Great new album from Olafur Arnalds - a long time favourite of Rough Trade. The highly anticipated record features Ólafur’s ground-breaking new software, Stratus, which transforms the humble piano into a unique new instrument. He is currently performing his new material on a huge worldwide tour. The Stratus Pianos are two self-playing, semi-generative player pianos which are triggered by a central piano played by Ólafur, and are the centrepiece of his new works. The custom-built software is born out of two years of work by the composer and audio developer, Halldór Eldjárn. The algorithms generated from Stratus were also used to create the innovative album artwork. On the album Ólafur uses these methods reinvigorate the compositional experience, feeding back into the creative process in a completely new way. As Ólafur plays a note on the piano, two different notes are generated by Stratus, creating unexpected harmonies and surprising melodic sequences.

Jófríður Ákadóttir (born 4 August 1994), is an Icelandic singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist known for her solo project JFDR as well as her work with Samaris, Pascal Pinon and numerous other musicians and musical groups. Her father is Icelandic composer and musician Áki Ásgeirsson.

Ólafur Arnalds teams up with Mercury Classics to bring you a unique and evolving audio-visual portrait of his home country of Iceland.
Over the course of seven weeks in the Summer 2016, Ólafur will be traveling to seven very different locations in Iceland - one per week - to record a series of new compositions. In each location
Ólafur will be collaborating with artists local to the town to create and perform a new song.
Visit
to follow the journey!

By their hammer let none be saved – Misþyrming return to lay down the law. Með hamri is the sound of the iron heel of Black Metal trampling the face of musical modernity.
Með hamri is deeply saturated with the vibrantly alive energy that Misþyrming capture so effectively on stage. The drums sound organic and powerful, the guitar distortion has a vicious bite, and D.G.’s vocals are as brutal and evocative as ever. The underlying spirit is one of action. There is melancholy, bitterness, and filth, but one of the album’s foremost characteristics is its relentless surge of determination. Never before have Misþyrming sounded livelier and more confrontational.
In the band’s own words:
Authentic and genuine, entirely devoid of gimmicks, Með hamri is a celebration of violence and excess. Arrogant, vitriolic, and with contemptuous disregard for your every sensibility, this album is our statement against all that is false and vain in today’s underground scene. With the timeless values of true metal woven into its very fabric – unironic and unapologetic – this is the Devil’s music made manifest. There is plenty of room for nuance and subtlety in Black Metal, but the hammer leaves no room for interpretation.released December 16, 2022

With patient songwriting and gentle arrangements, the Icelandic art-pop musician portrays seismic emotional transformations through resounding moments of stillness.

Artwork: Rúrí (ISL)
Producers: Paul Corley & Sigur Rós
Writers: Georg Hólm, Jónsi & Kjartan Sveinsson
Bass: Georg Hólm
Cello: David Lale, Laura Moody, Max Ruisi, Nathaniel Boyd, Patrick Johnson & Reinoud Ford
Copyright ©: Von Dur Limited
Double Bass: Eloise Riddell, Gwen Reed, Nicola Davenport & Siret Lust
Engineer: Birgir Jón Birgisson, Chris Bolster, Farrokh Shroff, Freddie Light, Ivan Handwerk, Nate Haessly, Paul Corley, PJ Munley, Sigur Rós, Ted Jensen & Zack Zajdel
Exclusive License: BMG
Phonographic Copyright ℗: Von Dur Limited
Piano: Kjartan Sveinsson
String Arranger: Sigur Rós
Video Director: Johan Renck
Viola: Alison D'Souza, Freya Hicks, James Heron, Jennifer Wilkinson, Jordan Bergmans, Lowri Thomas & Matthew Kettle
Vocals: Jónsi