Today, Joker has handed the reigns of the Bonnaroo countdown to me, so I can introduce you to a band I love, about whom he knows very little. It's the Icelandic group Sigur Ros, who will be playing a late-night tent set on Saturday (when we'll be coming down off a Pearl Jam high). The band has made a name for itself with soaring, strangely beautiful music that is hard to categorize. They've been featured on film and TV soundtracks as disparate as Vanilla Sky and 24, and have done a good job solidifying themselves as electrifying live performers. Their sound is largely ambient, though it can straight-out rock, and the fact that the lyrics are entirely performed either in the band's native Icelandic or in "Hopelandic"--a gibberish language created by singer Jonsi--make this excellent background music, good for chilling out in the late night, so their set should be well-received at the festival.
Today's sample song is a live rendition of "Staralfur," from their breakthrough album Agaetis Byrjun:
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