I don’t know why this album is finally making sense to me. There was probably a lot of expectations wrapped up in the thought of Jónsi doing a solo release. I’ll go as far as to say that Sigur Rós doesn’t really even sound like Sigur Rós anymore, but upon first listening to Go, it still felt additionally foreign. Ignoring the fact that initially in comparison to most popular music Sigur Rós sounded more alien than foreign, I think the 10 years of acclimation has let us learn the language of Iceland’s second weirdest exports (should current Reykjavik mayor Jón Gnarr, a former comedian, hits the spotlight I can only guess he’ll be up high on the list). With 2005’s Takk… and 2008’s Með Suð I Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust, their last few efforts felt like the process of sobering up as the sun rose…beautiful for sure, but on another level tiresome. The expanded instrumentation helped, but the shock of their otherworldly originality had faded. The live acoustic album Hvarf/Heim that accompanied the documentary Heima, got more listens from me than the previous two albums combined, even though it just served to remind me that their earlier albums were more awesome than their later output.
When ‘Go Do’ came out, it was like the sun had fully risen. The song’s propulsive beat and Jónsi’s tendency to sing in english (not his Cocteau Twins-ian language of Vonlenska) were even more off-putting to me, as I just wanted to nestle back into the darkness of 2002’s ( ). Odder still to see the song playing over the end credits of How To Train Your Dragon, a fine film…but an odd context. The connection I later learned is that director Dean DeBlois not only helmed the aforementioned dragon flick, but also their Heima documentary.
I won’t lie, internet marketing had a role in my coming back around on Go. A few months ago, they cut together a trailer for the tour:
I had to sit through it before watching a handful of dumb cat videos on youtube and for some reason, it reminded me that I really liked his voice. So, I went back to the album and found it to be far better than I remembered and ‘Go Do’ suddenly appeared to my ears to be something that a Sigur Rós song achieved: catchy. It’s been on repeat lately more than I’d like to admit.
Jónsi is taking Go on a national tour very shortly. On my previous experiences with Sigur Rós live, his voice live is incredible weather uptempo or down.
U.S. dates below:
October 15th – 4th & B – San Diego, CA
October 17th – The Wiltern, Los Angeles, CA
October 19th – Fox Theater – Oakland, CA
October 21st – House of Blues – Las Vegas, NV
October 22nd – The Complex – Salt Lake City, UT
October 23rd – The Marquee – Tempe, AZ
October 25th – Verizon Theatre – Grand Prairie, TX
October 26th – Austin Music Hall – Austin TX
October 27th – Verizon Theatre – Houston, TX
October 29th – Voodoo Festival – New Orleans, LA
October 30th – Moogfest – Asheville, NC
October 31st – The Tabernacle – Atlanta, GA
November 2nd – The Pageant – St. Louis, MO
November 3rd – Vic Theatre – Chicago, IL
November 5th – The Fillmore – Detroit, MI
November 6th – Newport Music Hall – Columbus, OH
November 8th – 9:30 Club – Washington, DC
November 10th – Hammerstein Ballroom – NYC, NY
Though the limited edition of Go (featuring a live acoustic dvd and housed in a velvet lined box) has sold out, you can still purchase the digital limited edition direct from his website. This version features a download of the album in lossless and mp3 format, the live dvd that came with the physical limited edition as an mp4 and an additional 4 song performance with Jónsi and Nico Muhly.
My brain is still pretty blown from a 16 hour solo drive, so all the plans I had for posts last week just kinda fell by the wayside. Much of my listening lately has consisted of Anthony Bourdain’s new audiobook Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook, so the musical selections have taken a backseat. I can definitely recommend Medium Raw as it’s probably his best. For a man who was one thing in the past attempting to co-exist with an older, dare I say it mellower current self; it’s a smartly self-aware narrative, still bristling with the rage that is a staple of all eras of his persona. Enough about audiobooks, here’s some music:
I was terribly skeptical of this album with all the press that proceeded
http://arielpinkshauntedgraffiti.com/">Ariel Pink’s newest release, but it’s a twisted charmer. ‘Reminiscences’ will most likely be what you will listen to on the not-yet-built space elevator up to the Frank Zappa memorial that will orbit the moon. Or, maybe…during the local forecasts on the Weather Channel in 20XX.
I already gave him a write-up just over a month ago, but this one track seems to just stick out the more I revisit Hooooded Plus*. A multitude of cascading synths, headnodding electro beatsand cooing, halfway there vocals…what more do you need?
While not new by any standards, Daedelus’s ‘Make It So’ is still a fantastic song by an equally good performer. The track is is a perfect example of the casual, beat heavy beauty that he seems to produce so consistently. I had the chance to catch him ages ago at LA’s best weekly event Low End Theory and he performed, as per usual, in a charmingly odd suit with his Monome pointed out toward the crowd for an extended mix of beat stylings from the last 3 decades. His live sets are always worth the price of admission.
Also worth checking out is the XXXChange remix of ‘Make It So’ hosted over at RCRDLBL:
The syrupy thick layers of sound in any given Candy Claws song seems to leave them dumped with a ton of bands buried under the banner of the new and quickly reviled genre de jour that is Chillwave. There’s something more in their work in their music though; the lush vocal pairings of couple Ryan Hover and Kay Bertholf flow perfectly with an shockingly well mixed array of sounds. While I think much of the Chillwave genre arrives at the muddy and distant sound out of organized chaos, everything on ‘Sun Arrows’ seems to be aligned perfectly…as Candy Claws most likely wants it.
A highly recommended song and album. Do check out the just released album Hidden Lands:
Sometimes, out of all the press releases that find their way into my inbox one or two will yeild a reward. Dad Rocks! was a bit of a hard sell, what with the cheeky name and all. The man behind the band is Snævar Njáll Albertsson, lead singer for the Danish band Mimas. I was ready to pass the song by…it’s got a charming enough single take video that ends in a bunch of kids dancing (call me a grump…points off for that), but the moment the loose drumbeat and horn snuck in my heart melted a bit. The echoed piano toward the end only boosted the atmosphere and enhanced the Why? vibe. I’ve listened to the song a few times now and it only grows on you.
Plus if I didn’t post the video, how could I find an excuse to show you this wonderful promo still:
Is the space get up a sly reference to Mimas’s early name Astronaut? Is Snævar eating a taco or a hot dog? I’m guessing hot dog, since in my experience Icelanders do love their pylsur. *
‘Nothing Keeps Up’ is from the forthcoming Digital Age EP, which features a pretty nifty hand-made digipack with a pop-up inside.
Digital Age EP will be released August 16, 2010 via Big Scary Monsters. You can pre-order a hard copy from the label or get it digitally now from iTunes.
* Editors Note: Though Mimas is a Danish band, Snævar hails from Iceland. **
Not that this Baltimore duo needs more exposure, but this song really gets to the heart of why Teen Dream is a beautiful, lush album. The lazy sway of the tune is performed with such little effort that it makes you feel that conjuring up such a lush mood is far easier than it really is. Love it.
Teen Dream was released January 26, 2010 via Sub Pop. You can get it digitally from iTunes and on vinyl from Insound, where the two LP release comes with a DVD of videos for each song on the album.
Markus Popp has crafted some of the more interesting and complex minimal electro in recent years. The pinnacle of his earlier work came with the mid 90’s pair of releases Systemische and 94 Diskont, which rose to the pinnacle of pastoral glitchy soundscapes. Then a trio, the music was centered around worship of the accidental; they would take cds of crafted samples, scratch them up and re-sample the results. Through a heavy amount of processing, what could easily be incredibly harsh becomes a warm bath of digital tones backed by discreet rhythms made of pops and skips. Now primarily the sole work of Popp, with former bandmate Frank Metzger handling the design work, he’s back after nearly a decade off with a new spin on the Oval music.
The surprises some early in Oh, the most recent EP release from Oval, clearly detailed in the opening track ‘Hey’. After an initially calm 2 minutes of synth wash and glitchy tones bouncing around the track, a clear burst of drums rounds out the mix. Such distinct instrumentation was rarely found on earlier works, but the kinetic flourishes and free jazz fills match the energy of the lead melody and don’t come across as too jarring.
The third track ‘Grrr’ feels a bit darker, like a fax machine drunkenly crooning Standards-era Tortoise. Comparisons to the band are fair, as Popp is now labelmates wth Tortoise and much of the US probably first grew aware of Oval via their mid-ninties remixes for the band. Spazzy, almost digital interpretations of guitar fed through a variety of filters and finely chopped become the lead, making for something at once soothing and jarring,
The latter half of the EP is slightly more traditional Oval, featuring more abstract tone poems: as much meditations on style as they are functioning songs. Taking improvised sounding fret tapping and layering in digital elements, ultimately what is created is something that tricks the ear. Any attempt to consciously recognize what is organic and what is electronic becomes an empty quest and it’s best to simply be tugged along by the flow. Some of the shorter songs may feel like they end abruptly, but you’re left with a satisfying listen and some anticipation towards next month’s full length O.
Here’s one of less beat driven, more abstract songs from Oh:
The installation is a walk through of an aviary populated by Zebra finches and plugged in electric guitars. As the birds do what birds do, as well react to the passing guests, they muck about with strings and frets doing their best to cover early Sonic Youth. There’s some correlation between Boursier-Mougenot’s piece and both the technical approach and tonal structure of Oval. The random flecks of tone and the abstract routes melody take can be found thoughout Popp’s catalog as well in ‘From Here To Ear’. The use of a still from the piece is the only connection however, as Disquet found out from a Thrill Jockey rep that Boursier-Mougenot has no involvement with the music and he just allowed use of the image.
While I’m on the subject, take a look at Hanes Broecker’s ‘Drink Away The Art,’ a piece which pretty much functions as the title implies while still remaining interesting.
Oh was released June 15th, 2010 via Thrill Jockey. The first pressing of the EP, which was pressed on 150 gram white vinyl and featured a hand glued still from Céleste Boursier-Mougenot’s ‘From Here To Ear’ has sold out. Check back with Thrill Jockey to see when it is repressed, though you can get it digitally from the label as well. Oval’s next release come in early September and will be a double disk/vinyl full length that will feature 70 songs, a sample of which can be found over at Disquet.
JONSI – GO DO
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