Music : Agaetis Byrjun

Rating: - just try it.....
..the thing is, im bound to like this kinda stuff, as most of the above people were bound to, cos we all like Godspeed, Mogwai, Spiritualized kinda stuff. BUT, all my friends, with completely different musical tastes love it as well. Buy this record. ....oh, and buy stuff by Low as well...

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Rating: - Ambiant, orchestral, shoe-gazing indulgence. But ace.
Floating somewhere between Mogwai, Spiritualized, My Bloody Valentine and a chamber orchestra, Sigur Ros hail from Iceland and their music shows it. Elegant, windswept, grandiose, glacial, even, they weave their way through an album composed not of songs but of something more akin to classical suites and movements, combining subtle guitar ambience with huge orchestral arrangements, continental feedback and lyrics sung in a made up language by a boy who sounds like a girl. This is not your typical indie guitar four piece. 'Vidrar Vel Til Loftarasa' floats prettily for seven or so minutes, all delicate pianos and luscious rolling bass, before exploding in a psychedelic Technicolor haze of 'Loveless'-style guitar abuse, while 'Olsen Olsen' takes a beautiful flute melody, ties it to a circular guitar motif, and then detonates it in the midst of amassed strings and brass, creating one of the most spiritually uplifting pieces of music that I've heard in a long time.....

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Rating: - Soundtrack for a million snowbound dream worlds
This has to be one of the most beautiful records I have ever had the pleasure to listen to. Admittedly, one or two of the tracks are growers, but there is nothing like lying, tired, in a dark room at 1AM to awaken the mind to the true emotive brilliance of "Viorar Vel Til Loftarasa", or the almost-Christmassy rush of "Olsen Olsen". From beginning to end this album shows the simultaneous fragility and strength of the human mind, and in "Viorar Vel Til Loftarasa", the sound of a single piano emerging from the desolate white-noise blast of a snowstorm conjures up a melee of emotion. Buy this record now. I promise you that you will not be disappointed.

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Rating: - Magicle.
I brought this album on the back of recomendation. And I was not at all disapointed, its like nothing I've ever heard before. The sweeping and powerful strings, the wondeful language the album is sung in, the strange sounds that appear all go towards making a breath taking record. It sounds like Radiohead, Air and Aphex Twin but so so much wonderous. A must have for alternative fans

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Rating: - classical postrock thats not just soundscapes, but SONGS
songs or song? I'm not sure, but it all seems to flow so perfectly. The best album I've bought this year, it manages to achieve the soaring inspiration shown in 'the GRATE eastern', but without such layered production. It is understated, yet immensely dramatic. music to study to, it has the peacefulness about it. hangover music, gentle, and moving, nursing your sore head. music to lie in bed and hold your dearest close to you and not say a word, just sit and BE, this music even seems romantic and religious, and is one of the most BEAUTIFUL albums I've ever heard. go on, buy it. If you can appreciate classical music indie, even joy division electronica, the subdued stuff, if you have an eclectic taste, if you don't just go for the instant hummability of a song, then please, please BUY THIS. You won't be dissapointed. so many icelandic folk can't be wrong. neither can I. I't make you cry tears of joy, and realise how perfect life can be, if we make it so.