Pick Your Poison: Wednesday 10-8-14

As far as I can tell, Iceland is a pretty amazing country. I’ve never been, but some friends of mine have gone and raved about it. The photos and videos I’ve seen also make it look visually striking, with panoramic vistas, natural hot springs and a high visibility rate for the Northern Lights. It’s no wonder then that so much great and beautiful music comes out of the country. Arguably the two most prominent artists from Iceland that support this assertion are Bjork and Sigur Ros. They’ve sustained epic global popularity, and in the case of Sigur Ros, without even singing in a widespread language such as English. Of course there’s plenty more music where that came from, and one name that’s been making serious waves in the last year or two has been Ásgeir. His full name is Ásgeir Trausti Einarsson, but trust me when I say it’s so much better and easier to only have to deal with the first part of that. Even then, the pronunciation is a little tricky, as phonetically it’s “owse-gear.” He released his debut album Dýrð í dauðaþögn back in 2012, and it became the fastest selling debut album in the history of Iceland. At the start of 2014, he re-recorded the album with everything translated into English, including the album title In the Silence. That’s been gaining a lot of traction worldwide as well, at one point reaching #1 on Billboard’s Next Big Sound chart. His combination of gentle acoustic folk melodies and that gorgeous falsetto of a voice just hits you right at your emotional core no matter how hard you try to avoid it. His biggest single to date has been “King and Cross,” which I’ve heard more than a few times on the radio these last few months. Check out “Lupin Intrigue” as well if you’re looking for a deeper cut. Anyways, the reason I’m bringing all of this up is because Ásgeir is in the middle of a U.S. tour right now, and will be at Lincoln Hall this Sunday night for a show. It starts at 8pm, it’s 18+ and tickets are only $14. You can buy them in advance here. Ásgeir’s music is sort of built for the fall season, and getting the chance to see him during that time should be something really special, so I hope you’ll come out if you’re in Chicago! That aside, let’s get to the mid-week edition of Pick Your Poison. There’s some great tracks in this set from Gwyneth Moreland, In Sonitus Lux, Monogol, Morgan Shaughnessy, Streets of Laredo and VLMA. In the Soundcloud section after the jump, stream songs from Butch Walker, HANAH, The Invisible Hands, Joel Ford (ft. Ejecta) and PROM. Beat Connection also put together a nice remix for a Jungle track, and I’m proud to share a live recording of Grizzly Bear’s Daniel Rossen performing a new song during a show in Chicago.