Showing posts with label Sigur Ros. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sigur Ros. Show all posts

Saturday, January 14, 2012

The 11 Most Anticipated Summer Albums of 2012



As we move into a new year, one of the strangest pieces of news has been revealed.  Album sales in 2011 actually went up for the first time in almost a decade.  Granted it was mostly due to Adele's incredibly popular album...that still proves that the album as a musical format is still very viable.  And while all the news articles still like to pronounce the death of rock and how pop has taken over...there were still more rock albums in the Billboard 200 than any other genre.  This year, there were 47 rock albums on the list.  Second place went to country with 39 albums.  Pop comes up third with 35 albums.  (I still think Bruno Mars is really rock...but I put him in pop).  Hip-hop/rap is fourth with 26.  What's also interesting to note...rock music is comprised of a lot of different bands while the pop albums were all made by the same handful of artists (Bieber, Swift, Adele, Gaga, Kesha, Selena Gomez).  Good for those artists but you take them out of the equation...and pop doesn't have much going on.

Let's see what 2012 brings....

Here are the 11 most anticipate albums of summer 2012:

1.  Soundgarden - TBA (Sept)
2.  MGMT - MGMT (Sept.)
3.  Animal Collective - TBA (Sept)
4.  Grizzly Bear - TBA (August)
5.  Mumford and Sons - TBA (August)
6.  How To Destroy Angels - TBA (July)
7.  Sigur Ros - TBA (July)
8.  The Offspring - Apocalyptic Guides and Inferno Themes about Nothing (July)
9.  Public Enemy - Most of My Heros Don't Appear on Stamps/Evil Empire of Everything (August)
10.  Regina Spektor - What We Saw From the Cheap Seats (July)
11.  Skrillex - Voltage (July)


Tuesday, November 15, 2011

The 11 Best Songs By Sigur Ros



I don't know what it is about Sigur Ros songs but they are always disappearing off my computer.  It's the strangest thing.  I've bought all the CDs, so I'm merely burning them into my computer.  But for some reason, every couple months when I check in to give them a listen...the complete song files are just missing from the computer.  The actual folder is missing as if it has been deleted.  This has happened with a couple of other artists but never as much as it has happened with Sigur Ros...at least a half dozen times.  The only thing I can guess is that it's happening because they're from Iceland.

Here are the 11 Best Songs By Sigur Ros:


1.      Hoppipolla (Takk...)
2.      Inni Mer Syngur Vitleysingur (Med Sud I Eyrum Spilum Ednalaust)
3.      Saeglopur (Takk...)
4.      Vid Spilum Endalaust (Med Sud I Eyrum Spilum Ednalaust)
5.      Svefn-G-Englar (Agaetis Byrjun)
6.      NjoSnaveLinin - Track 4 ( () )
7.      Agaestis Byrjun (Agaetis Byrjun)
8.      Gobbledigook (Med Sud I Eyrum Spilum Ednalaust)
9.      Ny Batteri (Agaetis Byrjun)
10.  Vaka - Track 1 ( () )
11.  Hljomalind (Hvaf - Heim)


Buy Sigur Ros' new live album, Inni...now!!!

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

The 11 Best Albums of the Year (so far):


Over halfway through the year and I am unimpressed.  Eminem's new album is pretty good and definitely a return to form.  But the best of the year?  It's not even the best Em album.  Maybe 3rd best.  And Massive Attack, Morcheeba, and MGMT have all made nice albums...but these are far from their best material.  So what gives?  Last year at this time, the Animal Collective, the xx, Grizzly Bear, and Phoenix had all released albums.  I've listened to Sleigh Bells (a reincarnation of Atari Teenage Riot), Best Coast (the new Raveonettes), Surfer Blood (a watered-down Pavement), Beach House (a more moody Joan As Police Woman), & Local Natives (a less innovative Elbow) and have been underwhelmed by all of them. Where's the good music people?!

This decade is really starting off with a whimper.

Here are the 11 Best Albums of 2010 (so far):

1.  Eminem - Recovery
2.  LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening
3.  Massive Attack - Heliogoland
4.  Morcheeba - Blood Like Lemonade
5.  Jonsi - Go
6.  MGMT - Congratulations
7.  Tokyo Police Club - Champ
8.  Against Me! - White Crosses
9.  Free Energy - Stuck on Nothin'
10. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Mojo
11. Caribou - Swim

Buy these great 2010 albums and others now!

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

The 111 Best Albums of the 00s (89-99)

Here are the the 111 Best Albums of the 00s (89-99):

89. Missy Elliott - Under Construction (2004)
- Her 4th album was by far her best...not that the others are too shabby. She may easily be the best female rapper of her day...if not of all time. This is her at the peak of her game.

90. Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker (2000)
- Adams' first solo album is actually a fairly tame start to the massive amount of music he would unleash on the public in the decade to come.

91. Cat Power - You Are Free (2003)
- Is it folk, it punk, is it indie, is it alternative, is it chamber music? Chan Marshall's massive seductive voice finds its groove on her 5th and best release, setting the stage for a steady impact of other stellar releases in the years to come.

92. Bloc Party - Silent Alarm (2005)
- A blast of 80s retro energy, Silent Alarm was a reminder of how much fun alternative music could be. Even Ferris Bueller would have taken the day off to listen to this. (This Modern Love)

93. The Roots - Phrenology (2002)
- The 00s were littered with hip-hop artists testing the genre of what the boundaries were. The Roots had been pushing those boundaries for years...but on this release, they merged some heavy rock groves giving birth to one of the funkiest albums of the decade. (Complexity)

94. LCD Soundsystem - LCD Soundsystem (2005)
- This album was a like a rocket on the club scene, reminding the world what it was like to dance to actual music instead of mind-numbing pulsating electronic dial tones. The white boy dance movement was born on this puppy. (Tribulations)

95. N.E.R.D. - In Search Of... (2002)
- Now there are two versions of this album. The regular old hip-hop version with computerized beats...and the awesomely 70s throwback version with a full band. I'm referring to the latter. It sounded like something Stevie Wonder would have jammed on with the Jackson 5 had they shared a dorm room in college...had they gone to college. (Run To The Sun)

96. Sigur Ros - Takk... (2005)
- A rich rebound from their second more mellow release. It was giant leap forward in songwriting style, crafting epic musical pieces over plain old pop songs. They also proved that you didn't need to sing in English to captivate an American audience...or that Bjork was the only talented one out of Iceland.

97. Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights (2002)
- It had been a good ten years since some sounded as dark, depressed and moody as Interpol sounded on their debut. Ironically, the brooding din was a bright spot in the otherwise morbid landscape of alternative nu metal.

98. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest (2009)
- The band debuted in the Billboard top 10 with this year's addition. An unheard of achievement for an indie rock band. And the album doesn't disappoint. It's like the band is breathing fresh life into their music on this glowing release. At times it sounds like they managed to harness the sound of the wilderness into a harmony. It only grows more interesting with every listen.

99. Jimmy Eat World - Bleed American (2001)
- Emo music was behind the 8-ball from the start. You can thank Dashboard Confessional for that. But if more of the releases sounded like JEW's refined pop brillance, the genre would have been much more tolerable. Instead, in its wake, we got Fall Out Boy and Panic at the Disco. (A Praise Chorus)

Buy these albums now...Best of the 2000s.

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

The 11 Best Albums of 1999


It was the year Napster broke into the music industry and changed it forever. Why? Because the record labels were forcing crap like Britney, Nsync, and Backstreet Boys upon the masses. Music fans wanted more...they wanted better...and they fought to find it.
Here are the 11 Best Albums of 1999:
2. Sigur Ros - Agaetis Byrun
3. Built To Spill - Keep It Like A Secret
4. Black Star - Black Star
6. Dr. Dre - 2001
7. Rage Against The Macine - The Battle for Los Angeles
8. Moby - Play
9. The Roots - Things Fall Apart
10. Travis - The Man Who
11. The Get-Up Kids - Something To Write Home About
Buy these albums here!

Monday, December 08, 2008

The 11 Best Albums of 2008 (Part 5)


At the end of the day, my decision on this top 11 came down to one thing...listenability. Which albums held up to repeat listens... Which albums didn't get dated by the 3rd spin... Which albums still sounded fresh a month after the novelty wore off... Which albums I felt confident recommending to friends...

Bon Iver's album became that one album that stood above the others. It's the one album I kept going back to...the one album I could listen to on repeat...the one album that reminded me why I love music so much...


The 11 Best Albums of 2008:

1. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago (Flume - Daytrotter)
2. Beck - Modern Guilt (only $5.00)
3. Sigur Ros - Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust
4. She and Him - Volume One (Get Free)
5. Ra Ra Riot - The Rhumb Line (Dying Is Fine - Daytrotter)
6. Girl Talk - Feed The Animals
7. TV on the Radio - Dear Science (only $5.00)
8. Coldplay - Viva La Vida (only $5.00)
9. Guns N Roses - Chinese Democracy
10. The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
11. Little Joy - Little Joy

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

The 11 Best Songs of 2008


I'm excited to try out this Amazon Widget a bit more...so I'm jumping the gun on the Best albums of the year and moving forward to the Best Songs of the year. I've installed all the songs on the widget...so take a listen. The widget is the app in the right side bar that says "Best Songs of 2008." Just click it to listen.

Here are the 11 Best Songs of 2008:
1. Kids - MGMT (Oracular Spectacular)
2. Dancing Choose - TV on The Radio (Dear Science)
3. Grapevine Fires - Death Cab For Cutie (Narrow Stairs)
4. I Stand Corrected - Vampire Weekend (Vampire Weekend)
5. Sex on Fire - Kings of Leon (Only By The Night)
6. Ghosts Under Rocks - Ra Ra Riot (The Rhumb Line)
7. Sequestered in Memphis - The Hold Steady (Stay Positive)
8. Discipline - Nine Inch Nails (The Slip)
9. That Was Just Your Life - Metallica (Death Magnetic)
10. Everybody Here Is A Cloud - Cloud Cult (Feel Good Ghosts)
11. Viva La Vida - Coldplay (Viva La Vida)

I never do this but...Honorable Mentions:

Chemtrails - Beck (Modern Guilt)
Wreck My Flow - the dirtbombs (We Have Your Surrounded)
Hearts on Fire - Cut Copy (In Ghost Colours)
Inni Mer Syngur Vitleysingur - Sigur Ros (Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust)
Prostitute - Guns N Roses (Chinese Democracy)
I've also created my own MP3 store on Amazon...so check it out. I should have the widget up shortly. Many of the albums are only $5.00 right now (like Beck, Ra Ra Riot, Death Cab, Vampire Weekend, TV on the Radio, Metallica, Killers, Fleet Foxes, Coldplay)

Thursday, June 19, 2008

The 11 Best Sigur Ros Songs


The First Rule of Fight Club: Don't talk about Fight Club.

It's no long news that the new GNR leaked yesterday. 9 fully mastered tracks are now every where on the internet.

The world has changed in the 15 years that Axl has been working on the album (even though there's still a Bush in the White House). The computers in our cell phones are more powerful than the computers that used to sit on our desks. People communicate more over email and text than any other form of communication. And news is instantaneous. I could be at the top of Mt. Everest pull out my cell phone and get up-to-minute reports of the Dodger game. When 15 years ago, I'd be lucky to find a news paper that could get the information to me within a week. So what' the point of holding the genie in the bottle.

Instead of embracing the new world of technology like Coldplay, Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, The Offspring, and others...GNR (and their label) is running around threatening to sue anyone that even reports the information. Even the GNR websites are forbidding their users to talk about it. What good will this do? Make people care less about your product.

Well, I will say...I've listened to it. And it's good. Let people trade the songs. Let people talk about the product...all it can do is give you more publicity and help you sell more items.

Here Are The 11 Best Sigur Ros Songs:

1. Hoppipolla (Takk...)
2. Svefn-G-Englar (Agaestis Byrjun)
3. Vaka - Track 1 ( () )
4. Saeglopur (Takk...)
5. Ny Batteri (Agaestis Byrjun)
6. I Gaer (Hvaf - Heim)
7. Glosoli (Takk...)
8. Agaestis Byrjun (Agaestis Byrjun)
9. Ba ba (BA BA TI KI DI DO)
10. NjoSnaveLinin - Track 4 ( () )
11. Hafsol (Hvaf - Heim)

Buy Sigur Ros' new album, Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust.