Monday, July 13, 2009

902. Sigur Ros - Agaetis Byrjun (1999)




















Track Listing


1. Svefn - G - Englar (Intro)
2. Svefn - G - Englar
3. Staralfur
4. Flugufrelsarinn
5. Ny Batteri
6. Hjartao Hamast
7. Viorar Vel Til Loftarasa
8. Olsen Olsen
9. Agaetis Byrjun
10. Avalon

Review

We end the nineties with another great album. Sigur Ros make some amazing soundscapes while still being surprisingly catchy for such complex music. There is a care put into each track that goes beyond regular mainstream music making, this is more akin to proper musical composition in parts.

It is at least weird that such a tiny country as Iceland manages to produce such a huge amount of great music, but that they do. It must be the long winter nights with not much else to do.

The successful brand of soundscapy rock of Sigur Ros which some call post-rock, although existing previous to this album gained huge popularity after this, and with good reason. This is however one of the best albums in the genre and something you really shouldn't miss.

Track Highlight
s

1. Staralfur
2. Svefn - G - Englar
3. Ny Batteri
4. Agaetis Byrjun

Final Grade

10/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The album's title came from a friend hearing the first song they had written for the album; what would become the title track. After hearing the song, he said it was "a good beginning"; the name stuck. The name has also been translated as "An alright start."

Staralfur:

2 comments:

Lachlan Willis said...

I'm really glad this received the 10/10 it deserved. This is one of my favourite discoveries from this list, and is just the most otherworldly, sublime album i've ever heard. What a fantastic way to end the 90's, the last great album to mark the millenium, and unfortunately end a chapter in great music, whereby we enter the years of Limp Bizkit and The Darkness...

These last ones will be the hardest.

Rod McBan said...

I love this album. It's a real pity that they kind of lost there way after this.