-Doug Ray

-Doug Ray

Among the best soundtracks of all time, people will inevitably cite The Graduate by Simon and Garfunkel or Henry Mancini’s work for The Pink Panther. There is indeed something to be said about these succinct, complete works of cinematic musical composition as they fit within the context of a single film.

You may well be asking yourself why exactly I am talking about film soundtracks given that Go by Sigur Ros frontman Jonsi is not a soundtrack (despite the extended documentary release that coincides with it). On some level, however, this new Jonsi album is a soundtrack without a film. When one listens to this album one cannot help but be taken to a world not our own in the depths of our own imagination. Go provides, for me, the audio track to the ramblings of my mind, and certainly any human could elicit some sort of similarity in my opinion of this disc.

I have been a fan of Sigur Ros for several years now. I have seen them perform live once, met the band on a trip to Iceland and had a brief conversation with the man behind this album. For a casual listener, Go can easily sound like the same old epic Post-Rock that Jonsi’s band has recorded and performed to much acclaim and success. However, there are many key differences between this album and his earlier work with his band mates.

Most importantly is that, on Go, Jonsi, for the first time in his career chose to sing in English. While his heavy accent makes understanding his simply (borderline tacky) lyrics, I honestly think Jonsi could have produced better poetry overall. Some lines just exude generic, as if they were picked from the wall of a second grade classroom. While he does do a little singing in Icelandic and Hopelandic (his made up ‘language’ that is basically sung sounds that sound good with the music), there is just simply not enough and the reliance on English seems disjunctive for a Sigur Ros junkie like myself.

Barring the lyrics, this album is about as perfect an album that you will hear in your life time. Its stunning melodies of a plethora of instruments floats between orchestral, pop, classical, and militaristic influences to create a swirling wall of sound that makes any occasion something worth celebrating.

Jonsi’s claim is that he draws much of his influence from nature, and there is certainly an organic sensibility to the album and a playfulness that is primal and animalistic encapsulated in the percussion of the opening song and first single Go Do.

2010 so far has provided us with numerous musical gifts. It is only the first week of April and the candidates for album of the year is already crowded. Allow me to nominate Go.

-Doug Ray

Doug Ray is the co-host of Saltimbocca and Escargot, Sundays 8-10 PM on WRBC.

The film, titled Go Quiet, is billed on his website by director Dean Deblois (Director of the Acclaimed Sigur Ros documentary, Heima) thusly: “The concept behind ‘go quiet’ was simple: it’s New Year’s Day in Reykjavík, and Jónsi awakens to a trashed house in the wake of his party. he avoids cleaning up and instead procrastinates by playing songs that reflect the night before, the bittersweetness of new year, and the melancholy of a year gone by”

This full length DVD will be released alongside the album as a part of various special edition packages.

Check out the trailer, it is pretty epic:

-Doug Ray

Doug Ray is the co-host of Saltimbocca and Escargot, Sundays 8-10 PM on WRBC.

This week was a huge step back for those of us who grew up with Music Television (MTV). The cable channel originally set up to feature predominantly music based programming, specifically music videos officially dropped the subtext of “Music Television” from their now-famous logo.

Granted, I personally only had a few years of ‘real’ MTV before the network was, in my opinion corrupted by the influences of reality TV, notably The Real World and Road Rules, which ultimately are, at this point, among the most influential shows of our time, leaving us a legacy of ratings hits ranging from Survivor to The Mole and even the insufferable Jersey Shore that is apparently the new craze on MTV itself.

Fortunately for the next generation of music fans, which I might as well be a part of as well, online video sites, such as YouTube and Vimeo are constantly being flooded with music videos from artists of all levels of fame and genres. These videos are available for free and whenever I want them, so, I am willing to see music television go the way of the Dodo, just as long as the record labels do not stop producing this subgenre of film of which I have much affinity.

There are always new and different videos being released on the Internet, here is a sampling of a few of my most recent favorites.

Jonsi – Go Do

The Icelandic singer (of Sigur Ros) is putting out a solo album (Go), this is the video from the first single, Go Do

The Very Best – Warm Heart of Africa

The interplay between Esau Mwamwaya and Ezra Koenig (of Vampire Weekend) in this video is hysterical.

Toro y Moi – Blessa

For the video for the first single from his new album, Causers of This, Toro y Moi (Chaz Bundick), buzz artist of the moment, creates a dream-like, lap dissolve heavy recreation of a good old fashioned house party. Pay attention to what he is drinking from.

Beach House – Silver Soul

The Baltimore duo presents a rather fantastic hula hoop user in sepia with an intricate use of speed augmentation and fantastic cinematography, very befitting of the song

-Doug Ray

Doug Ray is the co-host of Saltimbocca and Escargot, Sundays 8-10 PM on WRBC.

Lead singer of the band Sigur Ros, Jón “Jónsi” Þór Birgisson, has dipped his toes into the world of solo work before under the pseudonym “Frakkur,” but none of that early work comes close in quality or sound to his most recent venture, his forthcoming album Go, which is slated for a global release on April 5th. So far, two tracks have been released officially by the artist “Boy Lilikoi” was given away as a free download to fans on December 4th, and, just this week, the second track, “Go Do” (The opening track on the album) was released on YouTube by his label.

In support of the album, Jonsi will tour North America, including two stops in Boston’s House of Blues on May 5 and 6. Tickets are going to be $30 and go on sale on Tuesday 2/9/10.

Take a listen here of a sweet acoustic version of “Go Do” and get yourself ready for this musical experience.

-Doug Ray

Doug Ray is the co-host of Saltimbocca and Escargot, Sundays 8-10 PM on WRBC.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Owen Pallett (Final Fantasy) — Heartland

OK Go — Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky

Vampire Weekend — Contra

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Eels — End Times

Spoon — Transference

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Beach House — Teen Dream

Los Campesinos! — Romance is Boring

Three 6 Mafia — Laws of Power

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Groove Armada — Black Light

Monday, February 8, 2010

Yeasayer — Odd Blood

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Hot Chip — One Left Stand

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Field Music — (Measure)

Tuesday February 23, 2010

Erykah Badu — New Amerykah, Part II: Return Of The Ankh

Xiu Xiu — Dear God, I Hate Myself

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

The Whigs – In the Dark

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

The White Stripes — Under Great White Northern Lights (Live)

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Jonsi — Go

- – -

There are also a number of great albums slated to be released without specific release dates yet:

Dr. Dre — Detox

Wyclef Jean — wyclefjean

Lil Wayne — Rebirth

Lupe Fiasco — Lasers

Seabear – We Built a Fire

-Doug Ray

Doug Ray is the co-host of Saltimbocca & Escargot, Sundays at 8-10 PM Eastern Time on WRBC.