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Archive: Sigur Rós

BBC Radio on Last.fm

29 April 2006 12:13

Categories: Entertainment, Internet, Music, Radio, Technology

This guy who worked at the BBC decided to experiment with Last.fm and created an account for 6Music (via plasticbag.org). So we have a true picture of what 6Music sounds like: 6Music’s favourite artists, favourite tracks and so on, broken down by week as well!

The Last.fm account kind of sums up why I don’t listen to 6Music. As one shoutboxer, lambieisgod, says, “excellent hack! shame about the u2 :( “. But there you go.

There now appear to be Last.fm accounts for both Radio 1 and Radio 2 as well. Sigur Rós are the 11th most-played band on Radio 1, and the 16th most-played on Radio 2. This makes both Radio 1 and Radio 2 cooler than the supposedly cooler-than-too-cool-for-school 6Music…

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Chris Clark — Throttle Furniture

21 February 2006 17:16

Categories: Entertainment

Chris Clark — Throttle Furniture cover Chris Clark’s first album, Clarence Park, was one of the albums that really grabbed me when I was first getting into Warpy electronic IDM whatever music. He seemed to be an exciting prospect, but I didn’t quite fully get into the EP and album he released in 2003.

Well, now Chris Clark has finally re-emerged with some new tunes! Warp say he is no longer Chris Clark, just Clark. Although the cover looks to me as though it says ‘Lark’, or ‘(Lark)’, or maybe ‘Clark)’ at a stretch. Which is it? We just don’t know. I’ll stick to ‘Chris Clark’ for the time being.

This 3″ CD is a mini-EP, a taster of what to expect from Clark’s new album. Given that four of the five tracks have been left off the album, it is mouthwatering to imagine what the standard of the tracks on the album must be like.

The track that is on the album, ‘Herr bar’, opens Throttle Furniture. It is a lot more intricate than previous Chris Clark work. Those subtle little drum rolls and and glockenspiel-style sound make this sound very much like a darker Four Tet. Good track.

‘Re-Scar Kiln’ follows up, and if Clark really wants to discourage people from comparing him to AFX he is going about it the wrong way, because this sounds like it could easily be a remix of some Analord tracks. Nevertheless, it’s a great track.

‘Urgent Jell hack’ comes next to slap you about the face. This is possibly the most exciting track on the album, a madcap journey that never stops changing, but sounds cohesive throughout, retaining a common thread. I think it’s a bit Squarepushery actually with an DrukQs-era Aphex Twin slant towards the end. I am truly in trouble for doing the lazy and comparing him to AFX and Squarepusher, huh?…

Aaaargh. Track four is ‘Frau Wav (brief fling)’. I heard this one before I got the CD, because Warp had it available for your listening pleasure on their front page. I was seriously sceptical about this track at first. It sounded too brash and simplistic. But get underneath its skin and it’s just as dirty as all the other tracks, especially during the second minute. A properly fun track, and it segues nicely into the closer, ‘Dusk Swells’. It is a brooding ambient piece, one of those ones that seem neverending; quite minimalist, but always changing slightly at the same time. Think a dark version of Sigur Rós’ ‘Smáskífa’, if you can.

All-in-all, this is another step up for Chris Clark. It makes the gap in between Clarence Park and his 2003 material seem much smaller than it was. I’m looking forward to the album now!

Update: Bleep now have this available to listen.

5 comments

Most played music meme

7 January 2006 19:42

Categories: Blogging, Music

This is my iTunes music, sorted by play count, to see what tracks I play the most.

My iTunes music sorted by play count

Even more than Last.fm, this is very biased towards what I have been listening to for the past year because I didn’t get round to ripping most of my CDs until last spring. Music that I had on iTunes before last spring (‘Smear’ by Jonny Greenwood, ‘Antiquity’ by Team Doyobi, Squarepusher’s Breezeblock session) also gets a bit of an unfair look-in, although I love them all.

As with Last.fm, there are only a few albums represented at the top, because I tend to listen to whole albums rather than individual tracks. Some tracks (‘Glósóli’ by Sigur Rós, ‘Oscar See Through Red Eye’ by Boards of Canada) would have been much (possibly fifteen-or-so plays) higher, but I had two versions of them!

As usual — apart from Jaga Jazzist and Team Doyobi — there is a heavy Warp bias. Doh!

Anyway, here’s the meme blah:

1) Sort by ‘Play Count’.
2) Take screenshot of the top and upload to flickr.
3) Link back to where you first saw this meme.
4) And leave a comment so they know where to look.
5) Include these instructions.

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Fame can do wonders for a back catalogue

21 December 2005 23:25

Categories: Asides, Music

Fame can do wonders for a back catalogue. According to Eighteen Seconds Before Sunrise, Sigur Rós’ first two albums gone platinum in Iceland. Despite the fact that ‘Von’ is now a platinum album, it sold only 313 copies in its first year!

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Remind me why I fell out with indie?

26 November 2005 15:11

Categories: Music, Newspapers

Aaargh. Yesterday’s Film & Music section in The Guardian contains a letter that really just typifies everything that made me go into a violent, year-long anti-guitar rage a few years back. The letter is from somebody called DP Woodhead, which is already a bad sign. Does he think he’s a novelist or something? This is the man who’s peering over your shoulder in the indie record shop looking for ways to be superior to you. “Hah! I bought that last year when it originally came out on invisible vinyl — didn’t you?”

Although Arcade Fire’s Funeral was released in the UK in 2005 through Rough Trade, the album was originally made available in the US through Merge in mid-2004 (and the songs’ publishing credits accordingly read 2004, not 2005).Similarly, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s debut was self-released this summer, though it will undoubtedly appear in 2006′s end-of-year lists. While this may seem a pedantic and “indier-than-thou” point, it does reveal the UK mainstream music press’s adherence to domestic release dates and promotional schedules comprised of jaded, lazy and out-of-touch scribes, waiting to quote verbatim the next hyperbole-laden press release.

Why would a UK newspaper want to refer to UK release dates? I really don’t know… “2005? Pah! If you went by private jet to New York you’d have got it in 2004! Just like I did! So there!” Clap Your Hands Say Yeah are already in my bad books now.

The Guardian has clearly taken note of this letter of complaint, though, because today’s Guide contains a prime piece of indie-without-a-clue. It’s not on the website so I’ll quote it in full.

SIGUR ROS Hoppipola (EMI) With its opening volley of piano droplets like melting icicles, cheapshot synth strings and mounting preset brass effects, this is a shameless attempt to go commercial on the part of Icelanders Sigur Ros — from remote cool to Coldplay in one ignominious swoop. The sort of song whose video might well see the group trudging pensively across icy plains, as a crowd of children forms in their wake. Uuughhh.

In short, “They’re popular now, so they must be bad.”

Synth strings? Preset brass effects? I think not. Anybody with clean ears will tell you that Hoppípola is one of the best songs — if not the best song — that the band has come up with for five years. The only difference between Sigur Rós then and Sigur Rós now is EMI. And why let that get in the way of wonderful music?

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