lol, like some kind of icelandic God.

sounds interesting.

 

i gave his album w/ Alex a listen to last night and it was really great! great music to listen to right before you go to sleep.

Beautiful album cover, I love it.

That's the cover? Gorgeous stuff.

been listening to Jonsi & Alex's album for a large portion of the day... what a great album!

April 6 Vancouver, Canada Vogue Theatre

April 7 Vancouver, Canada Vogue Theatre

April 9 Seattle, WA The Showbox SoDo

April 10 Seattle, WA The ShowBox SoDo

April 13 Portland, OR Roseland Theatre

April 15 Berkeley, CA Zellerbach Auditorium

April 16 San Francisco, CA Palace of Fine Arts

April 18 Indio, CA Coachella

April 21 Denver, CO Paramount Theatre

April 22 Lawrence, KS Liberty Hall

April 24 Minneapolis, MN Pantages Theatre

April 25 Minneapolis, MN Pantages Theatre

April 26 Milwaukee, WI The Pabst Theatre

April 27 Chicago, IL Vic Theatre

April 28 Chicago, IL Vic Theatre

April 30 Toronto, Canada Sound Academy

May 1 Toronto, Canada Sound Academy

May 2 Montreal, Canada Metropolis

May 3 Philadelphia, PA Electric Factory

May 5 Boston, MA House of Blues

May 6 Boston, MA House of Blues

May 8 New York, NY Terminal 5

May 9 New York, NY Terminal 5

 

Live video interview:

http://www.livestream.com/aplive/video?clipId=flv_4d17ee1e-8118-46b5-8b22-648f27a2e095

Jónsi Birgisson (Sigur Rós) Records “Go” With Peter Katis

 

Producer/engineer Peter Katis has a gift for distilling a band’s sound, using instinct, technology and personal invention to help bring out the sonic temperament of a song in all its complexity. For example, The National, Interpol, The Twilight Sad and Frightened Rabbit … all bands whose distinctly weighty sounds Katis helped to craft in the studio, meshing darkening tones with sublime choruses, harmonies both plaintive and ecstatic, and the sonic grit and sheen of every piece making up the whole.

 

Production/engineering highlights from Katis’ recent history include Tokyo Police Club’s Elephant Shell, Mates of State’s Re-Arrange Us, The Grates’ Teeth Lost Hearts Won, Julian Plenti’s Skyscraper, Fanfarlo’s Resevoir, The Swell Season’s Strict Joy and a new record by Sigur Rós frontman Jónsi Birgisson, due out on XL in March ‘10.

 

An engineer and musician, Katis has tremendous chops in the studio and his studio has become an important character in the artistic process of bands that hole up there to work.

 

Located in the attic of a giant Victorian home in nondescript Bridgeport, CT, Tarquin Studios is filled with both the rare and requisite in musical instruments, amps, microphones, pedals and effects boxes, and Katis’ thoroughly vetted recording and mixing systems. Often distortion-infused yet never distracting from melody or musicality, the best Katis productions seem to so tastefully blend recorded sounds with studio manipulation and space that by some sonic association, they hit you like a mood or a season or a memory.

 

Needless to say, we were excited at the idea of Katis producing Birgisson’s new solo record, Go.

 

So how did you end up working with Jónsi Birgisson? How/why do you think he came to you?

He really liked the sound of the Fanfarlo record and was familiar with several other records I’ve done. It started out as a really modest project; it was just going to be an acoustic guitar and vocal kind of record, and now, it’s massive. And, it’s really ended up sounding quite different from Sigur Rós.

 

Was it just you and Birgisson recording at Tarquin?

Well, the first week it was just Jónsi and his partner Alex, who’s an up-and-coming engineer and has a lot of creative input, and Samuli [Kosminen], the drummer from múm. So, we spent that first week laying down acoustic guitar and drums, although I’d probably say it was more ‘crazy percussion’ than traditional drums.

 

Samuli is a very original drummer, from what he chooses to use for “drums” to his musical decisions and arrangements and all with almost inhuman precision. There is virtually no programming on this record. When you hear it, you’ll find that hard to believe.

 

Was he actually playing a drum kit though?

He was playing an assortment of drums, but never just a drum kit. One of the best sounds on one of the songs is the sound of him stomping on a suitcase and it was very hard to play because the action was so slow it was always awkwardly behind the beat. Because of these percussion sounds, right off the bat the record had a sort of unusual feel. And then Nico Muhly came in, and he’s really amazing. The amount of work he was scheduled to do in the time we had was completely unrealistic. And yet we finished it ahead of schedule. He was insanely fast.

 

So were these just string arrangements? Or more elaborate orchestrations?

It was strings, woodwinds and brass. He had everything written out — a giant stack of charts. The first day he came in, it was a 6-person string ensemble. We did a day and a half with them to do 12 songs. He and the players were extremely efficient.

 

Were these his people he works with regularly?

Yes, this is his crew and they’re pretty much the people in that classical/rock crossover world. A bunch of them played in the Dessner brothers recent show at BAM, The Long Count. So there was a day of strings —violins, violas, cellos, then there was a day of four woodwinds and then a four-person brass section and an afternoon for double bass. And then, a day of just flute. There’s flute all over this record.

 

So, this was all done at Tarquin?

Yes! At first, there was a possibility the orchestral dates would happen in NYC, but Jónsi from the start was all about it being really homespun and doing it all here. It worked out great, and I think all the players enjoyed working somewhere a little different.

 

I would imagine from what I’ve read about Sigur Rós — recording in their own studio which they built in an indoor swimming pool — that Jónsi might be especially experimental and critical of sounds and tones. Was this the case?

Actually, part of the reason he was so good to work with was that he was just like ‘do whatever you can to make it really interesting.’ And so I’d suggest using a lot of distortion, for example. And he’d love it. The stranger and more messed up I made it, the more he loved it. And for vocals, he was definitely mindful of things not being too slick or too polished.

 

This record has more of a rock feel than some Sigur Rós music. It’s Jónsi Birgisson singing so it’s going to sound a bit like Sigur Rós, the same way that Julian Plenti’s going to sound a bit like Interpol. But, in the same way, that record doesn’t sound like Interpol to me. It’s very different, and this doesn’t sound like Sigur Rós.

 

How would you describe the sound?

Well, it’s a combination of all that weird percussion, those giant Nico Muhly arrangements, a lot of acoustic guitar and then us just sprinkling in different elements here and there — keyboards and what not. Besides a few little keyboard parts, there are basically no electric instruments on the record, it’s all acoustic. But by the end there was a good deal of manipulation, where we’d take the “live” tracks and overdrive and filter and reverse and really mess with them, loop a part here and there, etc. And, that was the only issue, where we’d debate things somewhat.

 

I didn’t want to make the record too blippy because I thought it might diminish the ultra-organic quality of what we’d started with. But I think it ended up being a pretty exciting and original combination of sounds and styles.

 

But it had started out as this intimate acoustic record, so was it Nico’s involvement that took it to this much bigger place and got everyone thinking bigger?

I believe so, yes. Samuli played a hand in that as well. He’s such a great percussionist, and at times he would really kind of rock out. And even when he wouldn’t “rock out,” part of the adventure and fun of it was that I tried to record his percussion in strange ways most of the time.

Instead of miking everything, I would just use a stereo pair of mics. And I would use two different kinds of mics in the pair, different pre-amps, different compressors, and I would overdrive almost everything. And sometimes that’s apparent and other times it’s not. When you hear it, you wonder why it sounds so crazy, and it’s because that stuff is just so gained up. And it makes it super-stereo!

 

When you do that, all of a sudden, this modest part sounds very exciting. So, these percussion tracks have a lot of aggression. And they’re a big part of what helps the record morph back and forth between moments that are heartbreakingly still and sad to passages that sound like a train hurdling off of a cliff…

oh snap! tour dates.

Can hardly wait for the new album!

Sigur Rós singer Jón “Jónsi” Þór Birgisson has a new solo album set for release on XL in April titled Go. Nico Muhly will also feature on the record, which was recorded over the summer of 2009 in Reykjavik and Connecticut. Now, a video for the opening track of the record, “Go Do,” has been revealed.

 

http://www.prefixmag.com/media/jnsi/go-do-video/37261/

wow, he's really going all out with the make-up, looks like its gonna be an awesome album.

2010 european tour

 

in celebration of his debut solo album go, jónsi will begin a nine city tour of the united kingdom and europe on the 26th of may.

 

a fan-only pre-sale of tickets to jónsi's european concerts will start on the morning of the 17th of february. below, please find the links where you will be able to buy pre-order tickets from wednesday morning. no password or code is required to purchase these tickets.

 

pre-sale starts: general sale starts:

26 may 2010 london forum london, united kingdom 9am, feb 17th link 9am, feb 19th

29 may 2010 ab brussels, belgium 10am, feb 17th link 11am, feb 19th

30 may 2010 den atelier luxembourg 10am, feb 17th link 10am, feb 22nd

31 may 2010 live music hall cologne, germany 8am, feb 17th link 9am, feb 19th

2 june 2010 paradiso amsterdam, holland 10am, feb 17th link 10am, feb 20th

5 june 2010 columbiahalle berlin, germany 8am, feb 17th link 9am, feb 19th

7 june 2010 bataclan paris, france 10am, feb 17th link 10am, feb 19th

8 june 2010 kaufleuten zurich, switzerland 10am, feb 17th link 12pm, feb 19th

9 june 2010 alcatraz milan, italy 10am, feb 17th link 10am, feb 19th

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8t6ABdBigNc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8t6ABdBigNc[/ame]This looks amazing. Already.

 

*buys ticket* :wacky:

^ OMG it does look amazing.

 

Look at this :

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FMV0CXpQEI&playnext_from=TL&videos=9J4ZxlTsCUQ&feature=sub]YouTube- Jonsi - Boy Lilikoi[/ame]

 

:heart:

I spazzed out when I saw this thread :lol:

I love Jonsi :heart: :nice:

*looks at my avi and sig* :blush: :shy:

I didn't know there is a thread about him either.

:heart:

The live shows look amazing, can't wait till June. :D

i would bet there was another thread of him :thinking:

 

great album, boy lilikoi and hengilás are my fave ones :D

Live stream tomorrow: http://jonsi.com/news/brussels-concert-live-stream

 

And the first Amsterdam show (June 2nd) will be available on demand later this week.

^*will be watching* :dance: :wacky: :dance:

^^ EEEEP! I want to watch it as well, but I don't know if it's playing the same time Eurovision is playing :uhoh: I can't miss Eurovision :heart: :lol:

hahahah tsssskkkk

 

I can't wait 12 more minutes AHHH

I'm gonna see Jónsi in a couple of days, so I'll skip this one. Have fun watching though. :nice:

^Lucky! This is as close as I'll get to one of his concerts :p

I like the Riceboy Sleeps