https://www.discogs.com/release/1779793-Sigur-R%C3%B3s-Von
Now is the time to gaze at your shoes. Post-rock or shoegaze, says Discogs. Since I’ve always loved the term shoegaze I thought I’d mention it here. Von is Icelandic band Sigur Rós’ first album. An album that after two years of studio work they didn’t like and considered scrapping altogether. The first release in 1997 sold only 313 copies in Iceland. Then again, it is a small country.
It was only after the international success of the next two albums that this forgotten debut was picked up. Mine is a re-release from 2009, a numbered limited release on glorious 200 grams vinyl and purple pvc cover (what did I write about pvc? Luckily here the paper cover is protected by high gloss artwork).
I think this is the first record that I consciously bought on vinyl instead of on CD. Of course the CD was way cheaper: I paid 30 euros for it. An extra curiosity surprised me when I was listening to it the first time. And I’m not even talking about the more than six minutes of silence added before the last song. No, this is about what happened after that. The last song ends in what somebody on Discogs called a locked groove. Now this is normal: it is where the stylus ends the journey, and it stops it from running over the label. Some records however have music added to this groove, so that music is repeated endlessly. And yes, that happened to me the first time. If you want to know more, check out a recent article on SoundMatters.