I ♥ Icelandic Music

laugardagur, maí 03, 2008

Kira Kira @ 12 Tónar Garden

Kira Kira Live in the Garden @ 12 Tónar Shop, Reykjavik (July 2007)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl3OYUQ8dZU

föstudagur, maí 02, 2008

Sprengjuhöllin & Jóhann Jóhannsson @ Núna Festival @ Manitoba May 6-11, 2008

Manitoba's second annual Núna (Now) Festival
May 6-11, 2008
The festival celebrates the artistic and cultural connections between Iceland and Canada. Venues include the Winnipeg Art Gallery, Garrick Theatre, Gimli Waterfront Centre and West End Cultural Centre.
The festival opens May 6 at the Gas Station Theatre with the North American premiere of IBM 1401, A User's Manual, a collaboration between dancer Erna Omarsdottir and composer Jóhann Jóhannsson. The show, which has been performed in more than 40 European cities, has a score featuring a string orchestra, electronics, and vintage reel-to-reel recordings of an IBM 1401 mainframe computer.

Other festival artists include popular Icelandic alternative rock band Sprengjuhöllin, visual artists Gunnhildur Hauksdottir and Kristin Omarsdottir, and soprano Thora Einarsdottir.
Núna (Now) @ www.nunanow.com
Photograph of Sprengjuhöllin @ Nordic House, Reykjavik @ Iceland Airwaves Festival, October 2007 by Wim Van Hooste.

Amiina's "Rugla" was Song of the Day @ NPR Music

Amiina: A Dance of Sounds in Space
By Claire Blaustein
The Icelandic band Amiina has worked as a string quartet supporting Sigur Ros, but while their music shares roots with their geographic counterparts, the resulting blooms are startlingly different. There's a classical sensibility in Amiina's songs — a delicacy of approach that conveys the sense of a carefully composed, deliberately choreographed experience. But at the same time, it develops organically, layer upon layer, unfurling new leaves of sound and dappled lightness.
"Rugla" begins with a quiet clicking, which is immediately fleshed out by guitar and ringing vibraphone. Spider-silk saw notes warble through, sounding more familiar than their eerie call probably should and framing a gentle counterpoint from viola and cello. The voices enter as new ideas grow and fade and return again, each element moving in perfect time with the others.
For a band that embraces an everything-including-the-kitchen-sink approach, what emerges is hardly noise. Instead, it's a series of auditory concepts that capture the mind and soothe the soul — a dance of sounds in space.
Source:
www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89998996
"Rugla" is a song of the Album with the title "Kurr"
Amiina Website: www.amiina.com
A Photograph of Amiina gig @ Frikirkjan @ Iceland Airwaves 2007 Festival by Wim Van Hooste.

Mugison @ Canada: Blog @ Poppland

First Mugison would have been on stage @ Edgy Evening of Bad Taste @ Bozar, Brussels.
But that was cancelled because he could go on a short tour in Canada with the rock band Queens of the Stone Age.
Mugie is blogging @ www.ruv.is/heim/vefir/poppland/mugison and posting Tour Videos on YouTube too.
www.mugison.com