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But Sigur Ros sped up does not sound like Justin Bieber

Rob Beschizza at 12:51 pm Tue, Aug 17, 2010

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As we learned earlier today, Justin Bieber's "U Smile," when slowed down 8x, becomes a numinous ambient epic similar to the work of Sigur Ros. I regret to inform you that speeding up Sigur Ros does not result in Biebage.

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  • senorglory

    i like it.

  • Anonymous

    @simonbarsinister/#14: Welcome to my world.
    Youtube has become completely unuseable. No matter where you (read: I) find a link to someone’s latest Youtube recommendation, it’s become pointless to click on it because in at least 75% of all cases, the content has already been blocked “in my country” due to some just or unjust pennypinchery by Sony, EMI, BMG, FIA, FIFA, ABC, DEF, or whichever acronym du jour kicks in. No shortage of ridiculosity there. And the blocking doesn’t discriminate reasons either; I mean, I can go to NASA’s official Youtube channel and click on whichever highlights video of a spacewalk or whatever, and all it would do is barf up the “blocked in your country” message due to a few seconds of innocent background music somewhere. I’m not saying (yet) Youtube has looked for its shark and is in the process of jumping it, because they’re so big on the net, but boy are they trying hard…

    • jackdavinci

      Maybe we can have web-globalization before physical industry globalization…

  • EichaelThe0ne

    I think Sigur Ros attempts to invoke the sublimity of life through how drawn out these sounds are, but I think these sped-up versions of their work are much more fulfilling to listen to. There’s a feeling of ecstasy instead of super tranquility.

  • StCredZero

    Sounds a little like the difference signal (L-R) from an Imogen Heap track.

  • braininavat

    Now I’m starting to wonder if speeding up Nadja x 800 will get me Husker Du?

  • spill

    Becomes prefect unicorn music.

  • Anonymous

    I’m so terribly, terribly sorry, but someone had to do it:
    http://soundcloud.com/bathosfear/stretch-1

    • l0g1c

      Oh snap! Is dat some Rick Astley?

  • Boba Fett Diop

    Ever since this Justin Bieber thing happened I’ve been listening to Sigur Ros sped up anytime someone has posted it. It works great- I feel fantastic and I’m saving a ton of time!

  • DanC

    Sounds better than Bieber.

  • SamSam

    I’m pretty embarrassed to say that I kept skipping forward, thinking “where does this damn thing start?”

    Then I started thinking “4’33″… 4’33″… why does that sound so darn familiar..?”

  • monstrinho_do_biscoito

    i really enjoyed that. not that i dislike the original, but this had me tapping my foot along to it.

  • Anonymous

    Much of their music can be listened to without the need for YouTube at http://www.sigur-ros.co.uk or you can check out everything Jonsi (the singer) has recorded for free on his site at http://www.jonsi.com

  • jphilby

    Just like the 50s. Teen girls can’t have their musical crushes without adults making semi-transparent gooey remarks over it all.

    At least back then, when films were released as children’s films, adults didn’t complain about how they were were boring, unchallenging, unrealistic, etc. etc.

    Hey teacher! Leave the kids alone!

  • Anonymous

    Haha…Sigur Ros sped up still sounds…like Sigur Ros.

    I think we could market it with the right guest vocal track.
    Clearly, Bieber is an ambient fan, but only when he’s really high (on warm milk and honey, of course, before I’m accused of scandalizing anyone).

  • SamSam

    That was supposed to be a reply to Anon #3′s comment…

  • Anonymous

    The original song is 6:16 long, so this must be only twice as fast.

  • testpattern

    All though it realy is quite jaunty.

  • Anonymous

    Ah, but what about John Cage’s 4’33″ slowed by 800%:

    http://soundcloud.com/gobobogo/433-1

    • k386

      While clever, that can not be done, like.. for reals.. it is too long.

      C’mon stop trying to pass off 0’00 as 4’33.. poseur!

      /pretentious sarcasm

      • gobobogo

        Actually, it looks to be 36’24″ seconds long.

  • nico_forgot

    There’s a whiff of the Sugarcubes in there.

  • FZero

    Hey, it becomes listenable!

  • AirPillo

    Elevator music!

  • Rob Beschizza

    Yeah, sped up 8x pretty much anything become a noise that goes skrrrrrtkkkk. The bieber-slowed thing is actually much much longer and slower than most sigur ros.

  • Ilya

    Does anyone know of any software that would let me play everything in my collection at 150% speed (pitch-normalized), as opposed to having to edit individual files?

    I remember playing around with this on vinyl. The Beatles’ Yesterday was improved tremendously, and anything by Accept became (even more) pure comedy.

    It probably speaks very poorly of me that I want this … but I want this.

    • Anonymous

      Windows Media Player can do this

  • simonbarsinister

    I’ve just got to point out, in the original video… the last boy flew. He didn’t fall, he flew, dammit.

  • The Thompson Five

    This morning I had guessed that it would sound like Louie Louie. I am disappointed to say the least.

  • Anonymous

    Sigur Ros sped up sounds like Jonsi’s solo work.
    Funny, that.

  • Anonymous

    look out danny elfman, this has a tim burton movie written all over it.

  • Anonymous

    Love is like a bottle of gin, but a bottle of gin is not like love.

  • morgaen

    Try again without the change in pitch. It’s all in the grains!

    • Anonymous

      Pretty sure the pitch is preserved here; Sigur Ros’ lead singer is definitely a soprano.

      Anyway, your mentioning “grains” only makes me want more mention of granular synthesis on BB.

  • simonbarsinister

    I just listened to Sigur Ros’s song Glósóli on YouTube and I liked it. Maybe I will be a new fan of Sigur Ros. First I need to see if this song is a fluke or if I like more Sigur Ros. So I try to listen to another one on YouTube. THIS CONTENT HAS BEEN BLOCKED BY EMI IN YOUR COUNTRY ON COPYRIGHT GROUNDS. WTF? I try another. THIS CONTENT HAS BEEN BLOCKED BY EMI IN YOUR COUNTRY ON COPYRIGHT GROUNDS.

    Ok, F.U. EMI. I’m done trying and I won’t be trying to listen to any more Sigur Ros. Who knows, perhaps I would have liked them and bought an album. Perhaps I would have become a fan and bought all of their albums. Now we’ll never know. There are other things vying for my attention.

    • Anonymous

      Ever hear of BitTorrent? No copyright problems there!

    • Anonymous

      Try here:

      http://www.sigur-ros.co.uk/media/

      http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=heima&aq=f

      F. EMI, but Sigur Ros ist really cool …

    • kforbes

      For what it’s worth, Sigur Ros is worth it…

  • franko

    even more incredibly, the sigur ros track retains its listenable quality, whereas bieber just gets annoying at his intended speed.

  • jeligula

    Gratifying to note that I have not missed anything of import.

  • Anonymous

    It becomes U2.