highlight: NYC Taper

I Miss Maxell XL-II's

Let me count the reasons why I love NYC Taper
1) Deerhunter @ (le)Poission Rouge
2) Built to Spill performing Perfect From Now On @ T5.
3) Dinosaur Jr.'s monstrous opening set from that evening @T5.
4) Sigur Ros @ the United Palace Theatre. Both Nights.
5) Atlas Sound's woozy set opening for Stereolab
6) Kria Brekkan's stunning set at the Lutheran Church down the block. (And accompanying video of Olof Arnalds breastfeeding/singing a lullaby to her son)


and last, but surely not least, nor last for that matter.

7)of Montreal's Caligula-esque performance @ Roseland

As always, everything is also available as FLAC. If that's not motivation to upgrade your broadband speed and pick up a new external hard drive, I'm not sure what is. NYC Taper also has a CMJ Showcase at Cake Shop, Thursday October 23 from 3pm-7pm. Don't you love Free day parties during CMJ, best excuse ever to call in sick.

we saw: Sigur Ros United Palace Theatre

Wonder
(Photo by Taekjoo)

A wondrous evening in a majestic theater with one of the most magical bands on the planet. Viking mystics, if there ever were such a thing.

Setlist: Svefn G Englar/ Glosoli/ Ny Batteri/ Fljotavik/ Vid Spilum Endalaust/ Hoppipolla/ Med Blodnasir/ Svo Hljott/ Heysatan/ Vidrar Vel Til Loftarasa/ Inni Mer Syngur Vitleysingur/ Saeglopur/ Hafsol/ Gobbledigook

(Encore) All Alright/ Popplagid.


Sigur Ros "Hafsol" at 8/22/08

video: Sigur Ros Heima

If you've got 90 minutes to kill I highly recommend taking an audio-visual trip to Iceland. Not possible? Well, thanks to the symphonic genius of those guys in Sigur Ros, it is not only possible, but expected that you get up out of your desk chair and leap through the computer screen and experience the wonder that is Sigur Ros in their homeland. Here's what they have to say about Heima:

heima' is sigur rós's first ever film, filmed over two weeks during the summer of 2006 when the band undertook a series of free, unannounced concerts in iceland. they hauled 40-plus people round 15 locations to the furthest flung corners of their homeland for their debut venture into live film, to create something, well, inspirational.

on their way they went to ghost towns, outsider art shrines, national parks, small community halls and the absolute middle-of-nowhere-ness of the highland wilderness, as well as playing the largest gig of their career (and in icelandic history) at their homecoming reykjavik show.

'heima' (icelandic for "at home" or "homeland"), truly, shows sigur rós as never before. whereas seeing the group live is normally a large-scale and sometimes overwhelming experience, making full use of lights and mesmeric visuals, 'heima' was always intended to reveal more of what was actually going on on stage. it does this via long-held close-ups and a rare intimate proximity, without ever once breaking the spell.

loosely based on a documentary format - and including personal reflections from the band - 'heima' also serves as an alternative primer for iceland the country, which is revealed as less stag destination-du-jour and more desolate, magical place where human beings have little right to trespass.

So far Sigur Ros has one American date lined up for the summer, 6/14 at Bonnaroo, hopefully they'll be adding a few more, like maybe one at the Good Shephard Faith Church?? (Pllllease) You can buy the Heima DVD HERE.

nu musick: epo-555

"Our Destination Lies Beneath the Pillow"

Fans of indie pop are surely familiar with the rising scenes in Sweden, Norway and Finland. While Scandanavia is a sure fire hot bed for all things indie, it should be no surprise that their neighbors to the south, the Danes, have quite an affinity for well honed melodies, night time synths and a general indie aesthetic. Copenhagen's epo-555 are the epitome of slow burning mood-tronica. Melting the jangly distorted jams of Yo La Tengo with Sigur Ros-esque tapes loops and the sexy femme fatale darkness of Goldfrapp, epo-555 is pure insomniac bliss. At moments they remind me of fellow Dane's Mew, other times Hot Chip. With that said, be the first on your block to tell all your friends about the dark psych pop coming out of Copenhagen.

epo-555- Grisslapan
epo-555- Harry Mambourg


"Hyperschlieb"