October 8, 2001

6:47 PM

Sigur Ros has been nominated for the Virgin Megastore Shortlist Prize for Artistic Achievement. Their video for "Vidrar vel til Loftarasa " is one of the most beautiful, shocking, and saddening pieces of film I've seen in a long while. (It's available on their site)
posted by fnirt (37 comments total)

Well deserved, they're an amazing group, and i hope its just the beginning of a really successful carreer for them.
posted by atom128 at 6:51 PM on October 8, 2001

oh, and the video is amazing, fnirt isnt kidding.
posted by atom128 at 6:58 PM on October 8, 2001

Sigur Ros deserves all the attention they're getting and more...but I never until now associated Virgin Megastore with artistic achievement.
posted by youthbc1 at 7:10 PM on October 8, 2001

Okay, that's freaky. I just heard Sigur Ros for the first time today in the local hipster coffee joint.

I asked what was playing and used my mobile's phone book to save it so I wouldn't forget how 'Sigur Ros' was spelled.

I'm hours ahead of the bandwagon (-;
posted by alan at 7:18 PM on October 8, 2001

i just want to hear sigur ros in concert. i was blown away by their album (bought as an import back in the spring -how's that for being ahead of the bandwagon?), and have heard that their live set brings the biggest of badasses to tears.
posted by carsonb at 7:20 PM on October 8, 2001

imagine a double header with them and godspeed you black emperor....

damn.
posted by atom128 at 7:27 PM on October 8, 2001

Yeah, great video. Amazing. Brilliant. That's just what we need, more child porn on the web.

"It's art" "You don't get it".

Bollocks. Stick your ChildPornArtOgraphicHomoEroticStarbucksMuzakVideo.
posted by daragh at 7:30 PM on October 8, 2001

I really thought they had one of the best "rock" records of last year. Unfortunately, I think the video is pretty hokey. Their music has a cinematic quality already. I never should have watched it, hopefully I can get back to my own fluid narrative after seeing it. I do think this band is excellent...they draw from their antecedents well.
posted by anathema at 7:32 PM on October 8, 2001

"It's art" "You don't get it".

Uh, oh. Here we go...

Seriously, though. The football/soccer field is hardly the place to try and get yer fuck on.
posted by BoatMeme at 7:34 PM on October 8, 2001

How about a warning to those of us who are sensitive to BROKEN SCARY DOLLS?! HELLO?!

Of course the climax of the video kind of came out of nowhere. Once again how do we go from broken dolls to that?
posted by geoff. at 7:52 PM on October 8, 2001

I recently went to a SR show and thought it was a little underwhelming. They are nice on record but they are no Silver Mt. Zion or Godspeed You Black Emperor in concert.

If you ever get a chance, watch Angels of the Universe (Englar alheimsins), an Icelandic film that makes great use of two SR tracks (along with a bunch of Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson music).
posted by gluechunk at 7:52 PM on October 8, 2001

Mmm. Sigur Ròs is very yummy (and, selon moi they vastly dwarf GYBE!'s pseudo-classical kanoodlings). I've been listening to them since mid-2000 (gawk!) so my indie cred is doin' pretty good. (If only 'indie cred' was a quality that appealed to employers.)

Also, I think it's been linked on MeFi before, but the aforementioned Short List of Music prize is way, way cool - reminiscent of Britain's Technics Mercury Music Prize.
posted by Marquis at 8:08 PM on October 8, 2001

Discovered them about a year ago, to my ear (I'm 45) they sound pretty damn good. I listen mostly to electronic stuff, but some of their stuff really lifts me in a way I haven't heard in a while (GYBE doesn't get me the same way FWIW). I've heard they're kind of full of themselves, but maybe that's what it takes. Svefn-G-Englar is the song I keep going back to. You can find Real Audio streams and downloads at the official site (link in original post) and mp3s (128k) of some studio and live tracks here at the 18 seconds before sunrise site.
posted by aflakete at 8:40 PM on October 8, 2001

For those without the inclination to view a teeny little 56K stream, it's about fifteen seconds of footage dragged out by slo-mo to last over 7 minutes, set to instantly forgettable muzak:

- Boy plays with creepy dolls on pier
- Different boy watches while stroking a fish
- Dad throws dolls off pier
- Boy gets dolls back
- Boys play soccer
- Boy scores goal
- Boy sucks face with other boy
- Dad drags boy off

'Beautiful, shocking and saddening'? Trite, predictable and amateur.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 8:55 PM on October 8, 2001

I enjoyed it. Great photography and strong imagery.
posted by Kikkoman at 9:12 PM on October 8, 2001

...and it offered the very first pleasant experience I've ever had with any RealMedia stream. So clear! Nary a skip! Swoon!
posted by droob at 9:32 PM on October 8, 2001

They sing their songs in their own made up language, how serious could they be?
posted by efullerton at 9:43 PM on October 8, 2001

Elizabeth Fraser from Cocteau Twins managed to sing nonsense, and still be fairly serious and haunting, I would say...
posted by Jairus at 10:34 PM on October 8, 2001

I saw them a week ago in concert (in a cathedral!) and they were amazing. One of the best concerts I've ever been to. Highly, highly recommended.

And I reeeeeeeeeeeeally wouldn't call Sigur Ros muzak, but to each their own.
posted by icathing at 10:41 PM on October 8, 2001

made up language? I thought it was Icelandic. But what do I know?
posted by kevspace at 10:54 PM on October 8, 2001

Stick your ChildPornArtOgraphicHomoEroticStarbucksMuzakVideo.

had the video portrayed a boy and a girl kissing, would you have described it as "hetereoerotic?" also, I fail to see the eroticism. perhaps you are writing some of your own experiences into your interpretation?
posted by mcsweetie at 11:14 PM on October 8, 2001

hehehe .. re child porn .. you're all joking right ?

if you dig sigor ros try mogwai ("come on die young" is great).

years back i picked up a compilation called "robots monsters and bugmen" i hate to use the term post rock .. but if you like this stuff try and find a copy - it's two cd's of sheer wibbly joy

of course you can just look up the classic and get my bloody valentines' "loveless"
posted by mrben at 11:40 PM on October 8, 2001

since the magic phrase "post rock" has now been used in this thread, you may also want to check out the earlier thread on post rock music...
posted by gluechunk at 11:50 PM on October 8, 2001

if you can find it, i recommend Englar Alheimsins, a soundtrack they recorded with Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson in early 2000. huge sweeping soundscapes, lots and lots of strings...no vocals...marvelous stuff. has anyone seen the film?


Von is strong, but the lack of any ability with the icelandic language becomes somewhat of a hindrance in places on this one to my ears.

and be careful with Recycle Bin. it's only remixes...a couple more than once...but...

some are solid. the ones they remix on their own are some of the best. Hún Jörð is my fave.


and from what i understand, they sing the songs mostly in icelandic. however some of it is sung in Hopelandish, a language created by the singer, Jon Thor Birgisson. i believe their website confirms that somewhere.

i think they make beautiful music that at times can be emotionally stunning, and so does iceland. first heard of them a year or so ago when they were opening for radiohead in europe. what an amazing tour that must've been.


plus, there is some wicked guitar bowing happening here, and it's not only being pulled off, it sounds fantastic.
posted by basmati at 12:52 AM on October 9, 2001

basmati, yeah, i saw Angels of the Universe twice a few months ago. the movie creeped me out enough that i had to see it more than once. i hope it gets a regular release here. the soundtrack was released domestically (for the U.S.) last week. if you like the sweeping strings, check out the other stuff that HOH has put out (such as the soundtrack to Children of Nature and the stuff he did with Current 93).
posted by gluechunk at 1:20 AM on October 9, 2001

They sing their songs in their own made up language, how serious could they be?

Hey. Don't no knocking Magma, OK?
posted by Grangousier at 2:17 AM on October 9, 2001

I caught them live here in Chicago a couple weeks ago, and was altogether moved by the experience. To save me a bit of typing, I've excerpted the following from my log:

In what was perhaps the most beautiful concert experience we've ever been party to, we saw (the verb "see" doesn't do it justice, but such is the language we have to work with) Sigur Ros at the Vic last Thursday.

Their hauntingly beautiful and almost orchestral music was accompanied by astonishingly beautiful loops of film. Sound coursing though our body, we absorbed visual poems - rain upon a gentle pool of water (sounds trite, but it was beautiful), slow motion and over exposed footage of children playing in a field, birds perched on a wire, etc.

We left the theater feeling like a more complete person. It was as if we'd read and fully understood a work of literature, or lost ourselves in a painting. We were changed. Great art has a tendancy to do that.
posted by aladfar at 5:58 AM on October 9, 2001

Boy plays with creepy dolls on pier
- Different boy watches while stroking a fish
- Dad throws dolls off pier
- Boy gets dolls back
- Boys play soccer
- Boy scores goal
- Boy sucks face with other boy
- Dad drags boy off

I have a slightly different interpretation.
-Boy Plays with creepy dolls
-different boy watches
-dad throws dolls
-boy begins daydreaming about what would happen if he
did in fact reach down and grab those dolls and give them
back to the other boy.....
-boy stops daydreaming and continues watching other boy get pulled away by hi da.
-end.

i mean really, even little boys have enough sense not to make out with each other on the middle of a soccer field surrounded by parents....try to not be so damned literal, people.
posted by jaded at 6:03 AM on October 9, 2001

You forgot to mention the epilogue where the boy grows up, gets married, gets bitter, then posts a lot of angry, hypercritical messages on Metafilter.
posted by MegoSteve at 9:26 AM on October 9, 2001

Anyone who criticises more than they create is a fucking fool.
posted by Satapher at 9:27 AM on October 9, 2001

Anyone who has a 'say fuck' to 'say fool' ratio that is not precisely balanced is in grave danger of slipping completely one way or the other, until the only word you can say is 'fuck' (or 'fool'.)

Me and Satapher are OK, but BoatMeme is in grave danger.

Grave.
posted by sonofsamiam at 10:09 AM on October 9, 2001

lol
posted by Satapher at 10:18 AM on October 9, 2001

I just found a link to a QuickTime version of the video that is downloadable. The site does not alow deep linking, so go to Method Studios, click on the portfolio section and then on the 5 most recent and you'll see the video listed there.

There's a bunch of other greta music videos there as well.
posted by whatevrnvrmind at 2:05 PM on October 9, 2001

That spell checker worked wonders :P
posted by whatevrnvrmind at 2:06 PM on October 9, 2001

fuck. f... Fuc... fu..

fffffffffuuu

GRUNT

shhhhhiii

BLOWS GASKET

Shit.

You're right, sonofsamiam.
posted by BoatMeme at 4:29 PM on October 9, 2001

Finally got to see this video. Sorry, it was pretty lame and didn't match the music at all.
posted by kindall at 5:00 PM on October 9, 2001

Just a follow-up: Sigur Ros won the 2001 Short List Prize at the end of November.
posted by Marquis at 8:15 PM on November 27, 2001