More Icelandic Music I Like

By now everyone knows that Iceland punches above its weight in music creation. They put out so much good music in so many genres, I will probably never run out of Icelandic music to write about. So here is more Icelandic music I like.

BistroBoy

Electronic albums are rare in these MIL posts, but evolve by Iceland’s BistroBoy is mellow enough to fade into the background when I’m working. But it’s dynamic enough to maintain my interest when I’m actively listening. And while most Icelandic music evokes wide open natural spaces and cold temperatures, evolve makes me feel like I’m driving an expensive car through an Asian city late at night in the summertime.

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Laura Secord

When I first read about Laura Secord, the name of the band and the album made me expect a quiet singer-songwriter album of soft sopranos and desolate landscapes. Maybe some acoustic guitar. But Laura Secord is actually an indie rock quartet, and Ending Friendships is a brassy, garage rock album more in the vein of Sudden Weather Change and Kimono. How I have missed those sounds.

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Kuldaboli

Electronic dance music is outside my wheelhouse. But Kuldaboli‘s dark Icelandic brew on Geðveiki og brjálæði (which I’m told means Insanity and Madness) had me like

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Carpe Noctem

Hraekyndill by Carpe Noctem should have been in my Icelandic singles post. But it is a 23 minute long song, so I guess it counts as an album, too. Anyway, I loved them when I saw them at Eistnaflug in 2014, and it’s weird that I haven’t written about them here before.

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Hrím

The Reykjavik Grapevine claims Hrím as Icelandic, even though their Bandcamp page says they are based in London. Bandcamp only has one song, too, when I know there’s a self-titled album out there somewhere on the internet. Wherever you find them, you’ll find semi-spooky, ethereal folk well worth listening to.

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Tomas Welding

Another Grapevine find that doesn’t do Bandcamp or seem to have a webpage, Tomas Welding has a handful of songs scattered around the internet. What I’ve heard so far scratches my alt-country itch with achy, scratchy blues vocals balanced by big-ass choruses in the style of The Head and the Heart or Of Monsters and Men.