means "variations on Von". The band was joined by Kjartan Sveinsson on keyboards in 1998. He is the only member of Sigur Rós with musical training, and has contributed most of the orchestral and string arrangements for their later work
International acclaim came with 1999's Ágætis byrjun (A Good Beginning"). The band attracted a huge critical acclaim throughout the world in the second half of 2000, particularly in america, after they made the move to offer it as a free download on Napster, who impressed by it, really brought them into the picture. Tens of thousands downloads later and the musiclabels were in a franctic hunt to sign them, they ended up with MCA who let them retain the most artistic freedom. The band toured north america for the first time in april and may 2001, and the vast majority of the dates sold out straight away. perhaps due to the hype in the american media, the shows were attended by many big name celebrities, somewhat to the band's bemusement.The album's reputation spread by word of mouth over the following two years. Soon critics worldwide were praising it effusively, and the band was playing support to established acts such as Radiohead. Three songs, "Ágætis byrjun", "Svefn-g-englar", and a live take, from a summer 2000 concert in Denmark, of the then-unreleased "Njósnavélin" (later 'unnamed' "Untitled #4") appeared in the Cameron Crowe film Vanilla Sky. Sigur Rós spent the first three months of 2001 off the road, setting up their own studio and making their third album. Meanwhile, Ágætis Byrjun found a label in the U.S. and worldwide press became increasingly positive and varied; both Entertainment Weekly and The Wire ran features on the band. The group began touring again in April, playing more shows in Europe, a handful in the States, and several more in Japan throughout the remainder of the year. By the end of the year, Ágætis Byrjun had won the Shortlist Prize for Artistic Achievement in Music; it was also declared Iceland's Best Album of the Century.
In 2001, Sigur Rós christened their newly completed studio by recording an EP titled Rímur with an Icelandic fisherman named Steindór Andersen. The EP contains six songs, all of which feature Steindór Andersen reciting traditional Icelandic rímur poetry. Sigur Rós accompany him on three songs. Two songs feature Steindór alone. The last song on the EP, "Lækurinn", is a duet with Sigurður Sigurðarson. A thousand copies of the EP were printed and sold during the spring tour of 2001. The EP was sold in a blank-white-paper case. In 2001 the band toured in Canada, performing at Massey Hall in Toronto in September. Drummer Ágúst left the band after the recording of Ágætis byrjun and was replaced by Orri Páll Dýrason. In 2002, their highly anticipated follow-up album ( ) was released. Upon release all tracks on the album were untitled, though the band later published song names on their website. All of the lyrics on ( ) are sung in Vonlenska, also known as Hopelandic, a language without semantic meaning, which resembles the phonology of the Icelandic language. It has also been said that the listener is supposed to interpret their own meanings of the lyrics which can then be written in the blank pages in the album booklet.
In 2002, the band also wrote an original score for the Bodyscript dance production by Wayne McGregor Random Dance in collaboration with Sadler's Wells Theatre and the Arts Council England. Sigur Rós collaborated with Radiohead in October 2003 to compose music for Merce Cunningham's dance piece Split Sides; Sigur Rós's three tracks were released on the March 2004 EP Ba Ba Ti Ki Di Do.
Their fourth album, Takk... (["Thanks...") employs the distinctive sound of their second album in a more rock oriented structure with greater use of the guitar, and was released in September 2005. "Hoppípolla" "Hopping into puddles"), the second official single from Takk..., was released in November alongside a new studio remake of "Hafsól" ("Ocean Sun"), a song that was previously released on the band's 1997 debut, Von. "Hoppípolla" was used in the trailers for the BBC's natural history series Planet Earth in 2006, as well as the closing credits for the 2006 FA Cup final, ITV's coverage of the 2006 Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race, advertisements for the BBC's coverage of England games during the 2006 FIFA World Cup, on television advertisements for RTÉ's Gaelic games coverage in Ireland, and on an advertisement for Oxfam. It was also used in the final scene of the movie Penelope, for the trailer of the film Children of Men and for the trailer of the film Slumdog Millionaire.
An extended Sæglópur EP was released in July 2006 in most parts of the world and in August in the United States. Its original release was scheduled in May, but because of the sudden demand of "Hoppípolla" it was pushed back from that date. Sigur Rós recorded three new songs to appear on the EP ("Refur", "Ó friður", and "Kafari"). In July 2006, Sigur Rós finished a major world tour with stops in Europe, the United States (where they played a headline show at the Hollywood Bowl), Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Japan. Upon return to their homeland, Sigur Rós provided a series of free surprise outdoor concerts throughout Iceland in July and August, playing in various venues such as abandoned bunkers and community coffee shops, all of which were included in the 2007 documentary film Heima. They also performed twice in the United States in February.
In August 2007, a limited DVD+CD edition of the 2002 soundtrack to the documentary Hlemmur was released. Hvarf/Heim was released on 5 November (6 November in the U.S.), a double compilation album containing studio versions of previously unreleased songs — "Salka" [ˈsalka], "Hljómalind" (formerly known as "Rokklagið"), "Í Gær" [i ˈcaɪ̯r] and "Von" on Hvarf, and acoustic studio versions of the songs: "Samskeyti" "Starálfur""Vaka" "Ágætis Byrjun", "Heysátan" and "Von", on Heim. On the same day (20 November in the U.S.) Heima, a live DVD of the previous summer's Iceland tour, was released. Just prior to the release of Hvarf/Heim, on 29 October, a single named "Hljómalind" was released.
The band's fifth regular studio album Með Suð Í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust ("with a buzz in our ears we play endlessly"), recorded with producer Flood in downtown Reykjavík, was released in June 2008 to generally positive reviews. Stylistically different from their earlier releases, it featured fewer strings and more guitar, and had more pop-oriented songs, making it "the group's most accessible effort" while maintaining the "majestic beauty that defines the band's music. The final track "All Alright" is the band's first to be sung in English, though all the other lyrics are in Icelandic.
The band were announced as a headlining act for the 2008 Splendour in the Grass Festival in Byron Bay, Australia, Latitude Festival 2008, and the 2008 La Route du Rock Festival in St Malo, France. In addition, the band performed a late-night set at the 2008 Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tennessee, where they blew a speaker at the end of their second song. Jónsi Birgisson commented, "The piano is exploding, I think," one of the few things spoken in English. The band released the first song from the album titled "Gobbledigook" for free on their website, along with a music video. On 8 June, the whole album was made available for free streaming on their website and Last.fm.
In autumn 2008 Sigur Rós embarked on a world tour supporting their newly released album. The band played as a four-piece without Amiina and the brass band, the first time the band had played as a four-piece in seven years. The tour started on 17 September 2008 in the United States, at the United Palace Theater in New York City, and finished with a concert in Reykjavík at Laugardalshöll on 23 November 2008. The majority of the tour was European with the exception of concerts in the United States, Australia, Canada and Japan.
The group ended its hiatus in April of 2010, playing a set at the Coachella Festival. In October of 2011, they released their first live album, Inni, a document of their 2008 tour. Their understated sixth studio album, Valtari (Steamroller), was issued in May of the following year. Quickly returning, Sigur Rós took their sound in a darker, more aggressive direction with their seventh album, 2013's Kveikur, which found them pushing their sound into unsettling areas. After the album's release the band stayed busy touring. They also branched out, making appearances on both the animated series The Simpsons and HBO's Game of Thrones. In 2017, they collaborated with Somers on two instrumental recordings for a season four episode of Black Mirror. Also that year, to coincide with their own Norður og Niður Festival in Iceland, they released the soundtrack/film production Route One, as well as the Jónsi and Somers EP All Animals. Both albums were also reissued on vinyl for Record Store Day, and released to digital platforms in 2018.
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Though darker and more fractured than the string-laden nooks of the follow-up, it's just as sprawling and outright bombastic. It's remarkable that such a young band would be this experimental at this stage in their lifespan, but the sheer breadth gets to be an albatross. Poking fun at '70s prog rock is just as easy as shooting at cement gargoyles on a suburban rooftop, especially when you're an indie kid or a fan of post-rock. But Sigur Rós makes Yes look like the Minutemen. Whittled down to 40 minutes, Von would be considerably more effective than it already is.Von opens up with "Sigur Rós", a near 10-minute ambient piece that immediately displays the album's ominous nature. Triumphant? Not at all. Uplifting? Far from it. In fact, "Sigur Rós" is probably one of the scariest songs ever put to tape. This dark ambient epic sounds like a journey through the scorching infernos of Hell; the mysterious windchimes and shakers, dissonant synthesizer chords, thunder, and bone-chilling, high-pitched screams provide the listener with some absolutely terrifying timbres. Do not listen to this track alone in a dark room; you will probably regret it. Though it might be a rather aimless track compared to some other songs on Von, "Sigur Rós" succeeds at trying to establish the album's dark mood, and is quite literally unlike anything else that the band has ever done. It's an atmospheric masterwork., and a few other spots seem to drag on for the sake of sucking time. That doesn't prevent Von from being impressive, veering from Gavin Bryars-style aquatic minimalism to My Bloody Valentine-style dream pop. Varying states of isolationist ambience run throughout, whether evoking unrest or tranquil rest. You can practically envision a stray headboard floating through the Sinking of the Titanic-type passages, and the lush "Myrkur" comes from a planet where MBV's Kevin Shields and Kitchens of Distinction's Julian Swales are accorded the level or worship that Earth gives to Hendrix and Clapton. And then there's that voice, one of the most distinctly unintelligible voices since the Cocteau Twins' Liz Fraser. Boy? Girl? One would be hard-pressed to guess without liner notes. Based on pure sound, Von is just as much of a treat as the acclaimed follow-up.
Sigur Rós - Von (flac 395mb)
01 Sigur Rós 9:47
02 Dögun 5:50
03 Hún Jörð... 7:18
04 Leit að lífi 2:34
05 Myrkur 6:14
06 18 sekúndur fyrir sólarupprás 0:18
07 Hafssól 12:25
08 Veröld ný og óð 3:29
09 Von 5:12
10 Mistur 2:16
11 Syndir Guðs (Opinberun frelsarans) 7:42
12 Rukrym 8:59
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First of all, one should mention that if the listener expects 1998's "Von Brigði" to be another high quality Sigur Rós work measured upon their standards, he or she is only partially right. Other than most reviews for this album, up to now I cannot find a loss in quality here. Since many listeners long for genres they can put music into... well, maybe think of it as well-crafted and intelligent electronic or drum and bass music that creates some kind of forest in whose branches the tunes from the very first phase of Sigur Rós hide like elves. The whole concept is worked out by electronica artists mostly hailing from Iceland, including Múm, Gus Gus, Hassbræður, and on the final track, Leit af lifi, the album's highlight in my opinion, even Sigur Rós themselves re-invent one of their songs originally entitled Leit að lifi as found on their 1997 masterpiece debut "Von".
Recycle Bin puts songs from the group's debut LP in the hands of Gus Gus, Biogen, and an assorted cast of unfamiliars. As with most full-length remix affairs, the results are hit-and-miss. Somewhat disappointingly, only a handful of Von's tracks are retooled: two are handled twice, and one is thrice reconstructed. Despite the overlap and mostly minor-league remixing, it's still lightly pleasurable. The primary hope for future Sigur Rós remixers would be to mess around more with the vocals. One can imagine that there must be a million and one things that can be done to the elfin, siren-like hymns. All in all, Von Brigði is excellent for fans of Sigur Rós who are opened for the band's music in a fairly new perspective - you are going to listen to some great pieces although it may for sure appear unusual to some at first.
Sigur Ros - Von Brigi ( Recycle Bin) (flac 334mb)
01 Syndir Guðs (Endurunnið af Biogen) 6:58
02 Syndir Guðs (Endurunnið af múm) 4:54
03 Leit af lífi (Endurunnið af Plasmic) 5:28
04 Myrkur (Endurunnið af Ilo) 5:32
05 Myrkur (Endurunnið af Dirty-Bix) 5:04
06 180 sekúndur fyrir sólarupprás (Endurunnið af Curver) 3:00
07 Hún jörð (Endurunnið af Hassbræður) 5:20
08 Leit af lífi (Endurunnið af Thor) 5:35
09 Von (Endurunnið af gus gus) 7:25
10 Leit af lífi (Endurunnið af Sigur Rós) 5:02
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Their first album is called Von (hope). frequently unrecognisable from the bulk of their subsequent work, Von is an experimental and ambient work.The band really found their feet with their second album, Ágætis Byrjun (a good beginning). the album was originally released only in Iceland, but was discovered by brighton's fatcat records, who snapped the band up and released the album in the uk in august 2000. The band attracted a huge critical acclaim throughout the world in the second half of 2000, particularly in america, after they made the move to offer it as a free download on Napster, who impressed by it, really brought them into the picture. Tens of thousands downloads later and the musiclabels were in a franctic hunt to sign them, they ended up with MCA who let them retain the most artistic freedom. The band toured north america for the first time in april and may 2001, and the vast majority of the dates sold out straight away. perhaps due to the hype in the american media, the shows were attended by many big name celebrities, somewhat to the band's bemusement.
Two years had passed since Sigur Rós' debut. By this time, the band recruited in a new keyboardist by the name of Kjartan Sveinsson and it seems to have done nothing but take the band to an even higher state of self-awareness. Even on aesthetic matters, Sigur Rós entitle their sophomore effort not in a manner to play up the irony of high expectations, but in a modest realization. This second album -- Ágætis Byrjun -- translates roughly to Good Start. So as talented as Von might have been, this time out is probably even more worthy of dramatic debut expectations. Indeed, Ágætis Byrjun pulls no punches from the start. After an introduction just this side of one of the aforementioned Stone Roses' backward beauties, the album pumps in the morning mist with "Sven-G-Englar" -- a song of such accomplished gorgeousness that one wonders why such a tiny country as Iceland can musically outperform entire continents in just a few short minutes. The rest of this full-length follows such similar quality. Extremely deep strings underpin falsetto wails from the mournfully epic ("Viðar Vel Tl Loftárasa") to the unreservedly cinematic ("Avalon"). One will constantly be waiting to hear what fascinating turns such complex musicianship will take at a moment's notice. At its best, the album seems to accomplish everything lagging post-shoegazers like Spiritualized or Chapterhouse once promised.
Sigur Rós - Ágætis Byrjun ( flac 358mb)
01 Intro (1:36)
02 Svefn-g-englar (10:04)
03 Starálfur (6:47)
04 Flugufrelsarinn (7:47)
05 Ný Batterí (8:11)
06 Hjartað Hamast (Bamm Bamm Bamm) (7:10)
07 Viðrar Vel Til Loftárása (10:18)
08 Olsen Olsen (8:03)
09 Ágætis Byrjun (7:56)
10 Avalon (4:00)
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Classic songs given the dignified treatment they deserve by one of the best. I would have preferred a variety of singers, but Steindor does a great job. Turn down the lights and imagine yourself huddled in an old Icelandic loft on a rainy autumn night! Worth it alone for track five which is absolutely stunning. I would have liked to have heard them do some more stuff with Steindor Anderson - I love his voice, the quality of his voice is stunning--deep yet melodic.Kind of Ingmar Bergman imagery it creates.
Sigur Ros feat Steindor Andersen - Rimur EP (flac 105mb)
01 Kem ég enn af köldum Heiðum 6:19
02 Til ei ltur tíðin Mér 1:00
03 Fjöll í austri Fagurblá 6:00
04 Slær á hafið Himinblæ 1:29
05 Hugann seiða svalli Frá 6:02
06 Lækurinn 5:50
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Sigur Rós released their third album in october 2002, entitled ( ). the lyricless and titleless album was a darker, rawer and less accessible follow up to ágætis byrjun and came out to favourable reviews around the world, the album sold well and even reached #52 on the american billboard chart. Set the controls for the heart of the sun: Sigur Rós had another baby and they named it ( ). It's just as excessive in length as its elder siblings, it's just as precious and almost as over-the-top sounding, and it's artfully packaged with next to no information provided -- no photo collage from the triumphant world tour, no acknowledgments of the supportive Reykjavik massive. No track titles are present, either -- the band has made them known, but obviously not through the traditional route. Whatever the issues with this record, musical or not, ( ) will only further repel the detractors. Despite the fact that it arrives three years after Ágaetis Byrjun's original release, there are only adjustments -- no significant developments -- in the group's sound. The relentlessly funereal tempos, the elegant arrangements, and the high-pitched warbling/cooing remain in abundance. The overall mood of the album is subdued in relation to its predecessor. This is particularly true for the second half of the album, which is cleaved by a half-minute gap of silence. The sudden stratospheric crescendos resorted to previously are smoothed out, riding subtle gradients that allow for somber, elongated passages of drones and minimal instrumental interplay. The orchestral nuances, contributed by the string quartet Amina, take on a more background role. The fact that the emotional extremes are few and far between makes the album difficult to wade through -- its impact would've been tripled with about half an hour lopped off, but where to begin? None of these eight songs deserve to be left on the cutting-room floor. So perhaps it's most effective when digested in halves. Are Sigur Rós pretentious somnambulists bearing gimmicks, or are they Nordic gods bearing musical bliss? Regardless of the side you're on, ( ) is further proof that this group does what it does very well.
Sigur Ros - ( ) (flac 324mb)
01 [untitled] 6:38
02 [untitled] 7:33
03 [untitled] 6:33
04 [untitled] 7:32
05 [untitled] 9:57
06 [untitled] 8:48
07 [untitled] 12:59
08 [untitled] 11:45
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2 comments:
Impressed. Thanks.
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