Sigur Rós played Radio City

It's been over three years since Sigur Rós released a new album, but that has in no way hindered the band's live presence or made this tour feel like a retread. Instead, it's reaffirmed the Icelandic post-rock icons as masters of their craft.

Sigur Rós played Madison Square Garden

Emerging to the stage masked in a rippling curtain, Sigur Rós brought a high impact show to their largest headlining performance in New York. Backlit, the band appeared as giants overlooking the monstrous Garden before the curtain fell during a thunderous "Ny Batteri". Abstract impressions with deep vivid colors were projected on a giant screen behind the band with each song getting its own unique display and rows of lights ebbed and flowed with the surge and force from the Icelandic powerhouse. Sigur Rós have often been called "a great band to listen to while taking a nap" each song slowly shifting and building to grand heights, however their earth-shaking live renditions did everything to squash that notion. While the band's latest album Valtari felt stalled and left many thinking that the band was unsure of their next move, a message and announcement of a new album Kveikur promised a more aggressive and heavy sound which is exactly what you get from first single "Brennisteinn". Performing as officially a trio for the first time, the band still sounded sharp and on-point, never missing a moment to make their music feel as epic as ever. Fan favorite "Hoppipolla" received a staggering ovation that brought the arena to it's feet. In the weeks leading up to the show, the band sent emails to their fans about their excitement of playing the famed venue and how their career had been building to this moment. It still is hard to believe that a band whose music you'd easily believe was something actually born out of the elements is capable of playing Madison Square Garden, but each song was a nail in the coffin of doubt as the band proved not only their breath-taking ability to produce these songs live, but they can dazzle and create a spectacle as magical as anyone who has played the world's most famous arena.

Sigur Rós - Inni

Icelandic post-rock titans Sigur Rós posted a new video on their website today, simply titled Inni. No information has been given at the moment but one can only hope that a follow-up of some kind (live album? DVD? anything?) to their last album, Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust (which I named one of my favorite records of 2008) is on the way. In any case, enjoy the clip above and wait patiently.

Top Ten Albums of 2008

Thins got busy in December including school, work, finals, seeing Neil Young, Wilco, and CSS and then the holidays and of course the start of 2009. So in order to kick this year off I'm listing my top 10 albums of 2008.

1. Portishead | Third
Portishead made one of the most daring moves of the year. They could either: return and reclaim their greatness with just replaying all of their old classics or they could attempt to put out their first album in over a decade and hope it matched the brilliance of their previous records. They took the chance and killed all odds. This album touched upon all the greatness that Portishead had left on over a decade ago and went even further. They touched everything from trip-hop on “The Rip” to industrial on “Machine Gun” and finally folkie on “Deep Water”. They took tremendous risks and never looked back, but then again how could you with a voice like that.

2. Fleet Foxes | Fleet Foxes
From the opening harmonies it was hard to deny that this was going to be one of my most listened to records of the year. Everything on it just seemed to flow together so well. The voices are pristine, the rhythms are simple, and the lyrics are touching. It’s folk rock with a southern tinge at it’s finest.

3. TV on the Radio | Dear Science
For the follow up to my favorite album of 2006, TV on the Radio left nothing to chance. Dear Science is everything I love about this band. It’s chopping, crunchy, funky, dissonant and smooth all at the same time. It’s all over the place, but in a concentrated way. They challenge you to listen closely at all they do and they pay the closest attention to detail so why doesn’t the listener?

4. No Age | Nouns
5. Deerhunter | Microcastle
6. M83 | Saturdays = Youth
7. Sigur Rós | Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
8. Beach House | Devotion
9. Vampire Weekend | Vampire Weekend
10. Santogold | Santogold

Sigur Rós gets folky

In keeping with the trend of new music posts, I am currently digging the new single from Sigur Rós entitled "Gobbledigook." The single is available free for download on their website and the new album drops in June. This is definitely a new direction for these guys (think Animal Collective on Sung Tongs) and I hope they keep it up on the rest of the album. Something to look forward to for sure. I also highly recommend watching the video for the single which you can see at their website while you download the mp3.

Also the people over at Woxy have a complied this year's list of the 500 greatest modern rock songs. I guess modern rock covers quite the field of songs, but none the less this is a pretty good list. Very up to date with old classics and new indie anthems that should please the average moder rock fan. Anyway here is their top 10 and you can find the whole list here.
10. U2 - Sunday Bloody Sunday
9. Radiohead - Paranoid Android
8. Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
7. The Clash - London Calling
6. Pixies - Where Is My Mind?
5. R.E.M. - Radio Free Europe
4. The Smiths - How Soon Is Now?
3. Violent Femmes - Blister In The Sun
2. Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart
1. Radiohead - Creep