When I think of Sigur Rós, that cool indie rock band from Norway or Greenland or wherever, there’s basically three main things that come to my mind way ahead of everything else. Although, actually, to be perfectly honest, the first two of those three things are Bob Seger and roses. But the THIRD thing, my friends! The THIRD thing… well, okay, never mind again. The third thing is totally Radiohead.
BUT OKAY, SO THE FOURTH THING! The fourth thing that comes to my mind when I think of Sigur Rós is way, way back, 16 years ago during that crazy senior year of high school 2001 when I first learned of the existence of that magical and mysterious Ágætis byrjun album of theirs. “Who is this odd band?” my geeky friends and I all wondered to one another, chiefly because looking it up on dial-up AOL internet would have taken too long and been too expensive (although, again: we were all reasonably sure it was Radiohead).
Well, now that 16 years have indeed passed and we’ve all decided that Sigur Rós aren’t actually Radiohead, the band has announced that it plans on marking the 16th birthday of that legendary album (sixteen is apparently a nice, round number in whatever country it is those dudes live in) with the release of “a definitive, much expanded edition,” which is currently set for release sometime early this summer. According to the curiously English-language-based press release I received, “the deluxe boxset edition will feature previously unheard studio recordings and rare live versions from this pivotal period in the band’s development, as well as a welter of photographic and documentary material from their personal archives and plenty more besides. it will be a beautiful thing to behold, and the last word in completist editions of Sigur Rós catalogue releases.”
The band continues, “while we are still finalizing design and content—and will share with you as soon as it’s fixed—we wanted you to know about this now [as well as other expanded editions of von and ( )], since the band’s first three albums have all just become available on re-mastered, heavyweight vinyl for the first time in ages. go either look for the vinyl reissues now, or hang on for something grander still.”
Wow. Well, there’s a lot of info tangled up in those sentences, but the takeaway seems to be that, since it’s 16 years later and we’re all adults now, we should all be wealthy enough to buy some vinyl reissues of the first three Sigur Rós albums and hang tight for some expanded box set-type shit, starting with Ágætis byrjun. There’s also a little preview video on the band’s website that you can watch… provided you can still remember the password for the ol’ dial-up.
P.S. - Here’s the FIFTH THING:
• Sigur Rós: http://www.sigur-ros.co.uk
• Fat Cat: http://www.fat-cat.co.uk