heima on pitchfork
for one week only pitchfork have made available a free stream of sigur rós’ documentary heima (which is currently rated #2 on imdb’s list of best documentaries of all time.) the movie is split into twelve chapters so you can skip directly to your favorite part of the movie if you wish.
100,000 paper planes
this sunday (september the 27th) in grand rapids, michigan, artist rob bliss will release 100,000 paper airplanes as part of “artprize” event.
twenty close family and friends will be stationed atop the seven- to 11-story high buildings to send the planes flying in a wave-like fashion while attendees sing, hum or play an instrument to the tune of sigur ros’ “olsen olsen.” (listen to the song in this video).
there will be five-minute intervals between each burst of color. the eight bars of “olsen olsen” will be played continuously in a loop-like fashion for 30 minutes.
“it can sort of just go on forever,” bliss said. “it’s very triumphant and celebratory and beautiful.”
more information is available on the facebook event page and the mlive.com article which we quoted from above.
update: here is a video of the event:
jónsi projects
over on pitchfork there are two exclusives at the moment. the first one is the latest video from jónsi and alex for a song called “sometimes i get scared” – more information about the video and a link to the video are on the jonsiandalex.com news page. (update: this video is now available through jonsiandale.com too)
the second is the premiere of jónsis collaboration with the dj tiësto. you can listen to the song here.
takk dmm vinyl
one little indian have released “takk” on heavyweight vinyl – the package consists of 2 x 12″ vinyls and one 10″ etched vinyl. (the 10″ vinyl contains the etching on one side, with mílanó on the reverse side. the 2×12″ vinyls contain the rest of the album)
its available now from onelittleindian.com.
more ordering information about the recent heavyweight vinyl releases is here on our order page.
third quiz show appearance
on music quiz show popppunktur last friday, sigur rós beat electro pop group bloodgroup by one point in an exciting sudden death round. the boys will be appearing on the show once again in the seminfinals on friday (last friday was actually the 8-team finals, not semifinals as previously reported). they’ll be going up against the comedy folk band ljótu hálfvitarnir (the ugly idiots). the bands are set to face some new challenges in the semifinals, such as writing an improptu song based on a made-up song title they draw randomly, and a weightlifting challenge. you can watch the show live here from 8:10pm gmt (9:10pm cet) or after airing here.
gogoyoko – fair play in music
being big supporters of fairness in the music industry, sigur rós would like to spread the word about a brilliant new icelandic project called gogoyoko. gogoyoko is a music store and social networking site which allows artists to sell and distribute their music easily, with 100% of the profit going to the artist. it’s by artists for artists. the site offers loads of free handy tools for the artists such as music players (40% of the advertising income going to the artists), widgets, customized music store, live updates, etc. if you’re an artist looking for an easy and fair way to sell your music, we really recommend you check out gogoyoko.
second quiz show appearance
sigur rós will appear in the semi-finals of the icelandic music quiz show popppunktur on friday night, 21 august at 8:10pm icelandic time (9:10pm london time). this time they will be going head to head with electro pop band bloodgroup. you can watch the show live here, or after airing here.
[edit: sigur rós beat bloodgroup by one point in a very exciting sudden death round. they will be competing on the show again on friday, august 28th.]
merce cunningham passes away
choreographer merce cunningham passed away on sunday the 26th of july aged 90. he was known to sigur rós fans through the ’split sides’ dance collaboration his company did with sigur rós and radiohead in 2003. more information on his life and career is available on his website merce.org and ’split sides’ information is here.
jonsiandalex.com
following on from the last few news pieces, “riceboy sleeps” by jónsi and alex has now been released. we have opened a new site over on jonsiandalex.com, there you will find news updates, a free mp3, “riceboy sleeps” album stream, high res videos, recipes, free downloadable books, photo galleries and so on. enjoy!.
(also, jónsi and alex have an exhibition in london at the moment. running until some time in september at maison bertaux in soho)
riceboy sleeps album launch
this friday in london (july 17th) there will be a launch event for the album release of “riceboy sleeps” by jónsi & alex.
the first ten people to email us with their name will be added to guest list. the guest list position will be confirmed via email and each of the ten people will be able to bring a friend.
thanks to all who entered. all the places have now been taken.
riceboy sleeps pre-order
the deluxe edition of the “riceboy sleeps” album by jónsi & alex is now available for pre-order on jonsiandalex.com. the deluxe edition comprises of the album, a 33minute ep entitled “all animals”, a 40 page colouring book with original drawings by jónsi & alex, a box of 6 colouring pencils, a badge aswell as the second edition of the original “riceboy sleeps” hardback book. the deluxe edition is only available through jonsiandalex.com and is limited to 3,500 numbered pieces & is priced at 35$ + postage.
regular editions of the album are also available through many other stockists. the cd: amazon.co.uk / amazon.com / rough trade. the vinyl: amazon.co.uk / rough trade. digital releases: amazon.co.uk.
riceboy sleeps update
as mentioned before, the new riceboy sleeps album from jónsi and alex will be released shortly – if you go to their site now you can get an mp3 from the forthcoming album, sign up for their mailing list aswell as seeing a video that explores some of the stories behind the recording and evolution of the album. there is also information about being able to pre-order the deluxe edition from the 6th of july.
icelandic folk music festival 2009
on the 4th of july, sigur rós will take part in the icelandic folk music festival in the icelandic town of siglufjörður. the event will be in honour of the icelandic chanter steindór andersen.
steindór andersen, páll guðmundsson, various icelandic kvæðamenn (rímur chanters) and sigur rós will perform odins ravens magic.
aol spinner interface session
on september the 18th 2008 in new york city, the band recorded a four song live session for aol spinner interface. the four songs, all from “með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust”, are: við spilum endalaust, fljótavík, inní mér syngur vitleysingur and illgresi. there is also an interview.
the four songs and interview are also available on the spinner interface podcast (itunes link)
best icelandic album
as ágætis byrjun celebrates its 10th anniversary it has just been voted the best icelandic album of all time in a survey by the icelandic national radio and tonlist.is. the list of the 100 best icelandic albums was based on the opinion of 100 experts the press and music industry as well as a public vote. in addition to ágætis byrjun, með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust was in 9th place and takk… was in 20th place.
a similar survey on the best icelandic albums was conducted in 2001 with the same conclusion: ágætis byrjun is the best icelandic album of all time.
depeche mode competition
as we mentioned last month, jónsi has remixed the song “come back” for the latest depeche mode single “peace”. its only available on the 7″ vinyl version – and to celebrate the release we’re running a competition – we have five copies of the vinyl to give away.
this competition is now over, thanks to everyone who entered. the five winners have been selected randomly and notified.
sigur rós win quiz show
sigur rós competed in the icelandic music quiz show popppunktur last night. on popppunktur two bands compete against one another answering questions about pop music. sigur rós minus jónsi (overseas at the time) went up against the 80s pop group áhöfnin á halastjörnunni and won 31-15, correctly answering questions about manic street preachers, dolly parton, eurovision, rolling stones, frank sinatra and simply red, to name a few. fun segments included kjartan making a surprisingly impressive long jump towards an easy question, and sigur rós having to perform an impromptu version of an old song by folk pop singer bubbi morthens.
sigur rós will compete on popppunktur again later in the summer when the semi-finals start. other bands competing this season include múm, fm belfast and sprengjuhöllin.
you can watch the show here [edit: this stream is no longer available]
ágætis byrjun 10th anniversary
ten years ago today ágætis byrjun was released in iceland. to celebrate the album and its impact we have put together a new ágætis byrjun section that aims to chronicle the album, its recording, its impact and its legacy.
we did some poking around and dug up articles from icelandic newspapers from 1997-1999, talked to people who were there when the album was being recorded and found a previousily unheard three track promo from 1999. in the section we also highlight some extended versions of the songs, show some interesting background videos from 1998, 1999 and 2000, have lots of pictures from that era, the svefn-g-englar video (and the “making of” video), the viðrar vel til loftárása video and some behind the scenes pictures, press reviews, album ordering information, a little teaser about a deluxe edition and of course, a competition. keep an eye on this section as there is more material to come over the coming days/weeks.
also, if you sign up for this mailing list, you’ll recieve a free mp3 from the launch concert of ágætis byrjun (from june 1999) aswell as a video from the same concert. well worth it.
sigur rós play for dalai lama
sigur rós will be playing a short set for the dalai lama at his public talk in laugardalshöllin arena in reykjavík, tuesday june 2nd. sigur rós will be joined by odin’s raven magic collaborators steindór andersen, hilmar örn hilmarsson, maría huld markan and páll from húsafell. the set will be comprised of parts from odin’s raven magic as well as ‘rímur’ chanting by steindór. the band will be performing without jónsi as he is currently in london working on his solo album. in an interview in today’s morgunblaðið newspaper, steindór says the group was honoured to have been asked to perform for the dalai lama and view their contribution more as a tribute to the spiritual leader than as a concert for the guests. the dalai lama event is sold out.
new album near completion
sigur rós have certainly been keeping busy lately. in addition to the riceboy sleeps album, jónsi’s solo album and kjartan’s ondine soundtrack, sigur rós have been at work in their sundlaugin studio in álafoss the past few weeks recording a full length album, which is now nearing completion. orri told morgunblaðið newspaper today that the recordings have been going very well and that the album is taking form as a slower and more ambient record than með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust and takk…. he also describes the music as melodic but much less noisy and more “out there” than previous albums. the album does not have a release date set but is expected to be released sometime next year.
minningar um ágætis byrjun
kæru íslendingar! (já, við erum að tala við þig.) í tilefni 10 ára afmælis plötunnar ágætis byrjun nú í sumar langar okkur til að biðja þá sem voru viðstaddir útgáfutónleikana í íslensku óperunni, 12. júní 1999, að senda okkur minningar ykkar í kringum tónleikana, hvort sem það er mynd, texta, video, grein eða annað. allar minningar eða minningabútar í kringum plötuna og útgáfu hennar eru líka vel þegnar, skiptir engu hvort það eru tvær setningar eða tvö hundruð setningar. athugið að innsent efni gæti verið birt hér á vefnum á sérstöku svæði tileinkað ágætis byrjun. kærar þakkir!
[non-icelanders: the above is a note to ask those in attendance of the icelandic opera house concert of june 1999 to send in their memories from the concert and album release.]
jónsi recording solo album
we are happy to announce that jónsi is now working on his first solo album. the album will be largely acoustic and feature string arrangements from contemporary classical composer nico muhly. according to nico, jónsi’s solo music can be described as “ecstatic.” the as-yet-untitled project will be produced by peter katis, who has recently produced albums by the interpol, national and tokyo police club. we will bring you more official info about jónsi’s solo album when we have it.
interview on swedish tv
on swedish television earlier this week, there was a show filmed in iceland that talks about the current economic problems in iceland from a cultural perspective. the last third of the show focuses on sigur rós – including an interview with goggi. an interesting titbit from the interview is that “með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust” was originally to have english lyrics – but it just didnt work, it felt more natural to have the lyrics in icelandic. so the lyrics were either translated into icelandic or started anew.
the show is in icelandic, swedish and english – but people without icelandic and swedish should still be able to get a lot out of it. the sigur rós segment starts at 19:25. you can watch it here. (thanks to magnoos)
jónsi remixing depeche mode
on the forthcoming depeche mode single “peace“, jónsi provides a remix of the song “come back”. the remix is only available on the 7″ vinyl version. more information as we get it.
vinyl buy links: amazon.co.uk
also, for those that might have missed it a few years back – jónsi also provided a remix to the vinyl release of the “seoul” single by amiina. you can get that vinyl here amongst other places.
med sud deluxe films on pitchfork.tv
update: the videos are now offline, so if you want to watch the videos you’ll have to buy the deluxe edition here.
for one week only, pitchfork.tv is showing the two films that were part of the “með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust” deluxe edition.
the first is the 35minute “við spilum endalaust” (”we play endlessly”) and the second being a 13minute film of the recording session for “ára batur” at the abbey road studios.
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