Sigur Ros (Ny Batteri)

The first two pieces 'Rafmagni Bui ' and the eponymous 'Ny Batteri' are probably two of the most heart-wrenching pieces you could ever find. The first piece, which begins with a beautiful, sad, and subtle piano, slowly builds with gorgeous horns into an achingly soft crescendo, which then leads us into 'Ny Batteri', another magnificent piece of music, carried perfectly by the precise bass playing of Georg Holm, and the superb pounding and crashing drumming of Agust Gunnarsson.

Side two, however, is a more low-key affair featuring two songs that are also featured on the 'Englar Alheimsins' soundtrack. The first of which, 'Bium Bium Bambalo', begins slowly with a mournful organ, only to buld into a fine climax of hammering drums and crying guitar. Jon or Birgisson's delicate voice, which aches of beautiful sadness throughout.

The final song, 'Danarfregnir Og Jar afarir', agains opens with a beautifully played organ only to errupt with a sound so magnificent and mind-blowing. Only to turn into a something resembling a doom-metal climax.

Brilliant Stuff.


Buy Now!   June 19, 2000
4 out of 19 found this review helpful

1% Smashing Pumpkins, 1% Cocteau Twins and 98% groundbreaking stuff. - Layers and layers of beauty.


Catching a glimpse through the doorway to heaven   May 11, 2000
5 out of 9 found this review helpful

This is an excellent song, and if it were by any other band I would award it the full five stars without hesitating. But a few strokes short of divine, this music is "merely" majestic, which is sub-standard for Sigur Ros. Paradoxically, that is what also makes this track an ideal primer for the uninitiated to their musical sorcery.

This is one of the more gripping songs from their forthcoming album (Agaetis Byrjun), and though not the sort of music that will change your life, it should get you fully equipped for the transition. Jon or's singing is as delicately powerful as ever, hooks and riffs aplenty, and then the drums kick in with the power of a bulldozer through a bedroom window.

The extra tracks are a must-have, or at least must-hear, both of them, even though bearing a fleeting resemblance to the prog-rock extravaganza of the 70's (think Deep Purple hammering guitars with violin bows on top of soaring Hammonds and lullaby Glockenspiels). The sort of music you would expect from crossing the fragile beauty of haiku poetry with the brute force of sumo wrestling.

No more hesitating. Music like this is hard to come by. Who am I to blame these guys for the ease they come up with it.


Another great performance by Sigur Ros   May 11, 2000
41 out of 42 found this review helpful

This EP (4 songs, 24"6) is a bit pricey on import but well worth the money. The first two songs are joined, the first being an instrumental brass band extended intro to "Ny Battery" (New Batteries) taken from the CD "Agaetis byrjun" (An Excellent Beginning). But it is the two remaining songs that make this CD so good. Taken from the film "Angels of the Universe" by Oscar nominated director Fridrik Thor Fridriksson (Children of Nature) they are superbly performed by Sigur Ros. "Danarfregnir og Jardarfarir" (Deaths and Funerals) is an instrumental track based on a 10 seconds jingle that precedes funeral announcements on Icelandic public radio. To Icelanders this jingle is synonymous with death and in the film it dramatically signals the imminent death of the main character. The other is "Bium Bium Bambalo", words which have no meaning but are sung to babies in old nursery rhymes. This song runs over the credit lines of the film and gives the audience the feeling that the main character has finally achieved peace, the film being the story of his evolving schizophrenia. What is interesting about those two songs is that they are written by brothers, Jonas and Jon Muli Arnason. Both are well known in Iceland, one being a former Member of Parliament, the other a well known radio personality. Together they wrote a number of hit songs and musicals, although these songs are their individual efforts and have never been released on record before...