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Sigur Ros covering "The Rains of Castamere" in new season of 'Game of Thrones' (which premieres Sunday, maybe you heard)

by Bill Pearis

Sigur Ros & GoT author George RR Martin: “Shouldn’t you be writing ‘Winds of Winter’?”
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HBO’s massive hit fantasy series Game of Thrones returns for it’s fourth season this Sunday (4/6), where the the various factions of Westeros are still recovering from events at the end of Season 3. The show has cast a few musicians in seasons past (members of Coldplay and Snow Patrol) and, as mentioned, Sigur Ros will appear in this season at some point. (The show films in the band’s native Iceland for its “north of The Wall” scenes.) HBO just announced that Sigur Ros will also contribute to this season’s soundtrack, covering “Rains of Castemere” which The National originally performed in the second season.

Folk songs figure into the A World of Ice and Fire novels (on which Game of Thrones is based) but “Rains” and “The Bear and the Maiden Fair” (done by The Hold Steady last year) are pretty much the only ones that recur over and over. Above is a picture of the band hanging with George R.R. Martin at the Game of Thrones S4 premiere. If you want to know more about those two songs and the meaning they play in the series (and are up to date on episodes) The National Post has a pretty good infographic on them. The series hasn’t tackled “The Queen Took Off Her Sandal, the King Took Off His Crown” yet, so we have that to look forward to.

While on the subject of Game of Thrones and modern pop, the folks at Rdio have put together playlists based on the main characters on the show Joeffrey, Danerys, Jon Snow, Tyrion, Arya and Hodor. They’re kind of obvious if you know the show but thought you might like to know. There’s also the “Catch The Throne” mixtape. Can you catch a throne? You’d be crushed!

The Season 4 premiere of Game of Thrones airs Sunday at 9 PM EST on HBO.