Tag: post-rock

50 Years, 50 Albums (2000): Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven by Godspeed You! Black Emperor

~ Liam ~ Leave a comment

 I will turn 50 in November of this year, so my project for 2023 will be to listen to and review one album from each year of my life, 1973 to 2022, randomly selected..  The only qualification is that it has to be an album I’ve not reviewed previously.

NOTE: My next review on February 2, 2023 will focus on the year 1983.  Help me pick which album from 1983 I will review by voting in the poll at the end of this post!

2000

Top Grossing Albums of 2000:

  • No Strings Attached – NSYNC
  • The Marshall Mathers LP – Eminem
  • Oops!… I Did It Again – Britney Spears
  • Human Clay – Creed
  • Supernatural – Santana

Grammy Award for Album of the Year of 2000:

Other Albums I’ve Reviewed from 2000:

Album: Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven
Artist: Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Release Date: October 9, 2000
Label:Constellation | Kranky
Favorite Tracks:

  • Storm
  • Static
  • Sleep
  • Like Antennas to Heaven…

Thoughts:

Back in the 2000s I had a younger co-worker, who in retrospect wasn’t all that much younger since he was in his early 20s when I was in my late 20s.  He listened to a lot of great music and recommended this album to me.  Despite liking it I hadn’t listened to Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven in quite some time, which is a shame, because it’s better than I remember it.

Of course, it’s not an album one listens to casually.  There are four pieces ranging from 18 to 23 minutes each that have their own movements like mini-symphonies.  Godspeed You! Black Emperor is classified as a post-rock band and this album is a good example of ambient music and sound collage.  It’s probably not the most accessible music, but I find it really beautiful and entrancing.

Rating: ****1/2

Song of the Week: “This Is A Life” by Son Lux with Mitski and David Byrne

~ Liam ~ 3 Comments

Son Lux with Mitski and David Byrne – “This Is A Life”

I don’t know much about Son Lux, but the band created an engaging soundtrack for the excellent movie Everything Everywhere All At Once. “This Is A Life” plays over the closing credits and features two of my all-time favorite artists, Mitski and David Byrne.

 

Song of the Week 2022

January

February

March

April

Music Discoveries: Sigur Rós

~ Liam ~ Leave a comment

Icelandic band Sigur Rós is known for their soundscapes, mimimalists arrangements, overlay of instruments, reverb, and ethereal vocals of band leaderJón Þór Birgisson, known as Jonsi.  I became aware of the band about a decade ago and Ágætis byrjun is one of my all-time favorite albums, but I was less familiar with their other work.  So now I’ve listened to two decades of Sigur Rós’ recordings and I have to say I like this band all the more.  Their genre of post-rock, whatever that means, is something that appeals to me. And as someone who has trouble paying attention to lyrics, how lovely is it to have a band that sometimes sings in made up words where the emotion is more important than their meaning.

On this day that Iceland’s football team advances in the Euro 2016 tournament, how better to celebrate than by going through an album-by-album review of Sigur Rós’ catalogue.

Album: Von
Release date: June 1997
Favorite tracks:  “Sigur Rós,”  “Hún Jörð …,”  “Von,” and “Syndir Guðs (Opinberun frelsarans)”
Thoughts:  This debut album features the expected dreamy soundscapes overlaid with ethereal vocals, but that is not all it has to offer.  From the spooky opening track, more sound collage than music to the propulsive drums and fuzz guitar of  “Hún Jörð …” there’s a lot to chew on.
Rating: ***1/2

Album: Ágætis byrjun
Release date: 12 June 1999
Favorite tracks: “Svefn-g-englar,” “Starálfur,” “Ný batterí,” “Olsen Olsen,” and “Ágætis byrjun”
Thoughts:  A masterpiece.  Just a gift of music and beauty to the world. I have a particular fondness for the title track since it was playing in the delivery room when my daughter was born.  A Good Beginning, indeed!
Rating: *****

Album: ( )
Release date: 28 October 2002
Favorite tracks: “Untitled 1” and “Untitled 7”
Thoughts: This is a minimally titled album with minimally titled songs, but not made with minimal effort.  The first four tracks are more cheerful, while the last four are more sorrowful.  All of the songs are performed by Jonsi in the made-up language of Vonlenska (called “Hopelandic” in English).  It’s a concept album that holds together well even if the concept is more of a feeling than something concrete
Rating: ***1/2

Album: Takk…
Release date: 12 December 2005
Favorite tracks: “Glósóli,” “Hoppípolla,” “Sæglópur, ” and  “Svo hljótt”
Thoughts: Sigur Rós songs are known for their orchestral arrangements and slow builds, but that seems even more true on this album.  So it’s know surprise that several of these songs were used as promotional music.  This sounds like the soundtrack to a movie in your head.  Lovely and immersive.
Rating: ***1/2

Album: Hvarf/Heim
Release date: 5 November 2007
Favorite tracks:  “Hljómalind”
Thoughts: This compilation is half recordings of previously unreleased songs and half a live set of acoustic performances from the documentary Heima. The first half is nice but you can tell that they’re outtakes.  The second half is lovely although the tracks sound surprisingly “perfect” for a live performance.
Rating: ***

Album: Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
Release date: 20 June 2008
Favorite tracks:  “Gobbledigook,” “Festival,” “Ára bátur,” and “All Alright.”
Thoughts: A departure of sorts as this album is more guitar-driven and folk-inflected indie rock than the spare and orchestral sounds of their previous works.  There’s also a song in English, a slow, sad song in English.
Rating: ***

Album: Inni
Release date: 7 November 2011
Thoughts: Another live recording accompanying a concert film, this two-disc set captures songs from all of Sigur Rós career up to this point.
Rating: ***1/2

Album: Valtari
Release date: 23 May 2012
Favorite tracks:”Varúð” and “Fjögur píanó”
Thoughts: Sigur Rós steps back from the pop sensibilities of the previous album, reverting to soundscapes that are even quieter and more restrained than their earlier recordings, if that can be believed.  It’s beautiful stuff, but can also be too much of a good thing.
 Rating:

Album: Kveikur
Release date: 12 June 2013
Favorite tracks:  “Brennisteinn”
Thoughts: More aggressive than earlier work, the soundscapes that so often are accompanied by visuals of Iceland’s scenic beauty, this is the harsh side of nature – icy winds, crashing waves, and jagged rocks.  And there’s quite a bit of change among tracks so it’s clear where one ends and the next begins.
Rating: ***

There’s my thoughts on Sigur Rós and I hope to hear more from them in the future.

Music Discoveries continues in two weeks when I will get down and give it up for Parliament/Funkadelic.