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

NPR's Luke Burbank takes himself way too seriously

While in New York for a screening of their stupidly beautiful '06 Iceland tour documentary/concert film Heima, Sigur Rós were interviewed on an NPR show.

Although they claim that they, "love the band Sigur Ros" in their post, its clear that The Bryant Park Project are occasional listeners at best.

All involved probably "love" U2, Sting, Enya, Kanye West, Madonna and the collective hodge podge of mindless crap out there as well.

In the video, its pretty clear that the band didn't want to be there. However, its also clear from the show's post that everyone handling them wanted them there.

The interview consisted of the band giving short answers and sitting silently for long periods of time.

Now, Luke Burbank is riding this for as long as he can. The show posted the video of the interview. After a swell of feedback from bloggers and fans, The Bryant Park Project then posted another video of Burbank and Jancee Dunn watching and critiquing the original interview video.

If Burbank and everyone involved with this show cared more about the music than their mechanical need to create "music news" the interview would have gone dramatically different.

Oh, you want proof? Try this or this.
(I believe that's the band talking . . . there goes the "They just didn't understand the questions" hypothesis.)

The difference between Nic Harcourt and these NPR fools is, again, their intent.

It's an embarrassment that The Bryant Park Project is trying to "understand" why this went badly. And how obtuse to think it's the bands fault.

The truly sad point in all of this is The Bryant Park Project's failure to appreciate the opportunity that they had. Time will show that Sigur Rós are one of the most important group of artists during this century. And, it won't be because of their ability to chart a course through the business of music. It'll be on the basis of their music alone.

UPDATE: You caught us! We're not even occasional listeners/readers of The Bryant Park Project. We've updated the names to reflect this correction. However, the anonymous coward comment has been removed for obscenities (Honestly, you kiss your mother with that mouth?).