Heima screening in Salt Lake City—Confirmed!

After a few weeks of email exchanges between the label and organizers in the area, The BGLC is proud to announce that a screening of the Sigur Rós film Heima will take place next week at the Tower Theatre.

Details:

WHEN: December 4th, 7:00pm
WHERE: Tower Theatre (near corner of 9th & 9th)

Admission will be $2.00 per person.

Learn more about the film here.

For more information on the screening, contact The Tower Theatre or Graywhale Records during normal business hours.

See you there!

*UPDATE*
See a review of the event here.

Morrissey "strikes again" suing NME

On the heals of announcing new tour dates and plans for two releases in 2008, Morrissey continues to churn the promotion machine with a defamation lawsuit over construed comments in a recent NME interview.

As reported by Pitchfork, in his interview with the NME, Morrissey was asked if he would return to live in England. What followed was his view of England's lost identity as opposed to other European countries that have been able to maintain their culture and charm.

Here's the quote from the NME article:

"Although I don't have anything against people from other countries, the higher the influx into England the more the British identity disappears. So the price is enormous. If you travel to Germany, it's still absolutely Germany. If you travel to Sweden, it still has a Swedish identity.

"But travel to England and you have no idea where you are."

As this could be seen as an allegation against immigrants in the UK and a reason for not living there, there was a follow-up interview where Morrissey attempted to clarify his remarks. He further explained:

"It could be construed that the reason I wouldn't wish to live in England is the immigration explosion. And that's not true at all."

When all was said and done, the original quote made it into the article which didn't make the once pop idol turned modern-day crooner too happy. Morrissey demanded a printed apology, but didn't get it. Silly editors.

Cue the legal team!

What the hell is going on?

We've been away for a few weeks and have way too many things to post. So, here's a overview of the many things we would have posted had we been around to do so.

• Led Zeppelin release another "new" compilation and sell out tickets to a one off reunion show.

• Morrissey cancels his last date of his tour in Florida, signs a new record deal and announces new tour dates in France and the UK. A new album will be out next year.

• Radiohead confirm that they will tour in 2008

• My Bloody Valentine schedule reunion tour and release a digital EP.

• Quite Riot lead singer Kevin DuBrow was found dead in his Las Vegas apartment.

Many more things happening, including a Sigur Rós Heima screening in Salt Lake City, that will be posted soon.

Radiohead webcast shows band preparing for tour

Several youtube postings from last week's webcast are fueling the likelihood that Radiohead is close to announcing their upcoming tour.

Check out the videos below:





And our favorite from the session—a Smiths cover:

Sigur Rós release Heima

We at The BGLC have had several Memorable Music Moments over the years. Now, when we say Memorable Music Moment, we are specifically talking about the first time we listened to something knowing that it had changed us forever.

A few examples:

X - Under The Big Black Sun (1982)
Aztec Camera - High Land, Hard Rain (1983)
Cocteau Twins - Sunburst and Snowblind (1983)
The Smiths - What Difference Does It Make? (1984)
Bryan Ferry - Boys and Girls (1985)
David Sylvian - Secrets of the Beehive (1985)
Love And Rockets - Express (1985)
Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares - Volume One (1986)
All About Eve - Martha's Harbour (1988)
Low - Long Division (1995)

We can remember the first time we heard each of the above recordings. What's more, we remember details, seasons, locations, relationships and circumstances of those moments as well. If we were to play any of these albums today, we can seemingly go back in time and be (in our minds, of course) back to that place and time. Hopefully you have had this experience as well.

While a majority of music over the past decade or more has been a horrible cornucopia of suck, there has been one beam of hope that has produced several Memorable Music Moments for The BGLC over the last 7 years.

Of course we are speaking of Sigur Rós.

In October of 2000 we heard Flugufrelsarinn off of Ágætis byrjun for the first time on Nic Harcourt's Morning Becomes Eclectic.

We could not believe what we were hearing and immediately ordered the album online from their Icelandic label.

The band has built a large following over the years by opening for Radiohead, appearing on the Vanilla Sky soundtrack, picking up awards by the arm loads and dazzling audiences with their impressive live appearances.

As if the music and live performances weren't enough to fill your head with magical aural and visual bliss, Sigur Rós will up the ante this month with their first film release, Heima.

While many music critics will categorize the film simply as a "documentary", Heima is a rare opportunity to see and hear these amazing artists not only preform live, but do so shrouded by the back drop of the dramatic landscapes of Iceland.

Filmed during their travels and tour of Iceland from July 24th through August 4th of 2006, Heima captures a tour that "was free to all-comers and went largely unannounced. Playing in deserted fish factories, outsider art follies, far-flung community halls, sylvan fields, darkened caves and the hoofprint of Odin’s horse, Sleipnir (The huge horseshoe canyon at Ásbyrgi was, according to legend, formed by the hoofprint of this mythical beast), the band reached an entirely new spectrum of the Icelandic population; young and old, ardent and merely quizzical, entirely by word-of-mouth."

Falling somewhere between the visual beauty of Ron Fricke's Baraka and the captured magic of Dead Can Dance in Toward the Within, Heima gives the viewer a look into a band (and a nation) that is widely misunderstood and have yet to receive their proper respect.

One could argue as well that the Icelandic Tourist Board should be paying royalties to the band for the future boost in visitors that will soon be landing in Reykjavik entirely due to this film.

If you haven't heard of Sigur Rós, this is the perfect opportunity to familiarize yourself with your next favorite band. If you have heard of them, then make sure that you get out and buy this film to share it with someone—and create your own Memorable Music Moment.

The film, Heima will be released on DVD on November 20 in the US. In addition to the film, a double CD, of studio versions of previously unreleased songs and acoustic studio versions of songs already released, titled Hvarf-Heim will be available on November 6.

Heima trailer