Sigur Ros

Background

Sigur Ros is an Icelandic alternative band that got started in 1994. After landing a local record contract, the band began releasing albums (Von [Hope] in 1997 and Von Brigoi [Hope Alteration], a remix album, in 1998), gaining nationwide popularity and finally hitting international success with their third work Agaetis Byrjun (A Good Beginning) in 1999. Agaetis Byrjun went on to win Iceland’s Best Album of the Century Award in 2000. Since then, Sigur Ros has released two more albums, ( ) and Takk (Thanks) and has achieved critical acclaim worldwide – particularly in Britain and the U.S. In America, their songs have been featured on soundtracks to TV series and advertisements, movies, and television events for over six years. Not bad for a band that is based about 4,000 miles away and who rarely tours anywhere in the U.S. outside of New York.

Sound

Sigur Ros’ music is ethereal, ambient, and minimalistic…yet on a deeper level, incredibly complex and emotive. They tend to use many instruments (on Agaetis Byrjun they use over 24) and short, poetic lyrics to perfect a simple sound and feel. In 2001 the band held a competition offering an authentic band drum to the best mathematical equation of Sigur Ros’ sound without using the words “glacial”, “elves”, “whales”, “volcanic”, “landscape”, or “angels”. The winner described Sigur Ros as following:
state of mind [desire + expectation] in which 1 believes 1's desires = realised * [imperceptible, darkly romantic drops of aural power + tinted radiance + unadulterated purity]² / [delicate, transcendent swim - slow-burning sincere melancholic edge] + vivid soundscapes that = outer reaches of their collective imaginations + expansive, voluminous meisterwork bristling with beauty/intensity = 10minute opiums = innovative art = sonic masterpieces = 100% sigur rós.

....powerful stuff.

Lost in Translation

Sigur Ros is one of the most mysterious and unique bands I have ever encountered on my musical adventures – first of all because I don’t understand their original lyrics. (No, I don’t speak Icelandic). There is an element of poetry – connection, cohesion, and melodic flow between words - in all spoken languages, which is especially prominent in its native music. Sigur Ros writes beautiful, imagery-drenched elegiac lyrics that lose half their meaning when translated into clumsy English. In one of their most famous songs, Hoppípolla (Jumping in Puddles), “Rennblautur / Allur rennvotur / Engin gúmmístígvél / Hlaupandi inn í okkur / Vill springa út úr skel” becomes “Soaked /Completely drenched / No rubber boots / Running in us / Want to erupt from a shell” . Obviously we’re losing a little something here, which makes me wonder what more this song would represent to an Icelander than it could ever mean to me.

Second, Sigur Ros compiled their fourth album, ( ) , in a fictitious language that they called Hopelandic. Syllabically it sounds similar to Icelandic but is actually gibberish – meaningless sounds carefully chosen to maximize the emotional impact and message of the background instruments. The album is, in effect, lyricless: an unheard-of concept coming from a band that normally uses spoken language. Sigur Ros explained their decision by saying that the listeners were supposed to interpret their own meanings and write them in the blank pages of the album booklet.
Weird as that might seem, this is why I love Sigur Ros. Their music is designed to represent sensation based solely on the crescendo of a piano or hum of a bow-played guitar…a rare talent. They appreciate that the most important, moving, and powerful things in life are unspoken. They understand that the purpose of music is to convey emotion when words simply fail to suffice.



I will leave you with the deeply disturbing but beautiful music video of Untitled 1 – Best Video of the Year at the 2003 MTV Europe Music Awards.

A General News Update

1) Radiohead has decided not to release sales numbers for their most recent album, In Rainbows, until the end of the year. However, several estimates from representatives 'close to the band' have surfaced. According several coinciding approximations, Radiohead made an average of $5 (or 2.5 pounds) on each album sold on the first day. British music review website Gigwise has published an article stating that the band sold 1.2 million copies of In Rainbows on the first day...meaning that Radiohead made over $6 million in 24 hours. Long term, it's anyone's guess as to whether or not the sales will continue to soar, especially after the release of the bonus tracks.



But regardless of the insane popularity of Radiohead, their newest album will probably never have a shot at coming close to the highest-grossing album of all time (the Eagles' Greatest Hits album, with over 29 million copies to date, according to Wikipedia). Why not? The music scene has inflated at an almost alarming rate since the days of the Eagles, in the 1970s. Add that to advanced technology and near-universal music availability/accessibility. Everyone can now whittle down their music selection to their exact eccentric specifications, whereas thirty years ago that wasn't quite as possible. You like ska funk with a pop edge and a gothic undertone? Yeah, there's some bands on iTunes for you to check out. In the times where genres are becoming obsolete and you need at least four or five adjectives and two band cross-references to describe the sound of your newest favorite group, it seems like there's no such thing as music that has global appeal. Regardless of how well Radiohead's new album does, they nor anyone else will get close enough to touch the days of the Beatles, the Eagles, and Michael Jackson.



2) According to recent financial estimates from Piper Jaffray, Apple's investment company, AT&T is paying Apple approximately $18 a month for EACH iPhone activated on its network. For a two year contract, that comes to $432. That means that Apple is receiving , on average, $831 per iPhone sold. In addition, Apple is predicted by executives to sell 3.4 million iPhones this year, 12.9 million next year, and 45 million in 2009 (the double-digit millions are supposed to be achieved by lowered prices, faster data speeds, and attractive new features such as navigation systems). $831 per phone, multiplied by 16.3 million (sales projections for the first two years) = 13.55 billion dollars from the iPhone ALONE.......thus bringing Apple one massive leap closer to owning the entire world as we know it. I wonder what effect this will have on the global economy? Actually...never mind...I don't want to know.

(And as a sidenote, the iPhone has been so popular that Apple has limited its sales to 2 phones per person as well as no longer accepting cash. Looks like those sales projections might actually be within the realms of possibility if this trend keeps up.)


3) Microsoft has won the battle vs. Google and Yahoo of "who gets to invest in the contemporary social networking global cobweb that is Facebook". The company is paying $240 million for a 1.6% share in Facebook, valuing the three-and-a-half year old company at $15 billion. Mark Zuckerberg, the 23 year old founder, is the owner of a 20% share in the company, making the Harvard dropout valued at over $3 billion. Not bad. "Stay in school, kids" has morphed into "drop out of school and found your own company, where you'll make more money than you could ever dream of from getting a REAL job". Sounds like Facebook may not be that far behind Apple in taking over the world. Unlike technology, which is ever-evolving, social networking will never become extinct.



That is all.

Menudo THIS

Once upon a time, there was a man named Edgardo Diaz. This man had a dream: to create a band composed of prepubescent teenage boys and turn their music into an international sensation. So in 1977, he recruited five boys to pursue his goal...and Menudo was born. Menudo was unique in that its membership was based on an age-dependent rotation. Only boys under the age of 16 could be a part of the band - after their 16th birthday, they were kicked out on their own to either fade into obscurity or pursue a solo career, and their spot was filled by another talented young hopeful. Menudo's music became huge in the 1980's. The band recorded albums in English, Spanish, Italian, and Portugese and toured throughout the U.S. and Brazil, stirring up "Menudomania" everwhere they traveled. In Sao Paulo, Brazil in 1985, Menudo's concert was sold out to 200,000 people at a 100,000 person capacity venue. In Rio de Janiero the capacity was 60,000 people but 70,000 bought tickets and 2 women died in the ensuing chaos. In Fortuleza, Menudo had the same number of security escorts granted to the Pope when he had visited.



Menudo was popular for most of the 80s, but started steadily declining throughout the 90s. They changed their name to MDO in 1993, and officially broke up in 2003. Only a couple of its members went on to achieve solo success post-Menudo, including the infamous Ricky Martin.


So in theory, cool concept, right? Menudo was marketed as a teen boy-band with the members' high prepubescent voices as a trademark. By rotating out members, Menudo could supposedly live on forever without ever losing its original sound and feel. But in actuality...that's kind of a fucked up way to organize a band. "Great stage presence? check. Incredible voice? check. Original, creative, and full of possibility? check. Under 16 years old? Damn. NEXT!!" A band should choose its members based solely on talent and potential, without this bullshit age caveat.
Part of what makes permanent members of a band important is that 1)the band can establish a specific, marketable, recognizable sound that stays consistent. Only then can they create a loyal fan base. If Thom Yorke was kicked out of Radiohead for being too old, a whole hell of a lot of fans would follow him and kick Radiohead to the curb. The members of Menudo spent more time fearing a sudden growth spurt than on creating meaningful music. How can you care about the quality of your band when you know you don't have a future with them once you grow up? 2) The sound of the band evolves on an album-by-album basis, embodying the personal growth, maturity, and development of the members themselves. Menudo's sound changed from bubble gum pop to urban/pop/rock based instead on who hit puberty, who got kicked out for illicit activity (Ruben Gomez and Sergio Blass in 1990 for possession of marijuana), and who abandoned ship for a real record contract (Robby Rosa, Angelo Garcia, Edward Aguilera, Jonathan Montenegro, and Rawy Torres, to name a few).


And now, to top it all off, MTV is launching a series similar to "Making the Band" to get Menudo back together with a whole new crowd of pretty, superficial teens to make crap music. Previews provide a glimpse of one of the trainers shouting "You think you're in this band already?? You've got another thing coming!!" at a cowering, tearful boy in the corner. Quality television, indeed. First of all, this band is going to be featured on an MTV series, so you know it's going to suck. Second, ANY TV show that is trying to form a band may succeed in ratings, but is bound to fail as far as making music goes. Bands need talent, chemistry between members, a distinctive and recognizeable sound, and mass appeal in order to succeed.....none of which you're likely to find on an MTV popularity contest. Music is important to me - it means so much to so many people. It's not a gimmick, it shouldn't be abused and manipulated for the sake of trash TV. Music is life. MTV, stop fucking around with it.

Facebook that shit!

So you go to a party, or you start a new job, or you meet the friend of a friend. You strike up a conversation with someone new, you like the vibe that they’re giving out, so you go home and Facebook/Myspace friend them. You peruse through their profile for a while – skimming through activities, interests, favorite books/movies/music/sexual positions. On their Wall you can get hints of their latest escapades from the comments of their friends. You cruise through pictures of them partying/drinking/hitting bongs/making out with their significant other. You know their hometown, birthday, sexual orientation, relationship standing, where they went to school, their occupation, their status (“Jay Wade is In Rainbows”), even if they’re online at that very second!



A social network profile gives the viewer a glimpse of that person’s life: all the “important” tidbits and facts that should sum up who they are. After reading a total stranger’s profile, I sometimes feel like I know them personally – it seems like I can describe their lifestyle, their friends, hobbies, music…. Some people go out of their way to try and represent every facet of their personality on their profile JUST SO THAT anyone looking can get the BEST possible representation of their being in the form of HTML script.

Why?

We fool ourselves into thinking that if someone rattles off tens of thousands of facts about themselves that we KNOW them. From your profile I can tell if you party or study or like baseball. I don’t know if you have a good sense of humor, or if you value friendship and selflessness more than making money and being ‘cool’. I don’t know if you’re a good listener or if you spend your time talking endlessly, endlessly about yourself and superficial things that don’t matter. I don’t know your ideals, aspirations, or what means the most to you in this world. I don’t know if you are honest, or shallow, or emotionally unstable, or insecure. I don't know if you could be my best friend or my worst nemesis.

Yes, from my Facebook you will know that I like Atmosphere, I go to Notre Dame, and my birthday is November 10th. But you don’t know anything about where I come from, what I’ve been through, and what I’ve learned from it. You have no idea who I am. That goes for everyone…Don’t forget that a person’s profile is just that: a superficial glimpse, a socially acceptable façade.

Your music = your life

White Trash Satan's recent blog post about goth music got me thinking: to what extent does the music you listen to define who you are as a person? I've always thought that you can tell a lot about a person by scrolling through their iPod and thumbing through their CD wallet.
I think first of all, a person's favorite genre has something to do with their geographic location and cultural background. It's completely wrong to generalize something like "all black people listen to hip hop", but there's some element of truth in your physical and cultural surroundings having an influence on your style of music. A lot of people who live in the midwest listen to country, in larger cities to techno/electronica (because of the rave scene), in inner city areas to hip hop and rap. That's not a stereotype...it's about the contents of the lyrics and what you can relate to. A lot of the country I've heard has to do with dogs, pickup trucks, guns, and guitars - I'm sure a hell of a number of midwest farmers can relate to that. (Good) Hip hop and rap speak about the more difficult things in life: growing up in a bad area or with a non-ideal family situation, and the personal conflicts that come with that. Slug, from Atmosphere, raps about his struggles growing up in Minneapolis: women, cops, weapons, and everything in between.

However, I think the music you listen to does NOT necessarily reflect your values. I find that the lyrics of my favorite music are a vital part of WHY I treasure the song...but for other music, I just like the beat and the feel - what the artist is saying is not all that important.
Instead, I think the music that a person listens to is one of the best indications of their emotional temperament. Goths tend to revel in negativity - those thoughts, emotions, and concepts that are dark and typically considered taboo or freaky by mainstream American culture. Rockers/industrializers/metalheads edge on the angrier side of the musical perspective - not as intense and morbid as goths, but just tend to have more of a rebellious "fuck you" attitude towards life. Fans of rap, R&B, hip hop, and reggae range from 'hardcore gangstas' to laid-back, 'go with the flow', chill types. People who enjoy jazz and classical appreciate the intellectual aspects of music: the technical details that give the sounds their meaning and effect. Then there's the music that's difficult to categorize: techno/electronica/dance, indie, 'alternative' (whatever that means), funk, pop (which I don't even consider a musical art form but feel like I have to include for the sake of completion), folk, acoustic, ska.....These categories comprise much of the vastly wide range of sounds that help make the term "music" so diverse. They're difficult to pin down as evoking one specific emotion or feeling.
Of course, everyone listens to different types of music depending on what moods they're in. I can't tell you who you are as a person because you listen to hip hop... But I can guess certain aspects of your personality and temperament. The music that means the most to you reflects the beliefs you hold dearest to you in life. Disclosing what music you listen to, your favorite songs, and why, is probably one of the most personal things you can reveal about yourself. Your past, what's happening in your present, and things you dream of in your future are all intensely intimate pieces of why you find that song moving or that band important. "Our music" is not just something that we fill our ears and occupy our mind with when we're bored. "Our music" exposes our most secret emotions, beliefs, hidden sides of our personalities, and ideals. "Our music" defines who we are for all the world to see....if it looks closely.

The Best and the Worst

The Worst:
Watch. Just watch. Hahahaha. Is he for real? and just when you get sick of it after ten seconds and want it to STOP JUST PLEASE STOP...keep on watching, it gets funnier!

Chacarron Macarron - "El Mudo"



The Best:
Tranquility. Peace. Smooth impenetrable silent serenity. Nirvanic happiness resulting from acceptance and absolute cessation of desire. Whenever I listen to this song, I can believe that everything's going to be all right.

Porcupine Tree - "Collapse the Light into Earth"

Constant overstimulation numbs me...

...but I would not want you any other way.

Is anyone else as obsessed with Tool as I am? Especially one of my all-time favorite songs, Stinkfist? Structurally, this song is not particularly complicated or ground-breaking (nothing on the level of Lateralus, which is organized based on the Fibonacci sequence). The lyrics are what make this song special, and incredibly important to me.



TOOL - "Stinkfist"
Something has to change.
Undeniable dilemma.
Boredom's not a burden
Anyone should bear.

Constant over stimulation numbs me
but I would not want you
any other way.

It's not enough.
I need more.
Nothing seems to satisfy.
I don't want it.
I just need it.
To breathe, to feel, to know I'm alive.

Finger deep within the borderline.
Show me that you love me and that we belong together.
Relax, turn around and take my hand.

I can help you change
Tired moments into pleasure.
Say the word and we'll be
Well upon our way.

Blend and balance
Pain and comfort
Deep within you
Till you will not want me any other way.

It's not enough.
I need more.
Nothing seems to satisfy.
I don't want it.
I just need it.
To breathe, to feel, to know I'm alive.

Knuckle deep inside the borderline.
This may hurt a little but it's something you'll get used to.
Relax. Slip away.

Something kinda sad about
the way that things have come to be.
Desensitized to everything.
What became of subtlety?

How can this mean anything to me
If I really don't feel anything at all?

I'll keep digging till
I feel something.

Elbow deep inside the borderline.
Show me that you love me and that we belong together.
Shoulder deep within the borderline.
Relax. Turn around and take my hand.


I come from a background of experimentation, rebellion, and constantly pushing my limits to the edge to find out who I am. Switched high schools twice, been to rehab twice, always having family problems, always dating the scandalous guy. Now I'm taking a semester off from school to take a breath, step back and figure out who the f**k I am and what the f**k I'm doing before I screw up my education, and my life. I know exactly what Maynard James Keenan is talking about when he sings "this may hurt a little but it's something you'll get used to".

Stinkfist can be interpreted a couple different ways. First is the obvious graphic 'fisting' analogy toward desensitization, the reason why some of the lyrics were censored for radio and MTV. I think about it differently - the borderline Keenan sings about is your own personal limitation: what you will and will not stand, getting closer and closer to the edge of what will actually kill you. Throughout the song, you push yourself farther into the magnetic black hole vortex that is claiming your knuckle, finger, elbow, shoulder...and eventually your soul. You know that it's terrible, that you're hurting yourself and everyone around you, but still you can't pull yourself away. When I was doing drugs, I gave up more and more of my life and myself to the drug. It started innocently, with just a little bit every once in a while. But drugs really will steal your soul away: you get more intoxicated, more in love. You build a tolerance so you have to take in more just to feel anything. Eventually, with addiction to a drug, you have to take so much to get the same high that your body can't handle it, and you "relax, slip away..."

Some people can do drugs purely recreationally. Snort a line, smoke a bowl, play some pong, have some fun. For me, it was a search to feel something - anything. Once I got started I just took and took, selfishly - all that I could get. "It's not enough/I need more/ nothing seems to satisfy/ I don't want it/ I just need it/ to breathe, to feel, to know I'm alive...How can this mean anything to me if I really don't feel anything at all? I'll keep digging till I feel something".

That was a dark, confused, complicated time for me. It was scary, and painful, and I would never choose to go back. I gave/lost a fucking part of myself that I will never get back. As bad as it was, I learned a lot... The reason why I love "Stinkfist" so much is because it reminds me of what I learned about myself and other people, and how much I DON'T want to get back there. Ever.




Isn't it crazy how a song can embody so much of your life?