Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 11-15 of 21
 Hiss on the CD!? June 23, 2008
Steve Fox (Midlands, UK)
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
Brilliant album. Ive been listening to it for a few weeks now via the sigur ros website, but today i bought it, twice!
Reason is, the first one had quite a noticeable hiss in the background, like you used to get on a dirty record. It was most noticeable on the intro to track 3. I then bought a second copy, thinkin this was just a one off bad cd, this time from ASDA (first time from HMV) and the same hiss is present throughout the album. This is very disappointing, and now I'm not sure what to do, probably will wait for a few weeks, until this bad batch has been taken off the shelves.
Anyone else had this problem?
Music From Heaven.... June 23, 2008
Prince of Darkness
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
Do not listen to those negative feedbacks ! This is another great album from the greatest band in the world right now. I really love and enjoy every minuites in this album! You should listen to this album before you go to bed as they will start from the joyful songs and slow it down from track 5 to the last song to send you to sleep with a nice dream.
P.S. "Ára Bátur" is anothere epic song from Sigur Ros !
 Summertime in Iceland June 21, 2008
William Rycroft (London, UK)
9 out of 11 found this review helpful
Sigur Ros have always ploughed their own furrow, creating soundscapes imbued with the cold and unworldly atmosphere of their native Iceland. With heavy reverb and the unmistakable falsetto of lead singer 'Jonsi' Birgisson the band have always made a virtue of the slow burner, the track which seems to take an age to develop, and have since found their music used in everything from trailers for the BBC's Planet Earth series to Queer as Folk. But that kind of amorphous, post-rock comes with its own problems. How to develop? The invention of a nonsense language, Hopelandic, on 2002's enigmatically titled () led to a repetitive album of, well, nonsense and with the follow up, Takk, things seemed to be stagnating. So the cover of their new album (trans: With A Buzz In Our Ears We Play Endlessly) bodes well. Clothes discarded, with a definite summery tinge to the picture we have people streaking across a road and something tells me they didn't stop, look and listen.
The fantastically titled Gobbledigook gets us under way with acoustic guitars and hand claps reminiscent of flamenco, spurred along by thumping drums. It's a vigorous start which is continued by the glorious piano led Inní mér syngur vitleysingur (Within me sings a lunatic). This track is the one illustrated best by the album's cover, filled with explosive energy and a sunshine melody, easily the best track on here. A bit of research reveals the lyrics to be 'My best friend, whatever may happen/I swallow a tear and breathe in your hair/Making a ruckus embracing, we cry/When we meet, when we kiss/Lips burning, holding hands/I see you awake, I see you naked/Inside me sings a lunatic.' Or something like that. It's followed by the beautiful Gó an daginn (Good day) which shows Birgisson's voice in all its glory. Vi spilum endalaust (We Play Endlessly) actually sounds more like a conventional indie-pop song, think Polyphonic Spree, with more of that positive sounding energy. The mammoth Festival is one of those slow burners, relying on an almost hymnal vocal for its first half before a thumping bass guitar starts the build into a crescendo which finally gets there.
It's at this halfway point that the album seems to lose all of that momentum and energy. The next few tracks are pretty enough but it ceases being the mould breaking album it could have been. Ára bátur enlists the services of a boys choir and 67 piece orchestra but it only succeeds in highlighting the relative weakness of Birgisson's voice. Even the first foray into English lyrics isn't enough to get excited about (I want him to know/What I have done/I want him to know/It's bad). It's not a bad album but it's hard to imagine it replacing any of their others in your affection. It'll be interesting to see which tracks get picked by the advertisers.
Brilliant June 20, 2008
Shawn P. Golby (Essex,UK)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
OK im a fan a big fan of sigur ros I think they are the most imaginative,evocative band to arrive ever.A previous reviewer likened a new release to christmas I have to agree im tingling all over with excitement,and having listened to the streaming of the new album on the bands website i cant wait for this album(preordered it of course) coldplay pale in comparison(sorry coldplay fans)
It's actually very good June 18, 2008
Mr. A. Shepherd (THE NORTH)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
After finding out that music maestro 'Flood' was to produce their 5th album, I was a little,(some may say justified) cautious about this new offering from Icelandic cloud landscapers, Sigur Ros.
Their new and latest free download Gobbledigook, took me somewhat by surprise, it's a brave move. I couldn't help but think bands like 'The Flaming Lips' could carry this off with absolute ease, but as a Sigur Ros track, for me, didn't really work.
I couldn't help but think it's like someone taking a wild endangered animal, sticking it in a cage and getting it to perform tricks for a paying audience. Thankfully, the other tracks are as good as anything they have done previous. Some Sigur Ros purists still may be a little disappointed with its more structured sound, but for me, I'm happy to report, it still sounds pretty darn good.
I think it's a fine mix of lets try something new/with not wanting to alienate their core audience, the only slight problem for me is that at times it seems a little obvious and slightly mechanical. Compared to their usual style of organically producing stunning backdrops for movies that have never been made, Me su í eyrum vi spilum endalaust, may be a tad forced, I like my Sigur Ros tracks less obvious, taking something different from them every time I hear them.
Having said that, it isn't a criticism, just a personnel preference.
I read a review that said "some of the tracks sound a little OTT", couldn't help but laugh when you consider this is a band who live in Iceland, record music in churches and caves and sing in a made up language no one can decipher.
Sigur Ros remain superb, the back lash may have started, but if they had continued doing another Takk or ( ), the critical damage could have been far worst. At least it proves that Sigur Ros are not beyond criticism like some suggested. Sit back and enjoy, tracks Ára bátur & Festival are an absolute treat. Over blown syrup? .. yes, maybe, but isn't that why we like them?
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