American Idle
So I realized recently that I have not been cramming my ears with as much new music as usual, and the vast majority of my written words have been limited to Fantasy Football 'Smack Talk'.

This bothers me.

So, in an effort to remedy this situation (and afford my Fantasy Football opponents an opportunity to stop sobbing and whimpering about how their sister/mother should be off-limits/is dead), I have given myself the responsibility of selecting a 'new' album to listen to each week with the task of writing a brief entry about it.

In addition to making me feel creative by regurgitating someone else’s creativity, anyone who happens to glance here occasionally can now find out what Indie darling I'm loving or hating on this week, before returning to their lives of substantial import.

'New' here is used loosely as the album's only qualification as such will be that it is currently being listened to by me. This is a livejournal after all people. Not Rolling Stone or Blender, or some other music magazine nobody buys unless some trampy pop star is half-naked on the cover. (Or is that just me?)

If next week I decide to listen to Revolver, well then, damnit, you are going to get a very timely and relevant discussion about Revolver, like it or not.

"This band The Beetles (sic) is on to something," I'll say before adding, "But I doubt their British rabble-rousing will cross the pond to find a North American audience".

See, because I'm generally ignorant about history like that.

So without further ado...

Artist: Sigur Ros
Album: Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust
Released: June 23rd 2008
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars or clovers or something. And +2 points on the Kinsey scale for me for liking it.


The farmer warned them not to touch his daughters.



I have to admit that I always thought I knew exactly who Sigur Ros was and what to expect from them. They are from Iceland. Or maybe Greenland. The little one that is green, that is Iceland right? Greenland’s the big one that is all covered in ice? Didn't the Vikings name them reversed to confuse people on purpose? Those clever rapists. (Google search for clever rapists produces no meaningful results if you were wondering. I was, now I'm probably on a sex offender list.)

Sometimes when I have people over to my house I label the beer tap "sink" and the sink tap "beer". Then I laugh at them when they leave sober and sticky-handed. But I digress...

So they are from Iceland and they name their albums things that translate to With a Buzz in Our Ears We Play Endlessly and they sound like castrated Radiohead and they love a good crescendo that can't be played at any proper volume because it is always too loud or too quiet.

So while some of that is true, they've always been the BEST at being castrated Radiohead. And i do love me some crescendos. So they've always been a band that was enjoyable in the right mood and atmosphere (bar mitzvah?).

With this album there is almost an upbeat urgency that seeps in, making it much more accessible on first listen, and more captivating in any atmosphere. At times they borrow the pop sensibility of bands like Keane, without surrendering the unique sound that made them interesting in the first place.

Gobbledigook and Inni Mer Syngur Vitleysingur open the album with a flourish, enticing new fans (and likely scaring old ones) with aforementioned pop sensibility.

Still, the album is at its best when they dial-in to doing what they do, evident on the over 9 minute Festival which rewards the patient listener with a finish as vast and beautiful as the Reykjavik sky.

There is plenty to listen to here and don't be surprised if this album cracks my top ten at the end of the year. Check it out now and let me know what you think...