sigur ross

i showed up at the st. james theater at about 7:00pm and they hadn't started letting people in yet. there was a line up the sidewalk and around the block. i think they finally opened the doors at 7:15 and i was inside and in front of the stage by 7:30. it's a small, old, and intimate venue, again like the warfield in sf. my back was killing me by the time the opening act (four women that make up the group amina) came on stage at 8:30. the stage was littered with all kinds of vintage xylophones and keyboards and synthesizers while an apple powerbook took center stage. there was even a set of half filled wine glasses up there. not a good sign i thought. how do i describe their sound? ok, you know ross on friends, and the "music" he used to make back in the day? well, it's kinda like that but times 4. there was this ringing noise from the wine glasses, the twanging sound from playing and bending a long saw blade, the pinging of those kiddy xylophones you had as a youngster. you know, the kind that had wheels and you could pull around. aural hell on wheels. there was also this handheld keyboard probably the size of a dozen eggs, maybe smaller. anyhow, these women would jump from one instrument to the other and their parts would get recorded and looped on the powerbook. this isn't a band that you stand up front for. hell, it's barely something you sleep to.

sigur ros was something else. from left to right on the stage: keyboard, guitar/lead vocal, bass, and drums. he played his electric guitar with a bow and sang almost entirely in this eery falsetto. not only that, it was in icelandic and a made up hopelandic tongue. in other words, i doubt anyone in the audience really knew what he was singing. one of the albums actually has an empty sleeve so that you could write your own lyrics to their songs. anyway, their music was much more organized, powerful, and melancholy than the opener. i was trying to figure out when i'd listen to their music and the only thing i could figure is during a dramatic suicide or the tormented ending of a lover's life. maybe the end of a modern romeo and juliet would be appropriate. if you hear me listening to them it might be a subconscious cry for help. interestingly enuf someone in line had told me that radiohead was either influenced by sigur ros or the other way around. in some of the songs i could see how they could sound like radiohead if they threw some english lyrics in there.