Between touring the world, working on a number of film soundtracks and releasing new album Living Room Songs, Iceland's Olafur Arnalds (not to be confused with the country's equally brilliant but decidedly female singer Ólöf Arnalds) has had a busy year - which is why he'll be looking forward to some downtime in the coming weeks as Christmas approaches. We asked the Icelandic pianist to share with us what will be soundtracking his festive period. Here's his playlist of winter wonders - so grab a mince pie, a mug of eggnog and enjoy...
Ryuichi Sakamoto - 1919
"There are many different versions of this song and they are all amazing, but my favorite must be the insanely dramatic orchestral version. Sakamoto shows his genius in this song by using the high dramatic peak of the song also as a low-point. Very techno-breakdown-ish."
Talk Talk - New Grass
"Such a strange and amazing turn for that band to take. It really took guts to put that record out (and blood and tears apparently)."
Nils Frahm - Snippet
"The best piano record I know. Every piece on there is amazing. It's also just so much more than a piano record, due to it's production."
Shearwater - Landscape at Speed
"Another track that kind of just goes on forever without you ever getting bored of that same thing that keeps repeating. Or that drumbeat... man.. that drummer..."
Hauschka - Freibad
"Crazy prepared piano combined with a beautiful melody. I love when artists manage to use something weird to create something beautiful."
Talking Heads - This Must be the Place (Naive Melody)
"Simply one of the best pop songs ever written."
David Darling - Darkwood IV, Dawn
"Layers upon layers of cellos, all performed by one guy. Beautiful."
Junior Boys - Parallel Lines
"Soulful and emotional voice and very groovy beat. My favorite Junior Boys song... been obsessed with this lately."
Max Richter - Infra 8
"You kind of have to watch this in it's right context, at the end of the performance of Infra by Wayne McGregor and the Royal Ballet. Such an amazing ending. That violin solo kills me."
And here's one of Arnalds's songs, taken from his recent Living Room Songs album.
Head to Olafurarnalds.com for more.
1:55 PM | 15/12/2011
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