Mugison tours with QOTSA, Mugiboogie gets U.S. date

This summer, Canadians will see faces melt almost as swiftly as the last vestiges of winter ice when award-winning, genre-defying Icelandic musician Mugison crisscrosses the country on a tour with American gut-rumbling rockers/burgeoning foodies Queens of the Stone Age.

In between curating Aldrei fór ég su∂ur, an annual festival held on Iceland's remote West Fjords, and starting a family, the self-taught multi-instrumentalist known as Mugison somehow found the time to record his third LP, the wildly eclectic Mugiboogie.

“There was to be no time reference, no time frame,” Mugison says in a statement about the album. “The lyrics had to be straight to the point and all the songs played with eyes closed and always in a state of emergency. I had to ensure that all pretentiousness was deleted from the songs. All nearly’s, all maybe´s. Every song had to sound like it was the last song I’d play if the world was going down.”

The album was released last year—but only in Iceland, where his countrymen liked it so much that it was voted record of the year in the 2007 Icelandic Music Awards.

Although North Americans have somehow had to make do without owning the bluesy, blistering "Jesus Is A Good Name To Moan," one of the standout tracks on Mugiboogie, that all changes on July 15, when Ipecac Recordings (Mike Patton's label) brings the album stateside.

In the meantime, catch Mugison during his Maymester abroad or at a summer festival back on "the continent," as the continentals say, and check out this video of Mugison (and band) performing the grooving title track from Mugiboogie in front of the teeming throng at this year's Aldrei festival:

Mugison w/QOTSA:

April
30 - Vancouver, BC @ PNE Forum

May
1 - Victoria, BC @ Save on Foods Memorial Centre
3 - Calgary, Alb. @ Calgary Stampede Corral
4 - Edmonton, Alb. @ Northlands Agricom Arena
5 - Saskatoon, Sas. @ Odeon Events Centre
6 - Regina, Sas. @ Conexus Centre of the Arts
7 - Winnipeg @ Burton Cummings Theatre
10 - Hamilton, Ont. @ Copps Coliseum
11 - Ottawa, Ont. @ Ottawa Civic Center
13 - Halifax, N.S. @ Cunard Events Centre

Mugison all on his lonesome:

May
23 - Århus, Denmark @ Voxhall
24 - Copenhagen, Den. @ Vega
26 - Paris, Fra. @ Fleche Dor
29 - Düdingen, Switzerland @ Kilbi Festival

June
22 - Terschelling, Neth. @ Oerol Festival
28 - Rijeka, Croatia @ Priredba Festival
29 - Mechelen, Belgium @ Dijlefeesten Deflux

July
20 - Wroclaw, Poland @ ENH Festival

Related links:
Mugison.com
Mugison on MySpace
Feature: Mugison—A Song For the Guilty Hero

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