Soundbites

Sigur Ros “( )” MCA Records

As proven before, and again on “( ),” Jonsi
Birggison’s overbearing choir boy croon isn’t the most
beautiful thing in today’s music scene (as some would have
you think); it’s not even the main strength of
Iceland’s second best musical import. In fact, it’s
hard to pinpoint anything about this consciously enigmatic group.
When “Iceland is cold and its music is surprisingly
warm” is the same meaningless analysis tossed around by
listeners, Lester Bangs should be turning in his grave. But
that’s the group’s trick ““ listeners are without
anything to say because Sigur Ros is without any apparent
substance. We’re not motivated by the illusion that somewhere
this music is legitimate and authentic, and Birgisson is eager to
advertise that the lyrics he’s singing usually aren’t
in a real language (as if anyone this side of the Atlantic would
even know the difference). With only eight songs on the latest
album, all untitled and sung in Birggison’s made-up
hopelandic, “( )” seems almost a tongue-in-cheek
response to the group’s perceived pretension. The grandiose
melodies are still present, but the band dares to bring its essence
to the forefront with fewer strings, less bombast and significantly
fewer musical ideas per song. While “Agaetis Byrjun”
was glossed over by its production and gratuitous strings, here the
sound stands on its own, and predictably it now has more room to
breathe. Even the apocalyptic closer gains its momentum by
capitalizing on the open space between Birggison’s
reverb-laden voice and the muffled instrumentation. Still,
it’s all shamelessly melodramatic statements about nothing
much at all. But even though the album may not be emotionally
affecting for everyone, you can’t deny that this choir boy
has got some balls ““ and one day he might even have something
to say.

-Andrew Lee

Foo Fighters “One By One” RCA
Records

Images of bloody hearts cover the liner notes and the title of
the album is “One By One.” The band is the Foo
Fighters, but the sound is more fight than foo. And the fight is
pretty much a bunch of goo ““ no, it’s not as bad as the
Goo Goo Dolls, thank God, but it ain’t too keen either. Dave
Grohl and company appear to be making a stab at reclaiming their
grunge roots. Nirvana fans might be pleased to find Grohl embracing
his inner Pixie. Or maybe they’ll be bored. The wheel is not
reinvented. This rocks, but not too hard. The soft-loud song
progression is very much alive and well on “One by
One.” This is a pedestrian Grohl effort. The songs are
catchy, if angrier than usual. People who like the Foo Fighters for
“Everlong” and “Learn to Fly” will have to
wait for songs seven through nine to get anything nearly as poppy.
And even then there are some cuss words and big, distorted power
chords. It’s not a totally heinous album: “Have It
All” has a “My Sharona” kind of groove to it. The
lyrics are extremely simple and repeated numerous times so anyone
who likes a good sing-along should have fun with this album if,
like the second track, “Low,” suggests,
“there’s nowhere to go.” This time around, in
Grohl’s anger there’s no room for any Mentos spoofing
videos, no real fun, no real essence of foo that made the
band’s early emo-style pop so digestible. “One By
One,” gets a big one-and-a-half paws foo sure.

-Anthony Bromberg