Reykjavik Nights, the UK's only dedicated Icelandic club night, is pleased to announce a collaboration with the Bedroom Community record label in putting on a very special concert - Valgeir Sigurdsson at Soho's House of St Barnabas on Friday 16th May. The event is kindly support by Reykjavik City.

Valgeir Sigurdsson first found recognition as the producer of Bjork's seminal Vespertine and Medúlla albums (he's worked on every one of her albums since), as well as Bonnie Prince Billy's critically-lauded The Letting Go. His forthcoming debut solo release, Ekvílibríum, has attracted similar critical acclaim, with comments such as "this is wonderful stuff" (The Times, 4/5) and "the strength of Ekvílibríum is in the organic way Sigurdsson weds the electronic to the human... The result is a singular album, as ornate as it is direct." (The Fader).

Valgeir's European tour starts this summer and his appearance at Reykjavik Nights will be his only non-festival UK performance in the foreseeable future.

Also performing will be fellow Bedroom Community artist Sam Amidon, an American folk singer who recorded his latest album All Is Well at Valgeir's Greenhouse Studios in Iceland. The album features a myriad of contributions from the likes of Ben Frost and Nico Muhley, about which US music bible Rolling Stone recently wrote "In an era of overheated Nick Drake comparisons, Amidon is eerily close to the real thing, singing in a fragile but certain tenor against the deep breath and soft sweep of Nico Muhly's orchestrations." (Rolling Stone, February 2008).

The House of St Barnabas was founded in 1846 and attracts many visitors to its Georgian-era decor and stunning architecture. Located in the heart of Soho, it provides a perfect venue to host an intimate performance by one of Iceland's most important musicians.

FURTHER INFORMATION:

House of Barnabas
1 Greek Street
Soho Square
London
W1D 4NQ
Phone: +44 (0)20 7437 1894

Valgeir Sigurdsson
Press kit
Myspace
Hi-res press pic

Sam Amidon
Press kit
Myspace

Iceland Express
www.icelandexpress.is
Reykjavik Nights is kindly sponsored by Iceland Express through the provision of air travel for our performers. Without them our life would much more difficult and our trips back to Reykjavik far less frequent.

Visit Reykjavik
www.visitreykjavik.is
Reykjavik Nights is also sponsored by Reykjavik City, a center of lively culture and fun-filled nightlife, and host to the well-known music festival, Iceland Airwaves.

CONTACTS:
Press/PR
Ben - benjamin.h.murray@gmail.com

General
Kolla - twolittledogs@gmail.com

REYKJAVIK NIGHTS - NEW LONDON DATE AND LIVERPOOL 800th BIRTHDAY GIG

Following September's sell out Iceland Airwaves festival preview party in London, Reykjavik Nights is pleased to announce another date in the Capital (The Luminaire, Kilburn on Wednesday 28th November) and a new event in Liverpool (The Barfly on Thursday 29th November) featuring Iceland's most exciting electro groups and more free Reyka vodka than you can shake a barbecued puffin at.

London - Wednesday 28th November, The Luminaire, Kilburn
Reykjavik Nights sponsored by Reyka vodka.
The evening's headline band, Bloodgroup, are an established name on the Icelandic live music circuit, having been formed in 2005 by ringleader Raggi along with members of his family and their friends. Together they formed a band that's gained an enviable reputation for playing "powerful and funky rock-influenced electro-dance-pop" (The Reykjavik Grapevine) at summer festivals around the world and, to top off a perfect year for the band, they've recently recorded and released their debut album 'Sticky Situation' to the acclaim of the notoriously fickle Icelandic music press.

Sometime, the evening's first supporting band, are the Crosby, Still, Nash & Young of Icelandic dance music. Consisting of Danni (synths & electronic drums), Diva De La Rosa (vocals) DJ Dice (turntables & fx) and Oculus (audio manipulations), four famed veterans of the vibrant Icelandic music scene, they released their debut record in October following a miraculous rise to fame in 2007. Sometime sound a little like an updated version of Kraftwerk with gorgeous vocals lashed over the sort of beats that have kept many a bar in Reykjavik bursting until dawn and they are, quite simply, one of Iceland's newest and most exciting live dance acts.

Joining Bloodgroup and Sometime we're also delighted to welcome Reykjavik-based techno minimalist Sven Bit as the opening act.

FURTHER INFORMATION:

The Luminaire
311 High Road
Kilburn
London
NW6 7JR

Tickets
020 7372 7123

Liverpool Barfly
90 Seel Street
Liverpool
L1 4BH

Tickets
0870 9070999

Doors open at 7.30pm and tickets cost £7 in advance on both nights.

Reyka Vodka "the only flavoured vodka we make is vodka flavoured vodka"
www.reyka.com
As well as laying claim to the world's most northerly distillery, Reyka also produces one of the finest vodkas money can buy and everyone who attends the gig will receive a free sample.

Iceland Express
www.icelandexpress.is
Reykjavik Nights is kindly sponsored by Iceland Express through the provision of air travel for our performers. Without them our life would much more difficult and our trips back to Reykjavik far less frequent.

Iceland Music Export
www.icelandicmusic.is
IMX is a very helpful organisation that facilitates Icelandic bands playing outside of their home country and generally promotes the country's music in many other wonderful ways. We are very grateful for their support.

ICE07 www.ice07.org
Launching in Liverpool on 29th November until 2nd December, ICE 2007 promises four days when all things Icelandic will descend on the city, as part of Liverpool's year-long 800th birthday celebrations. A gift from the people of Iceland to mark the city's birthday, ICE07 is the UK's first multi-disciplinary festival of Icelandic culture, promising lots of fun for everyone.

THE BANDS:
Sometime
www.myspace.com/sometimegroup

Bloodgroup
www.myspace.com/bloodgroup

Sven Bit
www.myspace.com/svenbit

CONTACTS:
Press/PR
Ben - benjamin.h.murray@gmail.com

General
Kolla - twolittledogs@gmail.com

Added September 2nd, 2007:

REYKJAVIK NIGHTS - ICELAND AIRWAVES PREVIEW PARTY SPECIAL

As with all good debuts, a sequel is never far behind, and following the acclaimed sell-out event in June at The Luminaire we are pleased to announce the line-up for the second Reykjavik Nights on Wednesday 26th September.

With reviews such as "an awesome evening which definitely won a few converts" (musicOMH.com) and "massively entertaining performances, who can blame them for wanting to over indulge on a Sunday" (Reykjavik Grapevine) we had to think long and hard, with the help of a few glasses of icy vodka and our favourite Sugercubes album, about how to better the first Reykjavik Nights. But you know what, thank Thor, we think we've done it with the help of Iceland's current 1 indie pop songstress - Hafdis Huld - and the world famous Iceland Airwaves festival.

Over a round of schnapps with the nice people from the Iceland Airwaves festival, we decided to make the next Reykjavik Nights the official preview party for Iceland Airwaves 2007 (to be held on the 19 - 21 October in Reykjavik) All the musicians playing will be show-casing their festival sets weeks before anyone else in the world gets to see them and we have lots of free Reyka vodka to make this very exciting night go with even more than a bang than June's mini indoor firework display (courtesy of Trabant)

Headlining will be 27-year-old Hafdis Huld: she's been produced (in a musical sense) by the same genius-level knob twiddlers and writers as the Arctic Monkeys and Sneaker Pimps and she's also played with Icelandic dance legends GusGus, achieving a career high of being No.1 in Mexico in the process. Add this musical pedigree to the fact that she has a voice that's cuter than kittens and songs that stick in your head for longer than most New Years Eve celebrations, and it's not surprising that her debut UK album Dirty Paper Cup attracted reviews such as "deliciously skewed pop" (The Guardian), "an irresistible album" (The Fly) and "sublime - charismatic story telling pop of the highest quality" (Clash magazine) Naturally, her live performances are a melee of glitter, fairies and pink flying-V ukuleles.

Supporting will be the multi Iceland Music Award-nominated Jan Mayen, a four piece guitar band who drift so closely over the twin fences of rock and pop that they might just catch their trousers whilst trying to get a leg over, and Motion Boys, Reykjavik's newest cult electro outfit who've blown critics and audiences away with their debut single despite having just two boys in the band - Biggi and Arni +1. Their live set up involves a who's who of Icelandic music with members of Trabant and Minus helping to recreate the Motion Boys' magnificent studio sound.

As well as three exciting new Icelandic bands and musicians, Reykjavik Nights is also pleased to announce that Reyka Vodka and Icelandair will be sponsoring the event. Reyka is Iceland's vodka of choice and, seeing as they're a generous bunch who want to spread their love of the finest pure spirits far and wide, they're offering a free sample of their wares to every person who turns up. Hafdis Huld is also partial to the odd vodka herself and she's teamed up with Reyka to make a series of very amusing online video clips featuring naughty puffins and everything you ever wanted know about vodka from Iceland, watch them on www.reyka.com. Sadly, we can't quite offer a free flight to Iceland to everybody as well but, thanks to Icelandair, we will be offering everyone a chance to win flights to our spiritual home, Reykjavik, and tickets to Iceland Airwaves festival - we think that's a pretty amazing prize.

FURTHER INFORMATION:
Hafdis Huld
www.myspace.com/hafdishuld
www.hafdishuld.com
Hafdis splits her time between England and her home country of Iceland, where she is a highly regarded musician and actress. She recently recorded a series of video clips for Reyka Vodka, which can be viewed on www.reyka.com.

Jan Mayen
www.myspace.com/janmayen

Motion Boys
www.myspace.com/motionboys

Reyka Vodka - "the only flavoured vodka we make is vodka flavoured vodka"
www.reyka.com
As well as laying claim to the world's most northerly distillery, Reyka also produces one of the finest vodkas money can buy and everyone who attends the gig will receive a free sample.

Icelandair
www.icelandair.co.uk
The British Navy turned down our request to send a submarine to pick up Hafdis Huld, Jan Mayen and the Motion Boys but those kind people at Icelandair have offered the next best thing - their very own plane to make sure they get to London on time. Icelandair are the best way to get to Reykjavik and back and they're a major sponsor of the Iceland Airwaves festival, without them trips to our favourite country would be duller and a lot more difficult!

CONTACTS:
General
Kolla - twolittledogs@gmail.com
Press/PR
Ben - benjamin.h.murray@gmail.com

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