alternative rock appreciation: "The Smiths"

As a HUGE Collective Soul fan I must correct you. Collective Soul had SEVEN #1 rock hits in the 90's, and several other top ten rock hits from 1994 to the present. They were gone from the radio from about late 2001 to late 2004, which might be why you think they're no more. I don't know what stations you listen to, but I'd be surprised if you didn't hear "Counting the Days" or "Better Now" in the last couple years from their most recent album. The first was a big hit on rock radio, the second a big hit on adult contemporary radio.

I can't confirm or deny what you said about the other groups, although I know Everclear had several hits in the early 2000's, and I think Better than Ezra just had a big hit or two in the last couple years.

 

There are huge Collective Soul fans? Well, ya learn something new everyday.

You're right. I really haven't listened to the radio in a long time so I shouldn't have said it that way. There could be a huge Seven Mary Three revival going on right now for all I know.

 

You hope that was beer . I've known it to be other....substances. That happened to me at the Coldplay gig last year at the City of Manchester Stadium. Went to see Snow Patrol at the M.E.N Arena on Wednesday and luckily didn't get pelted with anything.

Saw Richard Ashcroft last year when he was supporting Coldplay at the M.E.N. Top performance from a great musician. Have to say that Urban Hymns is one of my favourite albums of all time. Sonnet, Lucky Man, Drugs and Bittersweet really sets the album apart. Top class!

 

nono, i *know* it was beer but i've been told elsewhere that it could have been *something else* (let's not go there). needless to say i will remember this gig forever

 

In an interesting postscript to our Verve discussion, research has shown that The Drugs Don't Work is The Saddest Song

 

it is very exquisitely sad. thank you

i wonder about the choice of happy songs, though. i can sort of understand the exhiliration coming from song 2, but what makes a happy song?

 

with the verve we had one of the exquistely sad tunesmiths here. but, as we concluded, not depressing at all. so i'm always wondering what quality it is that makes music uplifting even though it is talking about quite sad events in your life. and i don't know but i think it has to do with artists at least addressing it or something.

anyway, a quality of the icelandic

SIGUR RÓS

is it to play music that is breathtakingly beautiful and telling of it so wordlessly, well, that you can't help completely falling for them

they broke europe with agaetis byrjun which i think might mean birth or rebirth or some such. at any rate, they always have the most exquisite artwork, there it's an embryo with wings in silver on a blue background. that's of course not the most remarkable thing about it. the album is filled to the brim with prog rock, songs of fantastic travels through outer space and funky asides.

i love the next even better, () is not even a name, (hence i call it two kissing sausages) but it's stunning in its depth and width, going as far as music can go IMHO, music that doesn't explicitly state it's spiritual but feels most like it. my favourite song on that album is the last, about 15 minutes of musical landscape building and building to unattainable heights and then collapsing.

right now i'm listening to takk which promises more of the same thing - music perfect for riding your sleigh through a wintry forest. music that reflects the sheer awesomeness of nature, i find.

what astonished me most was that they were able to keep their level even at an event as lowly as a festival (apparently they also used to get booked into churches quite a lot which i imagine as one more breathtaking experience). when i saw them play late at night in a tent, taking hours to soundcheck because they bring all the violinists and everyone conceivable it seems, they practically blew me away. it is so very magical to listen to them. they literally cleared the air, i had the feeling, simply by the power of their music.


visit them here.

 

Finally! Something I've actually heard of, and not only that, I've heard their music, too.

Great stuff.

 

Another reason to love Iceland.

I suggest that fans of Sigur Ros also check out múm if you haven't already. A bit more playful and less ethereal, but kind of in a similar vein.

As a bit of trivia, the twins from múm are featured in the cover photo for Belle and Sebastian's Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant.

 

haven't heard any mum so far although i jump on anything icelandic quite quickly.

 

Mum? Catchy name...

 

i think múm are more electronic, if i'm not mistaken. sigur rós sort of make their music by hand. i'm pretty sure they don't use much electronic help, although from the liner notes in the albums you couldn't tell, they could get the music beamed fro outer space - they give you no info on themselves whatsoever.

i remember reading an actual interview with them back when agaetis byrjun came out and apparently they are really shy and don't speak much english (and raise your hand if you speak icelandic, right) so they don't communicate much with the press. it's not an obstacle towards understanding their art, though, the music communicates everything so clearly, you don't need any translation.

 

I always thought the Icelanders spoke Danish. Not right?

 

they tend to speak icelandic, which, in all likelihood, is related to danish in more than one way. tolkien used to study it. icelandic, that is.

at any rate the lovely sigur ros people say they don't sing in icelandic, instead they opted for something they call hopelandic (forgot the icelandic word).

the german wiki has translations of their song titles nevertheless:

Introduction - 1:36
Svefn-g-englar ('Schlafwandler') - 10:04 (sleepwalker)
Starálfur ('Glotzelfe') - 6:47 (gawping elf)
Flugufrelsarinn ('Der Fliegenbefreier') - 7:47 (freer of flies)
Ný batterí ('Neue Batterien') - 8:11 (new batteries)
Hjartað hamast (bamm bamm bamm) ('Das Herz wummert (bumm bumm bumm)') - 7:11 (the heart booms)
Viðrar vel til loftárása ('Ein gutes Wetter für Luftangriffe') - 10:18 (good weather for air raids)
Olsen Olsen - 8:03
Ágætis byrjun ('Ein (recht) guter Start') - 7:56 (a (fairly) good start)
Avalon - 4:00

 

Sigur Ros pwns..

 

I've heard Popplagið hundreds of times in the last five years but it never gets old.

Sigur Rós

 

share in the love

 

I don't post much but I my eyes caught "Sigur Ros" and I had to...
They would probably be there in my top 5 bands if I ever made a list. I used to be so obsessed with them and I even own everything they have put out

QFT! That song is absolutely perfect! It feels like the end of the world and I don't feel like listening to anything else for sometime. The live version is even more perfect (if that's possible!) And I love Untitled 5 too which IMO the most underrated track on () That song can really change my mood from being very happy to feeling downright depressed. Infact, () is incredibly dark compared to their other work.

Ágætis Byrjun means An alright start and that's because they played it for a friend and he said it was an alright start...I have never been to any of their concerts but, if the recordings show any idea they must be magnificent! I really hope I get to see them someday.

Oh and about them knowing english - they do know english and speak with a loveely icelandic accent...Georg (the bassist) even lived in England for a short while. I can go on and on but they are so good...

 

you should do this more often

and go to their concerts as well. it's amazing. is the live stuff readily available for buying or how did you get it?

 

You can get it from here They used to have a torrent tracker but it died recently...

 

thank you now i must figure out how to download.

 

i can't say how these bands relate to one another, but there you go.

EELS

i had a friend ages ago and we would share a lot of music. she sent me the first eels stuff back after beautiful freak had come out. we are no longer friends and i can't say i have bought every available eels album ever since or anything but the songs that i have - i really love them.

beautiful freak has a good selection of rock songs, the standout track is of course novocaine for the soul (which has the great line of 'this paint by numbers life is ****ing with my head once again'), my beloved monster, which was also used in the 1st shrek movie... your lucky day in hell.

well, i suppose it's obvious for someone who likes to listen to radiohead

while beautiful freak is a great album, it was electro-shock blues, which caught my attention again with its acid lyrics and chamber blues. apparently most of e's relatives and friends had died and he went through a period of going to a lot of funerals. it shows.

after that he rocked again which isn't necessarily great but then there's the old question of how much does the artist have to suffer for the art and i'm glad e didn't go to hell in a handbasket so far

one more thing i remember was a hilarious video of singing carrots for last stop:this town. watch it on the official site.

 

Eels?

 

what's wrong

 

Very odd name.