Sigur Rós - með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust

[murlough23]

I thought it was pretty funny that whoever wrote the review for Pitchfork actually seemed to hate the part where it did blow up in "Ara batur" - something about even Andrew Lloyd Weber saying it was a bit too much.  I disagreed strongly (I think of it as a defining moment on the album), but it made me laugh anyway.

Pitchfork often makes me laugh. Sometimes even when I agree with them.

But their response here may have something to do with the sheet amount of personnel that went into making that track - factoring in the orchestra and choir, apparently more people were involved in the making of that song than any other in the band's catalogue. Their problem may have been that the end result isn't quite powerful enough to justify all the effort that they threw at it.

Me? I think it's pretty, but they've done the same formula better before.

NP: "Sun It Rises", Fleet Foxes

[bloop]

It sounded to me like their complaint was just the opposite - that it was overpowered or entirely too manipulative.

It's one of my favorite songs of that kind for them, personally.  I don't want to go so far as to say it's better than all their others, or worse than a fair number of them - ranking individual songs that are even fairly similar is difficult for me if I love them all.

[murlough23]

Just because I think it'd be interesting and it would help to compare the aspects of Sigur Ros that we each like, I'll go ahead and list my favorite Sigur Ros tracks from past albums. ("Gobbledigook" would certainly make the list if I included the new album, but since I've only had a week or so to digest the rest of the tracks, I I'm excluding it.)

1. Sé Lest
2. Ný Batterí
3. Gong
4. Untitled #8 (Popplagið)
5. Sæglópur
6. Starálfur
7. Hljómalind
8. Untitled #1 (Vaka)
9. Glósóli
10. Hoppípolla
11. Svefn-G-Englar
12. Untitled #4 (Njósnavélin)
13. Andvari
14. Olsen Olsen
15. Untitled #3 (Samskeyti)

[Ian]

I don't think I could ever rank my favorite Sigur Ros songs, but I think Olsen Olsen may be my favorite.

And p4k is just being stupid for saying Ara batur is the worst thing on the disc.  Not liking the song because of the fact that it has a big climax?  That's just poor reviewing right there.

[murlough23]

I don't think I could ever rank my favorite Sigur Ros songs, but I think Olsen Olsen may be my favorite.

I haven't listened to that one or its source album in a while. I would probably have ranked it higher if I had it fresher in my memory. I should remedy this problem.

And p4k is just being stupid for saying Ara batur is the worst thing on the disc.  Not liking the song because of the fact that it has a big climax?  That's just poor reviewing right there.

Seriously. If you don't like big climaxes, I think it's safe to say that you should just stay away from Sigur Ros, period. I can understand wanting Sigur Ros to do something other than the obvious from time to time, but they accomplished that elsewhere on the album, and I think it's a bit of a cheapshot to criticize them for utilizing their best-known calling card. (Now, if they went for it every single time, that might get predictable, but the presence of stuff like "Gobbledigook" - and admittedly even the non-climactic slow stuff that I don't fancy - helps to ensure that they don't always stick to formula.)

NP: "Reign of Love", Coldplay

[Ian]

I haven't listened to that one or its source album in a while. I would probably have ranked it higher if I had it fresher in my memory. I should remedy this problem.

It suffers a lot from being repetitive, but it has a few of my favorite Sigur Ros moments.  It'd be a good idea to freshen your memory of the album though.  It's still easily their best imo.

[murlough23]

It suffers a lot from being repetitive, but it has a few of my favorite Sigur Ros moments.  It'd be a good idea to freshen your memory of the album though.  It's still easily their best imo.

I'm still gonna have to go with Takk... as my favorite Sigur Ros album thus far. Agaetis is classic, but more due to specific songs than the overall flow of the album. There are 3 or 4 tracks on Agaetis that feel really tedious to my ears ("Flugfurfahrvergnugen" or whatever the hell it's called, "Vidrar Vel Til Loftarasa", the title track, and "Avalon"), versus only two such tracks on Takk... ("Milano" and "Heysatan"). I used to enjoy ( ) quite a bit, but I'm finding that this was more due to individual tracks as well. Tracks 5-7 are quite a long haul to get through.

NP: "Chinese Sleep Chant", Coldplay

[bloop]

Agaetis Byrjun is my favorite of their albums, with "Staralfur" being my favorite song of theirs (which is kind of interesting in that it isn't a very long song).

[murlough23]

Agaetis Byrjun is my favorite of their albums, with "Staralfur" being my favorite song of theirs (which is kind of interesting in that it isn't a very long song).

That song is gorgeous. It was also the one that fared the best on the Heim EP. Though I missed the little "fireworks" in that version.

And yeah, 3 of the 5 songs I ranked above that one are longer than it ("Untitled #8" is even longer than some of the 9-or-10-minute clunkers that I like to complain about). Kinda funny, huh?

[Aaron]

Man, I love this album.