Sigur Ros

Fans of Sigur Rós are understandably divided as drummer Orri Páll Dýrason hands in his resignation in light of some serious allegations made about him on social media. Both he and his bandmates have responded to the situation, which Orri hopes to resolve privately.

Sigur Ros live in Glasgow

The Icelandic art-rock band have released a statement accepting the resignation of the drummer following 'extremely serious and personal allegations' so as to allow him to 'deal with this privately'. Orri was recently accused on Instagram by Meagan Boyd of two counts of rape around six years ago.

Continue reading: Sigur Rós Drummer Quits To Deal With Serious Allegations Against Him

Sigur Rós are treating fans to a chilled out road cruise as they livestream their journey around Iceland to an ethereal soundtrack and gorgeous landscapes. It's a 24-hour road trip called Route One and it will be on air until late tonight (June 21st 2016).

Sigur Ros take a trip around Iceland

The Reykjavík trio are encouraging everyone to stop and smell the roses as it were with their latest project; a 24-hour livestream of their car journey around Iceland which is currently airing on Iceland's rúv 2 TV channel and YouTube. 

Continue reading: Sigur Rós Brings Slow TV To The Masses With 24-Hour Iceland Road Trip

It's been a year of truly brilliant sounds even if there may have been a few disappointments along the way. Take hip hop, for example: unlike 2012's records by Kendrick Lamar and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, there was nothing that really demanded your attention. Yes, Kanye's album 'Yeezus' was technically brilliant, but it's a record I'm still struggling to digest properly. Similarly, Jay-Z's 'Magna Carta, Holy Grail' (which, in my opinion, is as good as West's effort) was less immediate than the likes of 'Blueprint 3', which means it's got somewhat lost in the public consciousness.

Both those records had an interesting release as well, materialising on shelves seemingly from nowhere. They're not the only ones either; My Bloody Valentine's 'mbv' appeared online out of the blue in February after a gestation period of 20 years. Equally, Mazzy Star, Boards of Canada, Nine Inch Nails and David Bowie made unexpected and impressive returns following long hiatuses. There were also some great reissues and live records; Rilo Kiley's 'Rkives' acted as the epitaph the band deserved, Bob Dylan repainted his self-portrait with the 'Bootleg Series' and revealed songs well worth revisiting, Steve Albini finally got to share his vision for Nirvana's 'In Utero', The Velvet Underground's 'White Light, White Heat' finally got the deluxe treatment it deserved following Lou Reed's sudden death and Neil Young presented what could well be his best live album to date with the 'Cellar Door' addition to his archives series.

Continue reading: Jim Pusey's Top 10 Albums Of 2013

The St. Jerome's Laneway Festival 2013 made its US debut as it hit Detroit over the weekend, bringing a hell of a lot of fun Sunday, September 15th 2013.

Musical celebrations kicked off marvellously with 7,500 in attendance. Among the definite highlights were early performers CHVRCHES, Frightened Rabbit and Deerhunter; Icona Pop also drew a massive crowd with a wonderful set of catchy tunes from their 'This Is . Icona Pop' album - number one hit 'I Love It' went down a storm! Up-and-coming Aussie musician Flume brought some life to the Meadow Stage, while Sigur Ros held the rapt attention of their main stage crowd. Co-founder Rogers was more than pleased with the turn-out. 'Our first venture into North America could not have gone better', he said. 'We were always confident that the people of Detroit would embrace this event. Not only did they come out in droves to see their fave bands but local artists, designers, painters and chefs turned on the hospitality of the region and all demonstrated why the city is on the brink of a major revival.'

Continue reading: Laneway Festival 2013 Makes Its Long-Awaited US Debut In Detroit

The popular swords n' dragons drama Game of Thrones – yet another string to HBO’s impressive bow – has added the Icelandic band Sigur Ros to the cast of season four, which is set to debut in Spring 2014.

Sigur Ros and GoT are a perfect fit

The band spoke of their TV triumph on their Facebook page, posting: “goggi, jónsi and orri are currently shooting an appearance for the fourth season of Game of Thrones!” Despite the shows period setting – sort of, it is a fantasy – plenty of contemporary bands have enjoyed turns on the show.

Continue reading: Sigur Ros Enter The 'Game Of Thrones' - HBO Drama Casts Musicians

Lady GaGa has left the irritation of Monday's 'Applause' new single leakage behind her and has turned her attention to September, tweeting her excitement for next month's iTunes Festival. The singer announced that she's be gracing Camden's Roundhouse on the 1st September - the first night of the month of free concerts - with the Tweet: "I'M HEADLINING ITUNES FESTIVAL ON SEPT 1 AT ROUNDHOUSE IN LONDON. ONE HOUR OF ALL NEW MUSIC. #UKMonstersGetReady" to make sure all her UK fans knew what awaited them.

Lady Gaga's New Look.

The NY singer called a "911 pop emergency" on Monday after a snippet from the lead single from her upcoming album, Artpop, leaked on the internet. "Little Monsters" rushed to their idol's aide by reporting illegal uploads to record company UMG but the hot new track spread like wildfire across the internet. Gaga made the radical decision to change the single's release date to the 12th Aug, dropping the new track immediately on American radio stations to combat the pirates.

Continue reading: Lady Gaga Promises "One Hour Of All New Music" At ITunes Festival

Albums of the week... Following 2011's massively successful collaborative album with Jay-Z 'Watch The Throne', Kanye West makes a return with a new solo effort entitled 'Yeezus'. He proves yet again that he is one serious hip-hop artist as he introduces a brand new edge to his sound that has not failed to engage his devoted fans with a number one spot on six charts including the US, the UK and Canada. As Joe Wilde summarises, 'This may be his best album to date and is probably his most discussed one too, but one thing it definitely is, is a Kanye West album and no-one can do anything quite like what he can do.' Read the Yeezus album review here. 

Another album that's gaining some serious attention is everyone's favourite Icelandic rock band Sigur Ros, whose seventh album 'Kveikur' has not left any disappointment in the wake of its highly anticipated release. Their sound remains familiarly ambient as on 2012 offering 'Valtari', though has definitely become noisier and a little darker. Our reviewer Jim Pusey had only good things to say, revealing, 'Despite all the darkness to be found here, Sigur Ros have managed to create one of their most compelling albums to date by embracing that darkness and quite literally shining a light on it.' Read the review of Kveikur here. 

Continue reading: A Week In Music, Kanye Has A New Edge, Robyn And Snoop Switch Genders And Glastonbury 2013 Sees Landmark Performance From The Stones

Vampire Weekend and Kings Of Leon will join a rapidly growing list, already peppered with fellow rock royalty, including Queens Of The Stone Age, Sigur Rós, 30 Seconds to Mars and Primal Scream.

It won't be solely a festival of rock though - artists from other genres have also been invited, giving everyone at this September's festival something to look forward to, such as Justin Timberlake, Jessie J, Jake Bugg, Rizzle Kicks, and classical composer Ludovico Einaudi.

Having being held since 2007, the annual iTunes festival is held over every night in September and this year will host over 60 acts at the Camden venue.

Continue reading: Vampire Weekend And Kings Of Leon Added To ITunes Festival Bill That Keeps Getting Better

Albums of Note... David Bowie’s return to the shelves of our local record shops (well, the few that still exist) has been met with a grateful and adulatory fanfare, across the board and it’s been no different here at Contactmusic. Having run out of contemporary influences upon which to draw, Bowie took the old adage that pop will eat itself and made an album to fit. On The Next Day, Bowie largely references himself and his own body of work, recalling his Berlin days, as well as providing an extension of the tracks he released in the nineties.“Assessing how The Next Day sits alongside anything else he's done is irrelevant; an artist who has gone through as many character changes, taken on as many styles and moved through as many eras as he has defies such lazy list making. What can be said is that it is, at this point in time, at this point in his life and career, probably as good a record that David Bowie could've possibly come up with.”

Some of the mystery of Rhye’s cloaked existence has been unveiled and the band’s two components have been revealed as Toronto born producer Mike Milosh and Robin Hannibal of Quadron. They draw comparisons to The XX, partly thanks for Milosh’s falsetto, which led many to believe that it was a woman on vocals. Possibly part of the reason they choose to entitle the album Woman...? “'Woman' is a chilled, tranquil listen but not a boring album by any means. The duo creates songs that fill with distant, mysterious moods. But, it still feels like an intimate album piled high with textured layers.”

Continue reading: A Week In Music - Bowie's 'The Next Day' Album Was Worth The Wait, Sigur Ros Back At Their Spectacular Best, Everything Everything Take Another Step Into The Mainstream With 'Duet'