Being sick is terrible. I’ve been fighting something nasty since Tuesday. Luckily the worst was out of the way fast — after recording a 101 degree temperature Tuesday night, the fever subsided and I’ve slowly returned to a state that’s manageable. I was still a bit stuffed up on the 25th, but by 10pm all that was left was sniffling and the occasional cough — my regular voice was back.

Sóley, a member of the Icelandic troupe Seabear, is prepared to drop her sophomore release, We Sink, October 4 on Morr Music. A keyboardist and backup vocalist by trade, first thoughts on her solo project is that she was made for the spotlight. “I’ll Drown” is the first track we’ve heard from the forthcoming LP and it joins the experimental pop sounds of Seabear and Sin Fang with the unique, quite spirited vocals of Sóley Stefánsdóttir.

Sindri Már Sigfússon is on a roll. In 2009, his Clangour under Sin Fang (then Sin Fang Bous) received a top 10 place. 2010 saw his full Icelandic group, Seabear, crack the top 5 with We Built A Fire. Sindri is back with his follow up to Clangour. The album is called Summer Echoes and it drops March 15 thanks to Morr Music. As his projects go, the video for “Because Of The Blood” includes psychedelic mixed-media elements. And he dons a beard of doilies.

The problem with so-called best-of lists, is that they are really just a collection of items organized based on experience and time, in that there will be plenty of albums heard the following year and beyond that will hold just as much weight as these we dub as “Best.” So, as of right now, at this particular time in the tail end of 2010 and the first moments of 2011, these albums are the best. There’s no question about it; it will change. My next list (which …

Sin Fang (formerly Sin Fang Bous) is the solo project of Sindri Már Sigfusson, a major force in Icelandic band Seabear. I’ve found Sindri’s work to be very engrossing and artistic, from the music itself to the videos Sigfusson creates. In fact, his last solo album, Clangour, cracked my top 10 for 2009. So it is with great anticipation that we await his follow up. And we won’t have to wait long. Sin Fang’s next album, Summer Echoes, is scheduled to drop March 2011.
In preparation …

It appears there is truth behind the popular phrase about time speeding by the older you get. After hitting the ripe age of 30 back in September and taking a nice little road trip from my home north of Seattle to the Southwest town of Albuquerque at the end of that month, time seems to have slipped by with ease. And it appears I haven’t done one of these podcast things since July!

Creating a music video, in my opinion, should be about creating art. There are so many intricate elements that should go into a video that are so often left forgotten or, at least, unattended. First and foremost is the song itself — a video must compliment the art to which it is expanding from audio to video. Connecting the two is extremely important. Second is theme. The best videos have some storyline, vague or distinct. Or at least something visually interesting.

When it comes to Sindri Már Sigfússon, be it visual or audible, you know the result will be uniquely experimental and colorful dream pop. The videos from his solo project, Sin Fang Bous, were pretty astounding. And that theme remains with Seabear‘s “I’ll Build You A Fire”, a video directed by Mani Sigfússon, Sindri’s brother.
Like “Lion Face Boy”, which was released as a 7-inch early this month, “I’ll Build You A Fire” sounds very much like Sin Fang Bous but is adorned with more members, which …

A favorite from last year was Sindri Már Sigfússon’s solo project Sin Fan Bous; an album titled Clangour. Prior to striking out on his own under this moniker, Sigfússon had a different solo project, one called Seabear. It evolved into something else, something larger and more complex – a seven-piece group of fellow Icelanders.