Red Mosquito

Kevin Davis wrote:Budnick: It's like when Solomon King had to make his decision.
Z.Z.: You mean King Solomon when he had to cut the baby in half?
Budnick: No, I mean Solomon King. I went to school with the guy. He had front-row tickets to two incredible concerts on the same night, he had to make a decision.
Z.Z.: What'd he do?
Budnick: Well, he came down with the chicken pox, so he couldn't go to either one of them.

the firsts tracks reminded me of My Bloody Valentine.

a few things:

* I like it, I just wish it didn't sound so happy
* I am not getting any Far East vibe here
* there is absolutely nothing wrong with the track sequencing

Heathen wrote:a few things:

* I like it, I just wish it didn't sound so happy
* I am not getting any Far East vibe here
* there is absolutely nothing wrong with the track sequencing

No Far East vibe? Really? Not even in the Japanese percussion, cymbals, gongs, etc.?

It's kind of funny that you'd say the first 2 things, and then conclude it with the 3rd.

I don't think most of the album sounds happy -- it's those last three tracks, imo, where the tone shifts and suddenly typical Sigur Ros turns up. The first 6 are kind of mournful and heavy.

Maybe I haven't paid attention to those drums details but yeah, I didn't get any vibe like that.

And the 'happy' tone I'm getting is probably because of the singing, i picture someone smiling retardedly during the whole thing. I agree that the music itself doesn't reflect that all the time. I guess that's why I like the sequencing, whenever it starts sounding too much bright it shifts to something a little darker.

South East Asian singers are often very smiley, whether that be Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Korean. Just sayin'.

Well if I had no idea this was Sigur Ros my philistine ears would have led me to believe it was sung in Japanese or something similar.

I really like the drumming on this thing. It reminds me of what I like about The National's drums. Harmless, or anyone else who knows this kind of stuff, what would you call it? Maybe there isn't anything special about this and I'm talking out of my ass but I mean drums like Isjaki's intro or about 1 minute into Stormur.

Heathen wrote:I really like the drumming on this thing. It reminds me of what I like about The National's drums. Harmless, or anyone else who knows this kind of stuff, what would you call it? Maybe there isn't anything special about this and I'm talking out of my ass but I mean drums like Isjaki's intro or about 1 minute into Stormur.

I've said quite a bit about the percussion, but I've not found much support for it yet. I'm sticking to my guns. It's very Far Eastern / South East Asian: Japanese / Chinese. Japanese Katana drumming, I think, uses like big bass drums and it's what we hear in Martial Arts movies. In 'Isjaki', that's the vibe I'm getting. The 'cover artwork' for that single -- its manga-esque font -- would seem to suggest that's what they were after. Also note the use of cymbals and gongs throughout this album: 'Hrafntinna' is a Kung-Fu masterpiece which paints a classic Chinese Dynasty type landscape in my head, and it's mostly because of the clanging going on. Those clanging gongs and cymbals are back in the title track.

Heathen wrote:Well if I had no idea this was Sigur Ros my philistine ears would have led me to believe it was sung in Japanese or something similar.

Yes, I forgot Japan. Very Japanese but there are hints at other Asian feels too. Instinctively there are bits that seem to represent different countries and styles but I don't know enough to pick them out. I've just watched a lot of Oriental cookery programmes.

Holy Rafstraumur. What a great song.

harmless wrote:

Heathen wrote:I really like the drumming on this thing. It reminds me of what I like about The National's drums. Harmless, or anyone else who knows this kind of stuff, what would you call it? Maybe there isn't anything special about this and I'm talking out of my ass but I mean drums like Isjaki's intro or about 1 minute into Stormur.

I've said quite a bit about the percussion, but I've not found much support for it yet. I'm sticking to my guns. It's very Far Eastern / South East Asian: Japanese / Chinese. Japanese Katana drumming, I think, uses like big bass drums and it's what we hear in Martial Arts movies. In 'Isjaki', that's the vibe I'm getting. The 'cover artwork' for that single -- its manga-esque font -- would seem to suggest that's what they were after. Also note the use of cymbals and gongs throughout this album: 'Hrafntinna' is a Kung-Fu masterpiece which paints a classic Chinese Dynasty type landscape in my head, and it's mostly because of the clanging going on. Those clanging gongs and cymbals are back in the title track.

I guess I was less talking about the kind of drums and more about the pattern/rhythm itself. I'm pretty illiterate about this stuff, but it's the kind of rhythm that will make me get into a song big time. Rafstraumur is another example of this.

Heathen wrote:

harmless wrote:

Heathen wrote:I really like the drumming on this thing. It reminds me of what I like about The National's drums. Harmless, or anyone else who knows this kind of stuff, what would you call it? Maybe there isn't anything special about this and I'm talking out of my ass but I mean drums like Isjaki's intro or about 1 minute into Stormur.

I've said quite a bit about the percussion, but I've not found much support for it yet. I'm sticking to my guns. It's very Far Eastern / South East Asian: Japanese / Chinese. Japanese Katana drumming, I think, uses like big bass drums and it's what we hear in Martial Arts movies. In 'Isjaki', that's the vibe I'm getting. The 'cover artwork' for that single -- its manga-esque font -- would seem to suggest that's what they were after. Also note the use of cymbals and gongs throughout this album: 'Hrafntinna' is a Kung-Fu masterpiece which paints a classic Chinese Dynasty type landscape in my head, and it's mostly because of the clanging going on. Those clanging gongs and cymbals are back in the title track.

I guess I was less talking about the kind of drums and more about the pattern/rhythm itself. I'm pretty illiterate about this stuff, but it's the kind of rhythm that will make me get into a song big time. Rafstraumur is another example of this.

I'm not sure if those rhythms have names as such, but they're often played not on drum kits but low toms or bass drums. 'Brennistein', 'Kveikur' and 'Rafstraumur' (mostly played on the snare drum) have a more typical drum-kit sound. The album's rhythms are mostly built around a low and steady tom / bass drum 1234 pulse. The only thing I could say (although it wouldn't be entirely accurate) is that they're often tribal and / or militaristic.

The most dark and menacing songs on this album, like 'Hrafntinna', have that tribal thing going on.

harmless wrote:

Heathen wrote:

harmless wrote:

Heathen wrote:I really like the drumming on this thing. It reminds me of what I like about The National's drums. Harmless, or anyone else who knows this kind of stuff, what would you call it? Maybe there isn't anything special about this and I'm talking out of my ass but I mean drums like Isjaki's intro or about 1 minute into Stormur.

I've said quite a bit about the percussion, but I've not found much support for it yet. I'm sticking to my guns. It's very Far Eastern / South East Asian: Japanese / Chinese. Japanese Katana drumming, I think, uses like big bass drums and it's what we hear in Martial Arts movies. In 'Isjaki', that's the vibe I'm getting. The 'cover artwork' for that single -- its manga-esque font -- would seem to suggest that's what they were after. Also note the use of cymbals and gongs throughout this album: 'Hrafntinna' is a Kung-Fu masterpiece which paints a classic Chinese Dynasty type landscape in my head, and it's mostly because of the clanging going on. Those clanging gongs and cymbals are back in the title track.

I guess I was less talking about the kind of drums and more about the pattern/rhythm itself. I'm pretty illiterate about this stuff, but it's the kind of rhythm that will make me get into a song big time. Rafstraumur is another example of this.

I'm not sure if those rhythms have names as such, but they're often played not on drum kits but low toms or bass drums. 'Brennistein', 'Kveikur' and 'Rafstraumur' (mostly played on the snare drum) have a more typical drum-kit sound. The album's rhythms are mostly built around a low and steady tom / bass drum 1234 pulse. The only thing I could say (although it wouldn't be entirely accurate) is that they're often tribal and / or militaristic.

thanks

I put my leaked copy of this onto my MP3 player last night, and took it for a spin to a doctor's appointment this morning. For some reason, my MP3 player has the ability to make anything -- even a leak -- sound 20 times better. With bigger, louder sound, and much more nuance between the instruments, I could hear stuff I hadn't heard before and yeah... most of what I wasn't sure about hit home. This is a seriously good, atmospheric album. Sometimes I think I'd like it to be a bit longer, but then I remember that Takk, for all its epic swathes of gorgeousness, was a little overlong. So this one is maybe just right.

From what I've heard on my crappy work-computer speakers, I really liked it. I think it's pretty balanced. I can't wait to hear the new songs that they didn't previously play live on the fall US tour.

Really good, but I keep going back to Kveikur.

My go-to songs are Hrafntinna and Yfirbord. Having said that, I can't imagine listening to any of these songs in isolation yet.

It's literally impossible to rank these albums.