News
Árstíðir News Letter # 15 In this letter: management, tours and movies. News in brief: We’ve signed a management deal with Maria Chelnokova from the Cultural Foundation Veresk who will represent us in Russia for the next twelve months. We will be going on our first Russian tour in October. We’ve just released a new single called ‘Brestir’. In a way it goes back to the ‘original’ Árstíðir sound of acoustic guitars and three-voice harmonies. You can listen to it in lossless quality here: www.arstidir.bandcamp.com Karl Pestka, our violinist, with the help of Hallgrímur on cello, single-handedly composed and recorded a soundtrack for the Icelandic feature film Boðberi, which had its premiere last Wednesday. http://www.bodberi.com/ We’ll be going on a short tour around the western fjords of Iceland at the end of July. Joining us on the trip are a Swedish journalist and an Icelandic filmmaker who will produce a documentary about the band upon return. The Scandinavian tour Between May and June, we embarked upon a twelve-day tour across Sweden, Denmark and Norway, peppered with gigs large and small, spanning kitchens, streets, and radio stations, as well as parties featuring cowboy wall-rappelers. We were amazed by the response we recieved from our audiences, and we’re looking forward to returning for more adventures soon. We documented the whole story in our blog here: www.arstidir.blogspot.com One particular highlight of the tour was our performance on the Swedish network channel TV4: http://www.tv4play.se/aktualitet/nyhetsmorgon?videoId=1.1659441 We’d like to thank Peter from Adore Music for helping us out, and for being an all-around great guy. Thanks also to Jonas Schwartz and the guys in his band, who opened for us on several shows: http://www.myspace.com/jonasschwartz Much respect must be given to our amazing friends who let us stay in their homes, which allowed us to tour on a shoestring budget. Niklas, Erik & Cecilia, Hildur Þóra, Birgitta & Linda – we are deeply grateful! Special thanks to Jenny for inviting us to the wild west, and Lars for helping us out with the guitar! Last but not least, thank you everybody that attended our concerts! Enjoy the summer! Regards, Árstíðir Árstíðir News Letter # 14 Tomorrow we embark on our Scandinavian These are the dates: 05/27/2010 Göteborg, Sweden Pustervik 21.00 05/28/2010 Borås, Sweden Cocktail, P4 17.00 05/29/2010 Stockholm, Sweden Weekend Market 13.00 05/31/2010 Stockholm, Sweden Nyhetsmorgon, TV4 05.50 06/01/2010 Oslo, Norway Café Mono 22.00 06/02/2010 Göteborg, Sweden Trädgår’n 17.00 06/04/2010 Malmö, Sweden Babel 19.00 06/05/2010 København, Denmark Cafe Blasen 21.30 06/12/2010 Reykjavík, Iceland Bar 11 22.00 More dates might be added. You can read daily news about the tour on our official blog: Our new song Shades was released earlier this month. Shades reveals a heavier side to Árstíðir. With its grandiose arrangement and dramatic finale it has become popular with the audience at the bands live performances. You can download it here: www.arstidir.bandcamp.com See you on the road! Árstíðir Árstíðir News Letter # 13 In this letter: Tours, record releases and volcanoes Summer is just an guitar neck’s length away, and things are really starting to warm up in Árstíðir-land. We’ve recorded and released a new song called ‘Til Hennar.’ It can be downloaded for free from our bandcamp site (www.arstidir.bandcamp.com). In this song our piano player Jón Elísson sings lead, giving it a different feel from the songs on our first album. ‘Til Hennar’ was produced by our good friend Ólafur Arnalds, and masterfully engineered by Styrmir Hauksson. We hold Ólafur and Haukur in very high esteem and are very proud to be working with them. Our eponymous debut album will be officially released in Sweden on May 12 by Adore Music (http://www.adoremusic.se/). Following its release, we will be performing at number of venues across Sweden. See our homepage for more details (www.arstidir.com). On May 12 we will also make the album available worldwide, via the Norwegian-based digital distributor Phonofile-Artspages (http://www.pf-ap.com). This means that the album can be found pretty much everywhere, be it Spotify, ITunes or Amazon. Our song ‘Með hallandi höfði’ was voted the 2nd most popular song of 2009 by the listeners of Rás 2 (Icelandic national radio). The song can be downloaded free from our Bancamp page (www.arstidir.bandcamp.com) We recently performed at a number of shows in Akureyri. It's the second biggest town in Iceland, and one of our favorite places to play. Last time around, we performed at the Akureyri swimming pool, with our audience situated right at the deep end. It brought new meaning to the words "stage dive." Árstíðir Árstíðir News Letter #12 In this letter: 2009 recapitulated. 2010 anticipated. While the season changed from winter to spring, and the days grew brighter, we spent long hours in a dimly lit studio in Iceland recording our debut album while our producer “Flex” would slip into character, speaking to us in English with a faked German accent, and whispering in a lovable way through our in-ear monitors how much he hated us. In the summer, we went on tour and traveled all over the country in a Ford Ecoline, dodging the hazards of summer Iceland: Like when we were carrying our equipment into a church on the small island Flatey, we were attacked by Arctic Terns, trying to dig their beaks into our scalps kamikaze-style. Another time, after a successful gig in an old barn by the beautiful Mývatn lake, we brought our instruments to a play at an afterparty in a nearby forest. Soon after our arrival we were surrounded by hundreds of people singing along, and crammed by spectators trying to move closer. Fall came, and to our great pleasure our hero KK agreed to join us for a concert in Fríkirkjan. We all watched, star-struck, while KK sat back stage changing strings right before the gig, talking to us about his music. “...they (the songs) are all about some woman” he professed, and tipped his hat, cool as only KK can be. Yes, it’s been quite a year. We’ve released one EP, one full length album, gone on tour, and played a total of 52 official gigs, as well as many additional private appearances. Most importantly the band has matured and developed. We’ve added two members and come a long way toward refining our sound and re-defining our style. We’ve had the honour to play with a lot of talented musicians and bands, like Myrra Rós & Elín Ey, Svavar Knútur, Helgi Valur, Karin Torbjörnsdóttir, Lights on the highway, Tenderfoot and KK to name but a few. Plans for 2010: With all of the six members writing for the band, songs are literally piling up. We are already working on our next single Shades that will be released in mid February complete with a state of the art music video. There will be some progression in our musical direction, as you will notice. The arrangements will be bigger, and we intend to make full use of all six members on vocal duty. Our debut album will be released in Sweden and neighbouring countries in April, and we will embark on a three week tour around Scandinavia in May. Our next gig will be at Rósenberg on the 21st of January, together with singer/songwriter Snorri Helgason. Thank you for reading our news letter. Regards, Árstíðir Árstíðir News Letter # 11 In this letter: Scandinavian tour, Christmas song and virtual pimpin’ Our homepage – www.arstidir.com - just received a facelift. Not only is it pleasing to the eye, but it holds all the information about the band and our music. In the next couple of days all of our pages on the world wide web will get a similar makeover by our webmaster wizard Haukur Hannes. Our CD can now be ordered from our homepage. Lately we’ve been getting orders from all over the world, and we’re happy to find that we even have fans in Japan. We wrote a Christmas song called Allt er hljótt. The song was written, arranged and recorded in less than week – all within the premises of Ragnars bedroom. We even had a guest singer – the talented Karin Björg Torbjörnsdóttir – come by and bless us with her beautiful soprano voice. The song was then mixed by our friend Ólafur Arnalds. We hold Ólafur in very high regard and are always proud to work with him. Our grand Chirstmas concert will be in Fríkirkjan on the 23 rd of December. Tickets can now be purchased at: www.midi.is We are currently planning a tour to Scandinavia in the end of May next year. Already a couple of gigs have been booked in and around Gothenburg. The whole list of tour dates will be announced later on our homepage. Winter is upon us here in Iceland, with snow everywhere and freezing cold. We love it. Thank you for reading our news letter. May music keep you warm. Regards, Árstíðir Árstíðir News Letter # 10 In this letter: new songs and praise “In a forest without any trees where feelings and memories superimposed by an image of you are caught on the morning dew” These are the opening lines of Shades – one of the new songs that we’ll premiere tonight at Rósenberg. The band has been composing intensively for a few weeks, and has spent long hours arranging the new songs. At one point we went out of town for a few days, bringing only instruments and a few cases of beer, and came back with some magic melodies and a hang over. December is going to be one busy month in Árstíðir-land, and the high-point will be a concert in the Fríkirkjan Church in Reykjavík on the 23.rd. Fríkirkjan with its amazing acoustics always seems to bring out the best in us. Last time we played there we did a show together with KK. In a concert review titled Sheer Magic journalist Louise Petersson of the Reykjavík Grapevine wrote: ”Shit. I mean, wow. Where to begin? Can mere words even do justice to the emotion KK and Árstíðir evoked during two too short hours at Fríkirkjan?
You can read the whole thing here: http://www.grapevine.is/Music/ReadReview/Live-Music-Review-Sheer-Magic Our concert tonight begins at 22.00. If you find yourself in Reykjavík reading this, drop by Rósenberg and enjoy the sound of Gunnar Már Jakobsson’s tender voice when he sings: “Tonight I want to show you my love in every way. Perhaps we’ll never see this through, I’d still like it if you would stay”
Thank you for reading our news letter. Regards, Árstíðir
Árstíðir News Letter # 9 In this letter: Iceland Airwaves, tours and Icelandic weather. Well, it’s that time of the year. The Iceland Airwaves festival is starting today. Walking down the street in down-town Reykjavík you can almost taste the buzz: it’s going to be one hell of a week. Árstíðir will be playing at these venues: Thursday 22.45 at Hressó Saturday 20.00 at the Reykjavík Art Museum Sunday 21.30 at Dillon (off-venue) All details regarding our Airwaves activites can be found at our FACEBOOK page wich will be updated many times per day, as well as on TWITTER. More news in brief: We’ve just released a new single from our album. ‘Ages’ can now be donwloaded free from our homepage www.arstidir.com After our gig at the Reykjavík Round-Up concert series three weeks back we were approached by people from the Swedish music industry. Plans are now being made to go on a tour around Scandinavia next spring. We performed at a music conference called ‘You are in control’ wich was arranged by the good people at the ‘Icelandic Music Export’. The performance earned us some attention from the international music press. We were particularly pleased to read about us in ‘Record of the day’, where journalist Mark Muggenridge said our musical delivery was ‘mesmeric’. All of our members are involved in various side-projects along side Árstíðir. Our violinist Karl is currently writing and recording a sound-track for a major Icelandic movie-project called ‘Boðberi’. The other day we performed at an annual October-fest in a huge tent on the University of Iceland campus. The gig turned out to be quite adventurous, as the whole feast was threatened by an agressive storm. With winds blowing at up to 60 meters per second, the tent was nearly torn from the ground. Inside the tent the air got so cold that Karl had to go get an electric violin made out of plastic because he was afraid his regular wooden one would crack. The cello did nearly so: just when we got on stage there was a shift in tension in the instrument due to the cold, and all the strings suddenly went loose. With our breaths fogged we stood around blowing at our cold hands while Hallgrímur went about fixing the poor instrument. And when we started our set, our acoustic guitars dropped in and out of tune, and our fingers went so numb that we could barely hit the strings in the right places. Still, we managed to put on a decent show, and afterwards we all had a laugh about it.
See you all at Airwaves! Enjoy the weather, and may music keep you warm! Warm greetings, Árstíðir
Árstíðir News Letter # 8 In this letter: Stadiums, Gigs and Goddesses Recently we were contacted via email by a couple from Germany. They had been traveling across Iceland in a rental-car listening to our album. Unfortunately they forgot the CD in the car when they returned it. They told us that they had alot of memories connected to our music, and asked where they could get another copy. We were all too happy to send it to them. We’re working on getting distribution deals for our CD outside Iceland. But in the meantime we highly recomend Gogoyoko.com. Gogoyoko is a social music market where music fans can buy directly from the artist – a musical community that brings Fair Play to music. With fall upon us we’ve been planning our activities until christmas, and now have a smorgasbord of sweet gigs lined up. Our next gig will be in the Fríkirkjan church in Reykjavík on the 24th of September. We will be joined by KK – a legendary musician in Icelands by all standards, and a true source of inspiration. The gig is a part of the Reykjavík Round-Up concert series that will take place in Reykjavík, September 23-26. On December the 6th we’re invited by Björgvin Halldórsson to perform with him at the Laugardalshöllin Stadium. Björgvin has been around for four decades, and is one of Icelands best known and beloved musicians. His annual christmas concert is attended by thousands of Icelanders. We’re deeply honoured to be his musical guests. For more information about our gigs this fall, see our myspacepage. Our album got a reivew from Andrea Jónsdóttir on the radioshow Popland. Andrea is Icelands god-mother when it comes to popular music, hence we take her opinion on things seriosly. Her verdict was: “A really beautiful album, and musically Árstíðir is a really good band / Þetta er virkilega falleg plata og tónlistarlega eru Árstíðir virkilega flott band” The goddesses of inspiration – Muses some people call them - have been kind to us lately, and he band has been composing a lot of new material. We continue to write both Icelandic and English lyrics, but now we also have a song in Swedish. These goddesses work in mysterious ways sometimes. Thank you for reading our newsletter. May fortune be with you all! Árstíðir
Árstíðir News Letter # 7 In this letter: new member, airwaves and sofas. Things happen fast in the world of Árstíðir. Our sound continues to develop and we rarely sound the same two concerts in a row. Last week we were blessed with a new member, violin-virtuoso Karl Aldinsteinn. On top of his amazing string skills, Karl is also a great vocalist – that’s right, Árstíðir now has six singers. We played our first gig as a six man band at the club Sódóma in Reykjavík together with Lights on the Highway. Nearly 300 people attended the concert.
We’ve been offered to play on the Iceland Airwaves festival in oktober. On the festival homepage www.icelandairwaves.is it says: “Iceland Airwaves has become one of the premier showcases for new music – Icelandic and otherwise – in the world. It’s been called “the most innovative music festival since CMJ” and “as responsible for all of Reykjavík’s recent positive press as Björk herself”.” …needless to say, we’re very excited! This week our album is the album of the week on Icelandic national radio. We’re getting very positive response from people everywhere, and we’re very grateful. If you still have’nt heard it, the whole album is available for streaming on www.arstidir.bandcamp.com. Like they say: first you try it, then you buy it, right? A friend dropped by our rehersal the other night and filmed us play on some sofas. You can catch a glimpse on www.youtube.com/arstidir - the first recording with our new member Karl. Next Saturday is the Reykjavík Culture Night. We have two gigs on two different stages – check out the details on www.myspace.com/arstidir Fall is here, enjoy the changing of the seasons! Regards, Árstíðir
Árstíðir News Letter # 6 In this letter: nr 1. hits and wet underwear We have just finished our Iceland tour. All in all we played 18 gigs in 18 places all over Iceland. Part from a flat tire on the tour-bus, and a busted string on Hallgrímurs celló, the tour went smoothly. Thanks everybody that attended our shows. Our single ‘Með hallandi höfði’ continues to get considerable airtime. The song was a nr 1. hit on the icelandic public radio station rás 2 recently, and is currently in second place. We will be giving away a free Mp3 of the song on our homepage next week (www.arstidir.com). Our debut album is starting to get attention from abroad. Last week the Swedish music magazine Zero Music featured a review of the album. “Árstíðir makes songs out of the same stuff that dreams are made off”, the writer concluded, and gave the album 8 out of 10. This weekend the band is relaxing in sunny Reykjavík, re-generating and getting ready for our next string of gigs. Some highlights in august will be the Melodica Music Festival and Reykjavík Culture Night. Looking back on the tour many unforgettable moments come to mind. Like when we played at the Úlfaldi úr Mýflugu-festival and Helgi Valur and Svavar Knútur joined us on stage for our set-closer: a cover version of ‘the Weight’. Svavar wearing only his wollen underwear and a his ukulele, ended the song by getting in a big wash-pan full of cold water, splashing around for a spell to the sound of an appreciative audience. Love and Peace, Árstíðir
Árstíðir New Letter # 5 In this letter: album out, tourbuses and pirates Our album is out and is currently the 9th best selling record in Iceland. A grand release concert was held on the 19th in Loftkastalinn, wich roughly 300 people attended. After the concert we threw a party at the bar Jacobsen and drank to a good night. We’re currently on tour together with Helgi Valur and Svavar Knútur. Nine guys and all of our equipment of crammed together in a blue Ecoline that we’ve named Michael Jackson. With five tour-dates under our belt, and thirteen to go this promises to be an interesting trip. One of the highlights so far was the gig at the church in Ólafsvík. The weather was poetic to say the least, and the sun was beaming, so we played the first part of the show outside the church, with the guests sitting in the grass singing along to the la la la’s. Another highlight was the gig on the small island Flatey. On the boat going to Flatey we played a short set on deck for an appreciative crowd to advertize the concert. It payed off, and the church that we played in (Flateyarkirkjan) was crammed with people. Tonight we play at the beautiful pirate house (sjóræningjahúsíð) at Patreksfjörður. The venue is the most exiting so far: an old industry building with a huge open fire place and huge tables made from rough wooden planks…. This will be a hell of a night - bring the rum! Aarrrh. Árstíðir
Árstíðir News Letter # 4 In this letter: release concert, media attention and fate. Fate seems to operate by its own logic, or so it seems. During the recording of our album we did an icelandic cover-version of the Crosby, Stills & Nash song ‘Helplessly Hoping’. Although the song was not included on the actual album (and not meant to be released at all), the song has now gained considerable air-play thanks to media-guru Ólafur Páll at Rás 2 (the icelandic public radio). Our version of the song is called ‘Með hallandi höfði’, and lately we have been receiving emails from all kinds of people saying how much they like the song. Our album was supposed to hit the icelandic stores next Friday (june 5.th), but due to complications with our manufacturer in Austria the album will be delayed by one week. Our release concert will be on the 19.th of june (Friday) at Loftkastalinn. Loftkastalinn is a beautiful old theater with lots of soul and great acoustics. We’ve always felt that there is an theatric element to our music, so playing on a theater stage just makes perfect sense. Tickets will be awailable thru www.midi.is shortly. Árstíðir is beginning to get attention from foreign medias on the internet. A review of our album and an interview with the band will be featured in the swedish Zero Magazine within the next weeks. www.zeromagazine.nu Allt the best! Árstíðir
Árstíðir News Letter # 3 In this letter: Tourdates, Record-release and intelligent Tv-appearance! Our famed celloist Hallgrímur has arrived safely from Moscow, and the band has resumed rehersals. Our first perfomance after our 3-week break will be in Kaffi Rósenberg (Reykjavík) on the 24:th of May – that’s next Sunday – at nine o’clock. We were invited by the Icelandic public television company (Rúv) to participate in the famous ‘Pop-púnktur’ show. Pop-púnktur is a popular music-quiz show where Icelandic bands compete with each other in pop-knowledge. The show will be aired on Icelandic tv this summer. All the dates for our summer-tour – ‘Hver á sér fegra föðurland?’ – have been confirmed, and the venues have been booked. The 18 day-tour will start at the 25:th of June, and take us all over Iceland. Every bit of information about the tour is awailable on our Facebook group. Our facebook group has also been updated with songs from our new record, discography, pictures and more. If you have any friends on facebook that likes our kind of music, please invite them to join our group. Our new record is ready, and is currently being printed in Austria. It will be officially released in Iceland on the 5th of june, and will be awailable thru our homepage (www.arstidir.com) and www.gogoyoko.com shortly after that. A grand release concert will be held on the 19:th of june. The venue will be anounced later. Last but not least: Summer has hit Iceland with a blazing sun and a cloudless sky. Recently the band did a photo-shoot by the sea, wherein the photographer had all the members take off their shoes and stand knee-high in the arctic ocean for several minutes. Inviting as the weather may seem, the cool ocean had not yet switched to summer mode, complicating the execution of the motif. The pictures however came out great Enjoy summer! Árstíðir
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