I usually reserve my listening to Sigur Ros during the late fall and winter months. Sometimes I’ll pretend that I’m in Iceland instead of the upper reaches of Michigan or Massachusetts. I even attempted to learn some Icelandic to understand the lyrics without translation. My self-taught Icelandic course has been put on hold, but my enjoyment for Sigur Rós has not. Their 5th studio album sounds the most optimistic; it feels much more like a summer album. The care-free cover art accurately foreshadows the music enclosed. They still have their ethereal sound, but it feels lighter and more organic. This is evident from their first single “Gobbledigook” which sounds like it could be an Animal Collective track. The band hasn’t changed into another tribal influenced indie rock band; they’re just expanding their already large sound. With cheerful bursts of horns and strings and a steady bass drum, the band seems more focused. The album has a clear direction and does not wander like ( ) or Takk (though I enjoy both those albums for that reason). They do have their epic songs: “Festival” clocks in at nearly 9 and half minutes and “Ára Bátur” is almost 9. This is still very much a Sigur Rós album and I’m glad. They are one of my favorite bands that have been consistently good their entire career. I felt compelled to listen to the entire album in one sitting which is a first for me this year. My favorite tracks are: Gobbledigook, Góðan Daginn, Ára Bátur, Ví Spilum Endalaust, Illgresi, Fljótavík, and All Alright (the first Sigur Rós song in English!)

You can stream the entire album here, but I’ve provided some MP3s from this album and some of my favorites from their back catalog as well. The album is released June 24th.

MP3: Sigur Ros – Gobbledigook

MP3: Sigur Ros – Góðan Daginn

From Hvarf/Heim

MP3: Sigur Ros – Starálfur (Live)

From Takk…

MP3: Sigur Ros – Saeglópur

From ( )

MP3: Sigur Ros – Track 4

From Ágaetis Byrjun

MP3: Sigur Ros – Svefn-g-Englar

About the Album | Website | MySpace

Since Indie Muse doesn’t really do breaking music news, I thought it would be fun to find a niche, taking a rather petty thing and making it into something much bigger. So here we go.

If you go to Bonnaroo.com, the Official website for Bonnaroo Music Festival, you will see their infamous “Countdown” to Bonnaroo. The only problem. It’s wrong. At the time of this posting, it is Monday, 2:12 AM. The Countdown says there is 1 Day, 21 Hours, 48 Minutes, 28 Seconds until Bonnaroo.

One day equals 24 hours, meaning there are, more or less, 46 Hours until Bonnaroo, according to this Countdown. That means that the gates would be opening at about 12 AM Wednesday. In actuality, the gates don’t open until 7 AM Thurday morning. What does this all mean? It means panicked hippies either saying “Durr, forget it, I’m not going. Pass the joint bro” after seeing on the site (if they can spell the url correctly) it was earlier than they thought (if they remember at all), or a mob of angry hippies showing up in their Jerry Garcia memorabilia 31 hours early. Either way, it’s bad news.

I suppose this is what happens when a stoner company hires a stoner programmer to make an application for stoner customers so they don’t forget to show up. What has the world come to? We will give you an hourly update as the story unfolds. We contacted Bonnaroo headquarters at 2:16 AM to hear their side of the story, but as of 3 AM they have yet to reply. What are you hiding Bonnaroo? This is Indiemuse.com. Akhil, back to you.

Six Songs From Bands Performing at Bonnaroo 08:

Iron & Wine – Resurrection Fern

Rogue Wave – Eyes

Ben Folds – Late

Vampire Weekend – Oxford Comma

MGMT – Destrokk

Jack Johnson – Posters (live at Bonnaroo)