after much waiting, here we are at our first theme week. why am i starting a theme week on a wednesday in the middle of the week you ask? mainly because i can. im hoping to do theme weeks from time to time so figured might as well start now. the next theme week i have planned is requests, but i still need a few more to complete the whole week (hint hint). but back to the week at hand. this weeks theme is…wait for it….the climax. this week will feature songs that start out quiet and innocent but build up into something much bigger. it will also probably gratuitous sexual innuendo. you probably have heard most of the songs that will be featured this week, but i dont really care, cuz i like them anyway.
the first entry for climax week is glosoli by sigur ros from their stellar album “takk”. there are a few random accent marks in the song title, but i dont really feel like figuring out how to make them, and i clearly hate proper grammar anyway, so i guess its not a big deal. i think many of you are probably familiar with sigur ros, but in case you arent, they are a crazy good icelandic group, perhaps the second most famous icelandic musicians right after my girl bjork. what i like most about them is their wall of sound. i think it was phil spektor that created the concept of the wall of sound back in the day. but sigur ros really does a great job with it. its one of the great things about seeing them live, its kind of sensory overload at times in a really good way. if youve never heard them before, just go into it with an open mind and accept that the lyrics are in a language you most likely dont understand.
the first time i saw sigur ros live, they opened with this track and it was the start of something great. they played the whole track behind the sort of curtain thats in the picture above, with all kinds of crazy visuals being displayed in front of their shadowy silhouettes. maybe the concert was so great for me because i left work that day, went straight to the show, and left the following morning for 4 days in vegas, so i was in a pretty good mood. but, i saw them again last fall and it was just as good. their lights/visuals are pretty outstanding too, and they usually have a nice little string section accompanying them. the fascinating thing about sigur ros is i have no idea what any of the songs are about, but the music is captivating enough that it doesnt matter. of all the songs im planning on sharing with you in the next week, this one probably best exemplifies building up into something huge from almost nothing. pretty good climax, right?
ps. you should all check out the sigur ros documentary entitled “heima”. it will pretty much for sure make you want to go to iceland with a very expensive camera.
sigur ros -glosoli
buy this track on itunes
buy this track on itunes
