Where to start with Icelandic Music

Icelandic Music is a music scene from Reykjavík, Iceland, 1980–present. Its principal artists include Björk, Sigur Rós, The Sugarcubes and Múm. This issue covers 10 essential albums and 17 dated events.

Start here

1
Life's Too Good
The Sugarcubes · 1988
Original release: One Little Indian Records · tplp 5 · 12″ Vinyl · UK 1988
Iceland's first internationally successful rock album, proof a joke fundraising band could compete with London or New York.
2
Debut
Björk · 1993
Original release: One Little Indian Records · TPLP 31 CD · CD · UK 1993
One of the first albums to smuggle electronic music into mainstream pop, launching Björk's solo career on her own terms.
3
Ágætis byrjun
Sigur Rós · 1999
Original release: Smekkleysa · SM 79 CD · CD · Iceland 1999
Sigur Rós's breakthrough with no hit single, spreading by word of mouth and setting the band's signature sound.

Go deeper

4
Post
Björk · 1995
Original release: One Little Indian Records · TPLP51CD · CD · UK 1995
Post, released in 1995, is often called the quintessential Björk record precisely because it refuses to settle: collaborations with Tricky and Nellee Hooper and a run of trip-hop producers push…
5
Homogenic
Björk · 1997
Original release: Polydor · POCP-7245 · CD · Japan 1997
Released in 1997, Homogenic fused electronic beats with orchestral strings in a way that seemed to translate Iceland's volcanic terrain directly into sound, nowhere more clearly than on 'Jóga.' Working…
6
Takk...
Sigur Rós · 2005
Original release: EMI · TOCP-66393 · CD · Japan 2005
More rock-oriented than the records before it, Takk...
7
My Head Is an Animal
Of Monsters and Men · 2011
Original release: Record Records · 419454 · Digital Media · Iceland 2011
Released in 2011, My Head Is an Animal became Iceland's biggest commercial success since Björk and Sigur Rós, with the single 'Little Talks' climbing high on charts worldwide and confirming…

For the obsessed

8
Vespertine
Björk · 2001
Original release: Polydor · UICP-9001 · CD · Japan 2001
Released in 2001, Vespertine built its microbeats out of household sounds — shuffling cards, cracking ice — layered against chamber orchestration and vocals recorded close and intimate, harp plucked near…
9
( )
Sigur Rós · 2002
Released in 2002 with every track untitled and sung entirely in Vonlenska (Hopelandic), and blank pages left in the booklet for listeners to fill in their own meanings, ( )…
10
Finally We Are No One
Múm · 2002
Original release: FatCat Records · FATCD18 · CD · UK 2002
Released in 2002, Finally We Are No One built meticulous glitch-pop out of music boxes, toy instruments, and classical strings, setting a template for electronic music that feels handmade rather than programmed.

The stories behind every record are in Icelandic Music, a members' issue.