9 Dec 2009 by Chris     No Comments    Posted under: Entertainment

Albums of the Decade: No.12

Takk by Sigur Rós

“Nú vaknar þú, allt virðist vera breytt, ég gægist út, en er svo ekki neitt”

I’ve become quite enamoured with music which has been described as “post-rock” over the past few years, from Slint to Mogwai and Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and Sigur Rós can probably loosely be classed in that category, although the widespread use of their music on TV has made them possibly too well-known for such a non-mainstream genre. One of many examples of Iceland punching above its weight in the noughties, Sigur Rós came to prominence with their third, fourth and fifth albums, Takk being the middle one of these, in 2005. It was their first for a major label, and their most accessible by far. In many ways, this is a more uninhibited version of what Coldplay (and at times, Radiohead) try to do with their more mainstream rock – the influences are clear.

The problem with so much post-rock music, with its walls of noise and five-minute crescendos, is that it really needs to be listened to on a great hi-fi system. Unfortunately, with the rise of the MP3, the noughties saw the biggest backward step in the quality of music reproduction ever. Most people have probably never heard Sigur Rós without the music collapsing into total distortion, which is a real shame, because listened to properly, it’s extraordinarily uplifting. But I’ve heard Hoppipolla (made prominent by the BBC’s Planet Earth series, below) played in lifts and coming out of mobile phone speakers, where it’s just a mess. By all means listen to the track below coming out of your PC speakers, but it’s a cartoon version of the real thing.

• Albums of the Decade: No.13
• Albums of the Decade: No.14
• Albums of the Decade: No.15
• Albums of the Decade: No.16
• Albums of the Decade: No.17
• Albums of the Decade: No.18
• Albums of the Decade: No.19
• Albums of the Decade: No.20

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