Very nice.

The album, the band's fourth, was produced by the band, with co-producer Ken Thomas, at their own studio in Álafoss, Iceland.

Keyboardist Kjartan Sveinsson said: "There is nothing clever about Sigur Rós and how we write songs, it's just mucking about really."

Takk... runs to 65 minutes and is divided into 11 tracks. The songs are, apparently, rich in diversity, with ''Milano' offering simple piano lines in contrast to the bombastic 'Glosoli', featuring no fewer than three bass drums at work. The band have called this album their "rock'n'roll" album

edit: Shit. I just saw that Dalen beat me to this and added the same mp3 to his thread. Okay. I'm going to upload A DIFFERENT TRACK INSTEAD.


Here: "Gong". The first single.

http://s8.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2CVQDBQR5XB8B3OK9AVTLHQTO4

kickass. thanks man.

I honestly don't think there's going to be another album released this year that's as beautiful as Takk. I've listened to it straight through 4 times tonight, and I'm just blown away, and at moments, virtually in tears [damn i feel like such a pussy admitting that].

Gong [and Gong Endir] are great tracks as well...good choice there. Hope you're digging it as much as I am man.

-D

You insult the bravery and stregnth of pussy, pal.

<--- tipsy

could comment, but won't because i want this thread to stay on topic.

My 2nd track listen. Wow, again.

thank you.

The record as a whole is as focused and deliberate in scope, feel, and pace as the past 2 (the Von songs only work for me in a live setting), but for some reason it's not quite as contact-high as "()" was when that teaser leaked in '02. The first half of that record is still amazing...

The leak I got is 160 - anyone have something 192/better? Something like this needs to be heard with as little file compression as possible, ya know? (Yes, I'm buying it)

i've only found 160 as well.

after only 2 listens, i'll stand by my earlier predicition that this will be my #1 album of the year.

love this band.

this album is great. "gong" is definitely in hopelandic.

"you siiiiii-alo!"

my version is 192.

where'd ya get yours?

the whole album's out now? and here i am listening to the 2 singles like a chump? (sigh). well now i got something to do tonight.

Typical friend-of-a-friend hand-me-down type stuff.

2 immediate takeaways:

- Jonsi's voice sounds strained (also seems a bit down in the mix at times, but that's probably attributable to the 160)
- Seems like they're purposefully trying to put out something that would be more palatable to mainstream sensibilities, even though they're sticking with all of their signature sounds, melodies, and the Hopelandic thing.

OK, one more:
- this stuff must be fuckin stupid amazing live. When that build starts on "Glosoli"? On their best days, Coldplay and Godspeed *both* wish they could execute this as well as Sigur Ros does.

Also, more bands should outline the principle melody of their first song using an intro track like they do here. I love the effect - it's like reprising the melody, but before you even hear the song. Or something.

Hmm.

Noice.

I need to fire up their ealier albums to prime me for this release.

How is it that every musician out of Iceland seems to be so damn good?

I really like that Glosoli song. It sounds like windshield wipers.

i was thinking the same thing actually. it sets the mood perfectly.

i disagree with your comment on their new material being more palatable though, and IMO a band like Sigur Ros couldn't care less what the mainstream wants or expects from them. Isn't it possible that they wanted to strip down their music a bit, and simply take a different approach? The problem here is that their early material was so spacious and elaborate that anything following it, that wasn't as massive, might seem "more palatable". I hope that makes sense [2 glasses of wine in:)]

I think they've created an exceptional album here, that I'm finding more enjoyable than () out of the gate.

Very cool song

I thought I had read in a few places since the ballet/dance improv whatever thing they did with Radiohead that they were trying to focus on creating an album that had more "pop appeal," particularly in comparison to (). I might be reading something into whatever their statements were, but I don't mean mainstream in the Kelly Clarkson, HOT97 sense. I mean it in the Garden State sense - there's a healthy amount of pop appeal here for certain.

At any rate, I mean this more in the context of their previous recorded output. I think () was a remarkable achievement and is one heckuva slow burn on the b side, but it was not the hit most folks were expecting after AB. Takk has a few songs that I could see ending up on all manner of soundtracks, public radio, and maybe even finding a place via a visual medium, as it is *very* cinematic music. I personally don't need some brilliant video to sell me on them, but I could see that opening doors for them with less committed folks.

Right out of the gate, every (non-transitional) song has a focus on melody (as well as the usual dominant Sigur Ros atmosphere), whereas () was hamstrung at times by focus on repetition and reduction. At least 2 Takk songs actually are kinda upbeat, which I would've never associated with them in the past (tracks 2 and 6). Heck, I can hear the remix of track 6 right now...

I guess my comparsion point is really with (). There's nothing threatening about this record - it's all warm and nice cold. I mean, there's a fucking oom-pah band waltz mixed in! Even the first song wouldn't be entirely out-of-place on a Coldplay record, if they weren't so dull and hellbent on being U2. If the critical spin on this is more of the overwhelming, Agaetis variety, I think it'll open them up to a lot more folks.

(me + 1 Stella, after 11 hour workday)

why should there be something threatening? were you threatened by material on their previous releases? i wasn't. is the new material any less challenging than their previous albums? i don't think so, at all.

just because there's a heavy sense of melody on this album doesn't mean they're trying to shoot for the mainstream crowd. you might be reading too far into this.

lord...I'm looking for this...did I miss a YSI thread (whole album)? My appetite has been wettened by this...

don't post full albums anymore, but here's another track.....

http://obner.org/bb/viewtopic.php?t=9824

yeah it is. when "gisoli" (live) started climaxing i was in heaven (i hadn't heard the song before, btw). afterwards when i heard it on the album, it seemed underwhelming even. (i was still floored, but you know)