Sigur Ros - Agaetis Byrjun
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Free Music Notes for Agaetis Byrjun
Free Music Review: Ágætis Byrjun indeed!
Hit: 5 Stars
Which is translated to "A Good Beginning" in English. Not only is it a good beginning but one of the most solid and complete debut albums that very few artists can match up to. This album is astonishing, Powerful, and Inspiring. At about the 5th through 10th listens, I had a few thoughts. I thought maybe a few things on this album are just a 'gimmick' such as the 'deep' sounding guitar playing with a cello bow, the abstract cover art, the singing all in Icelandic, and even the vocal style itself, just so it seems mysterious or something. Well, that is certainly not the case. I can listen to this CD from beginning to end with immense enjoyability, even if the songs seem to drag on a bit. Sigur Rós manage to get a sort of 'unearthly' and very creative type of overall sound (with the characteristics I mentioned above) which will keep you coming back for more, even if it seems very unusual on your first few listens.Sigur Rós uses a variety of instruments, such as pianos/keyboards, violins, and the occasional trumpets. The sweet piano melodies in "Viðrar Vel Til Loftárása," "Starálfur," and the title track are unforgettable. The melodies played on every song is just brilliant. The violins in "Starálfur" are the most emotionally conveying instrument and are used in most other songs too which bring such a warm feeling. The lyrics are very unusual, and I don't think i fully understand them (when translated) but they certainly aren't immature or meaningless.
This album will require a very open mind and a listener who can appreciate what the band is doing. It can seem very overwhelming at first. To start off, the songs that amazon[.com] has avalible for download are good, especially the title track. "Svefn-G-Englar" might seem slightly repetitve on first few listens, so it's not really a good impression of the album as a whole. But Overall, the album should be appreciated as a whole more then an individual song. Some complaints are it sounds too repetitive or boring. It is atmospheric. Sigur Ros is a band that pours heaps of feeling into what they play and are actually true musicians who love what they're doing. Keep an open mind and you shall be rewarded and suprised.
Free Music Review: And the winner of 2000 is... Iceland!
Hit: 5 Stars
I don't understand any of the words. And since I love words that's a real pity (but I heard the guys of SR are working right now on the translation which is a hell of a job because of the symbolic meanings of a lot of these words - as they say). All of my best year albums have (understandable) lyrics. But the beauty of the songs on Agaetis Byrjun leave me no choice. Let me tell you, I made this my fave album even before I went to their concert in Paradiso (Amsterdam) which was a real happening. Jimmy Page could have seen that you can make beautiful guitarsounds playing with a violin bow (got you there, old cracker!). Let's say it was far better than Radiohead's performance on Pinkpop (Landgraaf).Now let's go to the songs: Enter the Discovery! First track is an intro. The second track (Svefn g englar) is such mellow purity, just close your eyes and consider yourself alone floating in space surrounded by moonflowers and dreamelephants. Just a few albums are really worth 15 dollars, but this song alone comes close. Track 3 (Staralflur) can only be worse, but this one too is pure class. Maybe a little too much on the violins. Next track is another marble. Less violins, more air, really downtempo (after 5 minutes a tiny little climax starts). This is one of my favourite tracks. The next track (Ny Batteri) is a real climax one: starting very slowly, and then letting the drums in after 4.5 minutes, more horns after 6 minutes. Again one of my faves. Track 6 (Hjartad hamast) is pure trance, think Spacemen 3, this is material wich trance dj's/producers could combine with their own cheese for a real good trancetrack. Vidrar vel til loftarasa (track 7) starts where the last track left and introduces piano. Because of the piano it could wel have been an Air song, this is Space Safari then. The first five minutes are instrumental, afterwards it becomes a real songs. And again another favourite. The next two tracks are just good (and in the case of Sigur Ros that means more than good). And the last one is an outro, a little piece of Brian Enoish ambient. Which is like child's play for these talents.
What can I say? See them! Hear them! Get Sigur-Rossed! (whatever that means:)
Free Music Review: More than a good start to Sigur Ros' international success
Hit: 5 Stars
The Icelandic band Sigur Ros, by this point in their career, have redefined and expanded their sound enough times to completely avoid categorization. Are they rock? Are they ambient? Or are they simply some breed of sophisticated pop? The only thing for certain is that Sigur Ros aren't afraid of being themselves, and have an awe-inspiring artistic freedom. Throughout this sprawling sophomore album, Sigur Ros created possibly their most accessible and simultaneously memorable album of their careers. The strategy utilized on Ágætis Byrjun is the same that was used on Von and would be used on future albums () and Takk. That strategy is simple. More means more. Which is ironic, because the opening introduction track is exactly the melody that the listener would want expanded on to about five minutes. This may seem like a pretentious move, but many have mistaken Sigur Ros' all-over-the-place style and relentless experimentation for pretentiousness only to gradually realize that it is true beauty and the art of learning while writing songs. Really, it is quite impressive how consistent this album stays. The bands style here is to combine subtle atmospheric instrumentation with emotive, soaring melodies. These songs sound huge, both in length and in scope, and the result is surprisingly warm. This also sounds very unlikely, almost too good to be true. But what do you know, Sigur Ros pull it off, against all odds. From the opening Svefn-G-Englar, vocals are given extremely relaxed treatment and strings and a lovely melody is gradually explored. It's hard to believe it, but every track is standout. Around the middle, the album shifts into a more dark, melancholy mood for the extent of two songs, Ny Batteri and Hjartao Hamast, which help to make Ágætis Byrjun Sigur Ros' most representative album. The extent of my gruff is that the band repeats themselves a little here and there, but who doesn't like more of a good thing? Happy, sad, lovely, dark, bright, relaxing, urgent. Sigur Ros are all of these things and more on their many albums, and this is the one that just happens to be the best. Sigur Ros is a wonderful band with myriad wonderful sounds. Start here.Free Music Review: Sigur Ros Does Agaetis Byrjun in San Francisco Concert
Hit: 5 Stars
Best Band around in my opinion,,,they deserve 10 stars at least! I was treated to a fabulous show given by Sigur Ros at The Fillmore in San Francisco. I am not familiar enough with the songs to identify them by title, so bear with me.What struck me by the concert is that the ensemble of their music creates an image in my mind of how I imagine Iceland to be. There is a tension that builds throughout the concert between calm and cataclysm, the serene unfolding of life in Iceland interrupted from time to time by awesome overpowering forces of nature.
The lead vocalist sings from his soul and you can hear your heart tremble. All the while he plays his electric guitar with a bow...this creates a winding screeching noise as if some serpentine river were recounting its adventures through the vast icelandic countryside. The drum pounds menacingly threatening to break out in full force at any moment. The tension continues.
About midway through the concert the tension between serene and thunderous subsides for a song or two. The band invites an icelandic man on stage to sing and he is accompanied only slightly by the instruments. He is obviously singing a ballad which seems very old, lugubrious and northern. Though I could not understand the lyrics, these songs bring to mind the cold icelandic winter from which there seems no escape.
Those ballads finish and the tension resumes. The drums continue to mount and once in a while the guitar and keyboard seem as if they too are about to join the rebellion....There is quiet in the music but in the background these forces make their presence known.
Finally in the last song comes the eruption...the guitars, drum and keyboard can be held back no longer and erupt upon the audience which also pours out its enthusiasm. It is like an orgasm. The tension has been released...almost all. Then the group is called back for an encore, and the instruments and voice erupt, pushing out the last bit of tension. Once again, the crowd cries for an encore. This time, Sigur Ros just come out for a bow. Everyone is spent and to play more would be anticlimactic, and so they retreat to god knows where in the San Francisco night.
Free Music Review: Wryjul Sienortak (Sigur Rostic for SWEEEEEEET)
Hit: 5 Stars
WARNING: When I write these reviews, I'm listening to the music... so if the album is happy, the review should be real happy. If the album is inspiring, the review should be inspiring. I figure this approach helps you understand the EFFECT of the music. Keep that in mind. Look for how the music has effected the review.Sure, there's nothing more pretentious than making up your own language for your lyrics. If Eddie Vedder did it, Rolling Stone would have never apologized for slandering him. And rightly so, only Sigur Ros could get away with it. And that's because they have quite nearly transcended what mainstream America knows as "music". To quote one of my favorite movies:
"I'd like to think they were singing about something so beautiful, it can't be expressed in words, and makes your heart ache because of it. I tell you, those voices soared higher and farther than anybody in a gray place dares to dream." - Morgan Freeman, The Shawshank Redemption
Sigur Ros has emerged as a band that does not work to please the ears. Oftentimes, the sound of a bow stroking the guitar is horrendous. Yet I am left dumbfounded, I keep listening. Whether the band intended it or not, my ears nearly cease hearing and my heart becomes the audience. The experience is very nearly spiritual. "Flugufrelsarinn" or "Svefn-G-Englar" wafts into my ears, stimulating an electrical charge to which my brain responds by releasing chemicals. These chemicals summon a sense of bright meloncholy, with which return all the problems I'm having in life. Yet before the song has finished, the sense of meloncholy has settled and all my problems have found their solutions. Through the seemingly magical catharsis, a peace remains which is entirely beyond description.
I've got a life, and when it hurts, this brings out the tears. Something between the swirling, surreal guitars and the pained, poignant singing launches my heart into my throat. Somewhere, buried deep beneath the surface, this music has a soul. I don't mean that in the urbanized "got soul" understanding, but rather that this music truly breathes with a life of it's own...