Untitled #1 (a.k.a. Vaka) (DVD Edition)

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Music reviews of Untitled #1 (a.k.a. Vaka) (DVD Edition)

Music Review: Just what I was hoping for!
Rating: 5 Stars

So, anyway, am I happy or what, coz here's the very said DVD I was wishing for!

Along with the Vaka single this makes for great value.

Unlike some other reviewers here, I really liked the bonus tracks on the single. Sure they're maybe not what you'd get on an album, but that's always been the idea of single "B-sides": it gives a band a chance to put out stuff that's a bit more experimental, a bit out of the ordinary. (Think of all the trippy B-sides the Cure put out for example.)

The bonus tracks here live up to the tradition, and reveal a more minimal side of Sigur Ros, where sound manipulation and loops come out to play. Maybe not everyone's cup of tea, but I really like it.

As for the videos, Svefn-g-englar is absolutely breathtaking. Anyone who says this video is "disappointing" obviously doesn't get it. The unique idea of using an acting troupe, all of whose actors live with Downs' Syndrome, to play to this song is stunning in its originality and simplicity. It completely dispenses with every video clip formula ever devised.

The clip for Vithrar vel til Loftarasa is apparently controversial (it deals with homophobia and depicts a pre-adolescent romance/kissing scene between two boys), though I don't see what the fuss is all about. I haven't yet seen it on Australian TV, but that's probably because no programmer has heard of it. It's a great narrative clip, very poignant, and I would argue, the most overtly political statement the band has made.

Actually the video for Vaka/()1 is also quite poignant and political, commencing with a bunch of schoolkids getting their heads checked by a teacher, after which they're all seen mucking about, trashing a car with gas masks. It reminded me of Pink Floyd's The Wall for some reason. It has a vaguely apocalyptic tone to it.

The over-riding theme of these clips is beauty though. You can tell that Sigur Ros is a band which has a distinct and definite aesthetic vision, and are wasting no time in sharing that vision around. Which is what makes them so unique, this sense that they know exactly how they want their sound to hear and images to look: haunting and beautiful.

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