XL Recordings

as mentioned before, the new riceboy sleeps album from jonsi 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.

on the 4th of july, sigur ros will take part in the icelandic folk music festival in the icelandic town of siglufjoerdur. the event will be in honour of the icelandic chanter steindor andersen.

steindor andersen, pall gudmundsson, various icelandic kvaedamenn (rimur chanters) and sigur ros will perform odins ravens magic.

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 “med sud i eyrum vid spilum endalaust”, are: vid spilum endalaust, fljotavik, inni mer syngur vitleysingur and illgresi. there is also an interview.

the four songs and interview are also available on the spinner interface podcast (itunes link)

as agaetis 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 agaetis byrjun, med sud i eyrum vid 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: agaetis byrjun is the best icelandic album of all time.

as we mentioned last month, jonsi 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 ros competed in the icelandic music quiz show popppunktur last night. on popppunktur two bands compete against one another answering questions about pop music. sigur ros minus jonsi (overseas at the time) went up against the 80s pop group ahoefnin a halastjoernunni 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 ros having to perform an impromptu version of an old song by folk pop singer bubbi morthens.

sigur ros will compete on popppunktur again later in the summer when the semi-finals start. other bands competing this season include mum, fm belfast and sprengjuhoellin.

you can watch the show here (windows media stream)

ten years ago today agaetis byrjun was released in iceland. to celebrate the album and its impact we have put together a new agaetis 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 vidrar vel til loftarasa 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 agaetis byrjun (from june 1999) aswell as a video from the same concert. well worth it.

sigur ros will be playing a short set for the dalai lama at his public talk in laugardalshoellin arena in reykjavik, tuesday june 2nd. sigur ros will be joined by odin’s raven magic collaborators steindor andersen, hilmar oern hilmarsson, maria huld markan and pall from husafell. the set will be comprised of parts from odin’s raven magic as well as ‘rimur’ chanting by steindor. the band will be performing without jonsi as he is currently in london working on his solo album. in an interview in today’s morgunbladid newspaper, steindor 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.

sigur ros have certainly been keeping busy lately. in addition to the riceboy sleeps album, jonsi’s solo album and kjartan’s ondine soundtrack, sigur ros have been at work in their sundlaugin studio in alafoss the past few weeks recording a full length album, which is now nearing completion. orri told morgunbladid 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 med sud i eyrum vid 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.

kaeru islendingar! (ja, vid erum ad tala vid thig.) i tilefni 10 ara afmaelis ploetunnar agaetis byrjun nu i sumar langar okkur til ad bidja tha sem voru vidstaddir utgafutonleikana i islensku operunni, 12. juni 1999, ad senda okkur minningar ykkar i kringum tonleikana, hvort sem thad er mynd, texta, video, grein eda annad. allar minningar eda minningabutar i kringum ploetuna og utgafu hennar eru lika vel thegnar, skiptir engu hvort thad eru tvaer setningar eda tvoe hundrud setningar. athugid ad innsent efni gaeti verid birt her a vefnum a serstoeku svaedi tileinkad agaetis byrjun. kaerar thakkir!

[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.]