With the U.S. having effectively departed the world stage as a global superpower, Iceland — perpetually lingering in the shadows, waiting to make its move — has stepped up as its rightful successor, and the first order of business on the path toward total galactic domination is the first iteration of hometown heroes and post-rock posterboys Sigur Rós’s music and arts festival, Norður og Niður.
The first round of artists set to turn Norður og Niður into the formal commencement of Iceland’s international power-play has been revealed, and it’s a veritable cache of global talents unlike civilization has ever laid its eyes on. We’re talking Julianna Barwick, Dan Deacon, Jarvis Cocker, and Kevin Shields alongside some of the most dangerous musical minds Iceland has to offer, including Sin Fang, Sóley & Örvar Smárason, JFDR, Hugar, and Sigur Rós themselves, who will be performing four shows over the course of the festival like they’re the goddamn String Cheese Incident or something. What terror hast thou wrought, Jónsi?!
Norður og Niður will take place from December 27–30 in the new cultural capital of Earth: Reykjavík. If you’re planning to jump on the Icelandic imperial bandwagon (which I assume is more of a fjord-traversing schooner), you can check out a Spotify playlist created in honor of the auspicious coup and buy tickets to the specific Sigur Rós shows now at the festival’s website, thereby granting yourself early-access to Norður og Niður 4-day passes, which are actually on sale September 28. I gotta say, though: if the whole epoch of the Modern Icelandic Empire is held down by this much red tape, it’s gonna get real irritating real fast. :-/
More about: Dan Deacon, Jarvis Cocker, Julianna Barwick, Kevin Shields, Sigur Rós
