Ágætis Byrjun

So about ten years ago (yesterday, to be precise) a quartet of inspired Icelandic lads known as Sigur Rós launched their brand new album Ágætis Byrjun in their nation’s capital, Reykjavik. The record-dropping party was reportedly stunning, and the initial 1500-copy pressing quickly sold out.

Over the next few months Ágætis Byrjun spread virally, as more and more music lovers became seduced by the band’s elegant, richly textured, heartbreakingly lovely atmospherics. A sound further brought to life by lead singer Jonsi’s audacious cello-bow-across-guitar scraping and piercing eunuch cry.

Sung in a made up language, too!

Countless reports of fans weeping during concerts poured in. Well-deserved superlatives were thrown around. Melody Maker called it the sound, “Of god crying golden tears in heaven”; Internet critics Pitchfork stated, matter-of-factly, how Sigur Rós are, “The first vital band of the 21st century” while I bluntly shouted to anyone within range, “Damn, this is fucking great!”

To get a copy of Ágætis Byrjun I had to import it from their label which meant a hefty forty dollar price tag. $40 well spent. To this day, it is still amongst my favourite records, would definitely make my top five desert island choices, and is the album I have listened to most over the past nine years. I’ve seen Sigur Rós live in Minneapolis twice now, in 2005 and 2008, and if I get a third opportunity, I’ll gladly go again. With luck and some praying to the benevolent Winnipeg music deities, they’ll come here (after all, the gods answered my Iron & Wine prayers).

Yesterday, I had intended on looping the album, in tribute, but the distracting combination of work, game seven of the Stanley Cup, and a few litres of beer prevented this. So, here I am, a day later, listening to this album in its entirety.

And thinking, "Damn…this is still fucking great!"



Video: From 2007, the band performing the record's title track.
***

Few shows to pass along...

Diemonds are scheduled to rock the Zoo on June 19th w/ Five Hundred Pound Furnace, Word of Mouth and Hellride.

Toronto's These Three Cities are at the Academy on June 25th.

The Cat Empire stop in at the Garrick on November 24th.

Homegrowners X Engine X play the Pyramid on July 11th.

Also from Winnipeg, The Western States perform at the Lo Pub on July 19th w/ Jon-Rae Fletcher.

Infinite Playlist: Sigur Rós - Ágætis Byrjun

Read more...

Alegranza!

Earlier, the good people at The Fork published a just plain fantastic live set by Spain’s El Guincho, a band whose debut Alegranza earned entry #8 on my coveted Top Albums of 2008 List.

I’ve been soaking up its warm, summery-rays all day long.

If you’re unfamiliar, El Guincho is the stage name of Pablo Díaz-Reixa, a talented Spaniard who fuses tropical vibes, spirited tribal chants, and jungle beats with gloriously irresistible pop. In other words, the ideal score for today’s unexpected winter reprieve.

“Palmitos Park” and “Kalise” are performed in the video below. I hope you like them as much as I do.


*****

BC punk-rockers Nomeansno are at The Albert on April 13th.

Midnight Dawns are holding their CD release party at The Pyramid on February 27th.

Infinite Playlist: El Guincho - Alegranza!

Read more...

Happy Festivus!

Happy Festivus everyone! I hope the feats of strength provided the physical test they should; I hope the aluminum pole shined like the beckon of hope it signifies; and finally, I hope the airing of grievances didn't get too out of hand.



And if you don't celebrate Festivus, well, then Merry Christmas!


Infinite Playlist: The Cure - Trilogy DVD

Read more...

The Best Albums Of 2008 - As Voted By Painting Over Silence Blog Readers

First of all, thanks to everyone who sent in lists and/or comments about said record. I had a lot of fun compiling the results and even discovered some wicked new sounds. Also, a lot of people didn't leave comments (it was optional after all) so the glowing adoration for some entries is less explained than others.

Second, this list was entirely voted upon by blog readers, so it does not include my personal top ten (which will be published tomorrow...stay tuned!).

Third, despite not receiving a single first-place vote, Fleet Foxes dominated the competition. If you haven't heard them yet, check out the video below for "White Winter Hymnal" - it's glorious!

Fourth, ties were unavoidable. Made me seriously consider adding my top ten into the mix.

Now without further delay....

1. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes



"What a brilliant debut. ALMOST my favourite record of the year." - Sarah

"Beautiful music that for some reason makes me picture country landscapes covered in powdery snow." - Phil

"Like if Bon Iver were a bunch of guys." - DW

"I just love this one." - TR

2. M83 - Saturdays = Youth



"'Kim and Jessie' - song of the year." - Ben
(Mykael's note: see and hear above)

"I can't get enough of it..." - Nick

3. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago

"Like if Fleet Foxes were one guy." - DW

"Justin Vernon's brilliant debut album, crafted alone in the woods of Wisconsin. Haunting, beautiful." - Nick

"A rather late addition to my list, but a new favourite based on the fact that I can't resist mopey - but not EMO - guys that can rock (but just a little)." - TR

"Just beautiful." - Sarah

4. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend

"With only 34 minutes runtime, Vampire Weekend's debut album is short and very sweet. All hits, no misses with this one. I can't wait to see what their next album will sound like and I'm sure I'm not the only one." - Phil

"The soundtrack of my summer!" - Sarah

5. Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours

"I've been listening to In Ghost Colours in my car for many months now and it hasn't left my changer sicne the day I put it in. I've probably listened to it more times than any of the other albums on this list combined, and I'm not sick of it! A true sign of an excellent album." - Phil

6. Constantines - Kensington Heights

"Winner, gritty band of the year." - Ben

6. Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs

"Unlike most, I'm a big fan of the first four drony minutes of 'I Will Possess Your Heart'" - Ben

6. Sigur Rós - með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust

"While not my favourite Sigur Rós album, there is a certain comfort to their music and their presence in my musical repertoire." - TR

9. The Verve - Forth

"Poor Coldplay tries so hard while this sounds effortless." - DW

"They have come a long way since 'Bittersweet Symphony'." - TR

9. Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles

"Voltaic!" - Whitney

"How can you not be hooked after the first few video-game-esque bars of its opening track 'Untrust Us'?" - Nick

**************

Honourable Mentions (in alphabetical order)

Beck - Modern Guilt
Damien Jurado - Caught In The Trees
Flight Of The Conchords - Flight Of The Conchords
Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree
Hold Steady - Stay Positive
Kathleen Edwards - Asking For Flowers
MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
Tallest Man On Earth - Shallow Grave
Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer

Last word: While I'm not publishing individual lists, please feel free to publish your personal list under the comments!

Hope to hear from everyone (and more) again next year!

Infinite Playlist: Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours

Read more...

Satisfying New Editions - Remember, Remember, 2008's November

• Flights of the Conchords – Flight of the Conchords
• Plants and Animals – Parc Avenue

So a couple years back, me and two friends, let’s call them Kid A and Kid B, would get together once a week and jam in Kid A’s dank, cavernous basement. I would strut around wielding a sleek, jet-black Ibanez. Kid A would spastically thump away on his patchwork drum kit a la Animal from The Muppets, while good ol’ Kid B would tow us along with his steady bass playing.

It was endless fun.

One night I proposed “This is the Girl” as our band name. Kids A and B enthusiastically accepted. Collectively, we envisioned a legion of female fans wondering who the lucky girl we named our band after was. Oh, the enigmatic aura we’d have! (Confession: I stole the phrase from David Lynch’s surreal masterpiece Mulholland Drive). Anyways, we adored the name. That was, until I discovered several other bands with the same name (Realization: Google can be a fucking wet blanket sometimes).

We were crestfallen. This infinite sadness combined with my delirious new aesthetic vision for us - a Smashing Pumpkins cover band called “Mellon Iscariot & the Siamese Gish” - led to our ultimate demise. That was that. End of jam sessions.

Flight of the Conchords is a fantastic band name. It’s Google-friendly. Go ahead. Try. I’ll wait. You back? Ok, so like I was saying it’s Google-friendly, a little tongue-in-cheek, and certainly has cadence. Now admittedly their risible, contagious debut isn’t a brand new edition to my sonic palette, but a hard copy of the album is. And since it arrived in the mail I’ve listened to it over and over, and even rewatched season one. I particularly love the packaging: when folded open, a cardboard pop-up of Jemaine and Bret greet you, plus they threw in a colorful two-sided poster, currently on display in my hallway. While the jokes aren’t as fresh 10th time around, the songs themselves certainly endure. My biggest complaint is the omission of one of my favs, the choral sing-a-long “Sello Tape” (see Appendix). Hopefully they’ll include it on their sophomore release.

Plants and Animals also have a great band name, a wide-ranging moniker that seems to match their artistic ambitions. I think, though, they should be “Plants & Animals” not “Plants and Animals”. You know how when screenwriters work closely together, “&” is used between their names, and when the collaboration is a little more distant, “and” is used? The same should apply to musicians: Parc Avenue sounds like three close friends working side-by-side trying to reach a shared sonic vision. The result is 11 accessible indie-rockers brought to life through innovative arrangement and genre-pureeing. Out of curiousity, I retrieved the cd case from my car and, sure enough, my theory was confirmed: “All songs written by Plants and Animals.” Who wrote the lyrics for which song, or invented the riff on which part is unknown. Individual egos do not matter to this band. Plants and Animals, then, encompass the significance of the symbol above the 7 on your keyboard…in the screenwriting sense anyways.

Unlike the Smashing Pumpkins say, whose entire catalogue was written by Billy Corgan (99% anyways). I assure you that if “Mellon Iscariot & the Siamese Gish” ever get together, we’ll work together in respectful harmony, worthy of that ampersand.

Pretty sure anyways.

Note: I heard a lot of solid new music this month but didn't have enough time to weave those records in. With school wrapping up, I'm a little stretched at the moment. Props to:

• Mr Pine - Rewilding
• Human Highway - Moody Motorcycle
  
• The Dears - Missiles

Appendix

Read more...

Hottest Bands In Canada

So Matthew over at the indispensable I Heart Music kindly invited me to take part in his annual list of Canada's Hottest Bands this year. I was asked to submit a list of 10 acts whom I deemed had particularly successful 2008s - however I wanted to define that - and include a brief write up.

My list was composed rather extemporaneously since I've been absolutely swamped these past two weeks with school and work; but, overall, I'm happy with it except for one glaring, shameful omission: the ultra-talented Chad VanGaalen. My apologizes to Chad.

Anyways, Matthew has tabulated the results and posted it on his site, and I highly recommend checking it out (thanks to Matthew for the honoured invite).

My list was:

1. Caribou



A Dan Snaith worthy math equation:

A much-deserved Polaris + subsequent media exposure = Increased Popularity / Record Sales.

2. Tokyo Police Club

Few things are more fortuitous for a young career than opening for indie-pop deities Weezer.

3. Basia Bulat

Had she won the Polaris, she’d have been #1. She charmed me to pieces during her opening gig for Final Fantasy round these parts last year and continues to charm other Canadians at a reported exponential rate.

4. Weakerthans

Winnipeg represent! These hyper-literate lads have scored accolade after accolade for Reunion Tour. And they deserve it.

5. Feist

Was a recent clue on Jeopardy (and I got it!) as well as a guest on Sesame Street. Hmm. Maybe she should be #1?

6. Plants and Animals

I’m embarrassed to admit this: my first exposure to these guys was last month when they opened for The Born Ruffians at the Pyramid. I was so impressed I repeatedly exclaimed #7 followed by “are these guys ever good!”

7. Holy Fuck

Should thank the conservative party for the unanticipated exposure. Little did that “progressive” party know, these guys have a great sound.

8. Born Ruffians

I couldn’t tell if more people were at their concert to see Plants & Animals or them, so that hurt their ranking.

9. Ohbijou

Should be higher, but aren’t. Maybe next year.

10. Two Hours Traffic

See #9.

***

The Stills are opening for Sam Roberts' January 22nd show at the Burt.

Brian Borcherdt is opening for Martha Wainwright next month at the Pyramid.

Infinite Playlist: The Dears - Missiles

Read more...

Werewolf Bar Mitzvah. Spooky. Scary

Happy Halloween Folks!

In my opinion, the song "Werewolf Bar Mitzvah"is the third best Halloween song ever, ranking just below Monster Mash and Thriller.

Oh and if you're wondering who is 'singing', it is none other than the absolutely bonkers Tracy Morgan from 30 Rock. Man, does he crack me up.

Read more...

Hockey And Music

Chapter two of the wonderfully educational book The Indie Music Fan’s Guide to Being an Indie Music Fan is entitled “Acceptable Other Interests”, and states the following on page 34, paragraph two:

Under no circumstances whatsoever are Indie Music Lovers allowed to engage in or watch sports. Sport is anti-art that insidiously suppresses the individual creative instinct by advocating the inane concept of ‘team mentality’.

Just kidding! No such book exists…yet.

The inspiration for the above silliness came a couple days back when someone (who’ll remain anonymous) incredulously observed this about me: “You’re a big hockey fan? Really?!? But you’re such a huge book and music lover!”

This individual, however, was not the first person to make this astute observation about me, so Dear Blog Reader, let me clear up the confusion with information so shocking that you’ll likely click away in utter terror and dismay: I am a colossal NHL fan and follow it with a fervent passion. My team is the Edmonton Oilers, and I gotta tell ya, this year’s team looks promising, will be exciting to watch and will return to the playoffs this year for the first time in two years.

Self-indulgence aside, over the past few days I’ve been mulling over these two seemingly incongruous activities, desperately mining for some common ground, when suddenly it hit me like a bag of oranges: the personality types attracted to specific positions.

Let’s take a look.

1. Goalie/Drummer

It requires a particular kind of person to voluntarily block vulcanized rubber discs fired with intense velocity at the head or reproductive area, much like it takes a particular kind of person to sit around a drum kit and continuously emit pounding, thumping beats that cause brains to pinball around inside their skulls.

I know there’re loads of padding and ear devices that can be worn, but still not really for me.

2. Defence/Bass Player

What defence and bass have in common is this: no one ever wants to play this position. Whether playing an ad hoc game of scrimmage with your buds or starting a band, this is the one position no one ever wants to play. Why? Because traditionally defence or bass are considered boring and unheroic. But without defence/bass a team/band couldn’t function properly, which is why they attract the unsung heroes, the truly good people who aren’t interested in basking in the adoring glow of the limelight.

Since I’m definitely not “truly good”, this one also isn’t really for me.

3. Center/Lead Singer

The undisputed leader of the team/band, these leaders are responsible for, well, the energy of the team. Crowds always pick up on inept lead singers which in turn affect the rest of the band’s energy, whilst hockey fans always expect the center to dazzle defenders with some unheard of behind-the-back pass to left and right wingers who’ll score a blistering goal.

Too much pressure…not for me.

4. Left and Right Wing / Keyboard and Lead Guitarist

These I call the “look cool” position because, well, anyone who plays these positions looks beyond cool at every moment. Whether melting faces with a kaleidoscopic guitar solo or adroitly skating up the left or right, doing a fancy move on the defender and scoring glove side, these positions are fan magnets.

This is me, for sure.

Anyways, welcome back NHL. I’ve missed your frank ability to distract me from regularly updating my blog.

Music-related updates from now on (I promise).

Infinite Playlist : M83 - Saturdays = Youth

Read more...