….if you’re the iTunes Music Store.
There’s an Icelandic ‘alternative’ band that I adore. They are called Sigur Rós (pronounced Si-ur Rose). They produce some interesting music ranging from the pretentious to the glorious. They’re so good, even Radiohead cite them as an inspiration and they’ve toured with Radiohead at Thom Yorke’s request.
On their 1997 debut album ‘Von’ there’s a track called “18 Sekúndur Fyrir Sólarupprás” which translates to “18 seconds before sunrise”. Unsurprisingly it’s 18 seconds of silence.
You can buy this track from iTunes for 79p. That’s a whopping 4.4p per second of nothing.
Now that’s good value.
11 comments
Comments feed for this article
July 6, 2006 at 4:59 pm
Wilko
Its the same for alot of similar tracks on other albums. Interlude on Absolution by Muse is 37 seconds of Guitar. Yet its 79p.
July 6, 2006 at 5:31 pm
Sebastian Mares
Yeah, but at least it’s something.
July 6, 2006 at 5:36 pm
Sebastian Mares
I got so inspired by this track that I had to paint something which I think came out really good. Here is a lo-res preview: http://www.maresweb.de/miscellaneous/18 Sekúndur Fyrir Sólarupprás.png
If you want a full-res version (5000×5000 pixels) for only 5 €, send me an e-mail.
July 6, 2006 at 5:37 pm
Sebastian Mares
Sorry, link is http://www.maresweb.de/miscellaneous/18%20Sek%FAndur%20Fyrir%20S%F3laruppr%E1s.png
July 6, 2006 at 7:55 pm
Dennis
Sigur Ros is one of my favorite bands. They recently played a concert in Detroit, where I live. Unfortunately, I missed. it. It was unfortunate. Glad to hear you like them too.
July 7, 2006 at 4:40 pm
James
Okay, didn’t realise. That’s just silly.
(I love Sigur Ros too.)
July 8, 2006 at 3:22 pm
William Hook
“If you want a full-res version (5000×5000 pixels) for only 5 €, send me an e-mail.”
That’s going for way too little!
July 10, 2006 at 12:29 am
Dagur
If you like them you should definately get Ágætis Byrjun. It’s their best album IMO
July 10, 2006 at 9:41 am
Matt
I have that album too
July 10, 2006 at 2:13 pm
Adam Hopkins
I believe one of the first artists to perform such a piece was John Cage. He is a percussionist, who would put together interesting ensembles very similar to what you see by Stomp.
He had a piece called 4:33. And he would sit on stage for 4 minutes and Thirty-Three seconds and let the ambient noise of the audience be the music. He would sit there quietly while the audience would cough, sneeze, and make noise for several minutes.
July 10, 2006 at 11:00 pm
Palli
John Cage’s 4:33 in 1952 was actually a piano piece, which he timed with a stopwatch