AMÍNA
They are a string quartet but they supplement their violins with electronics, xylophones and musical boxes to produce an ethereal sound of great complexity and charm. Their performances bring to mind the Javanese tradition of the Gamelan as well as more modern associations with serial music and electronic pop: A hard-to-define but highly accomplished mix. These four young women began playing together as a classical quartet in 1998 but since 2000 they have played and toured mostly with Sigur Rós. They are now, however, striking out on their own.
www.aminamusik.com

APPARAT ORGAN QUARTET
With four organs and a drummer, Apparat was originally assembled in 1999 for a single performance. Despite the unconventional line-up, the band kept playing and released an album in 2002. They have played concerts around the world and though the band’s members all work with other groups or pursue successful solo careers, Apparat continues to perform and record. Their music has been described as “machine rock and roll”.
www.johannjohannsson.com

BARÐI JÓHANNSSON
With musical prodigy, arranger, producer, programmer and songwriter Barði Jóhannsson, nothing is left to chance, yet in the world he portrays everything is chaos. Bang Gang is his chosen vehicle for projecting his dark musical fantasies, where phantoms and ghosts sing in whispers, surrounded by celestially beautiful melodies. The group has been critically acclaimed both in Iceland and abroad. Barði Jóhannsson is a multi-talented musician and artist and has received awards for his work.
www.banggang.net

BJÖRK
Björk has been releasing albums since the age of eleven. In the 1980s she sang with K.U.K.L., a band that teamed up members of various bands that had defined the New Wave which transformed Icelandic music in the early years of the decade. Later she toured the world with The Sugarcubes, the first Icleandic band to win a wide international audience, before starting out on her solo career with the album Debut in 1993. Now, after several acclaimed records, innumerable awards and high-profile tours, she is the uncontested Diva of independent music.
www.bjork.com

EGILL SÆBJÖRNSSON
Egill Sæbjörnsson comes off as the ringmaster of a hastily improvised circus where he is also the star performer, infinitely versatile and inventive, technologically savvy and as much at home on the pop music scene as in the art world. From the start of his career – just a few years ago – he has handled different media and expressive idioms with remarkable facility.
www.eaglestuff.net

EINAR ÖRN BENEDIKTSSON
Einar Örn first came on stage with the legendary group Purrkur Pillnikk in 1982 and became one of the most prominent figures of the Icelandic New Wave. He teamed up with Björk and other friends to form K.U.K.L. – described by a critic as “one of the most passionate, intense bands in Iceland’s esteemed history” – and later The Sugarcubes. Einar Örn has also worked extensively as an organizer through Bad Taste, a company he founded with friends from The Sugarcubes in 1986 to promote alternative music, literature and art in Iceland and worldwide. Einar Örn now performs as Ghostigital with close collaborator Curver who has also worked extensively with Minus and is a prolific artists in his own right.
www.ghostigital.com

EIVÖR PÁLSDÓTTIR
Only a day’s sailing from the southern coast of Iceland, the Faroe Islanders share cultural roots with the Icelanders, including their closely related language. Classically trained in Iceland, Eivör is the first pop Diva of this small island group. Drawing on her vocal mastery and the musical heritage of her homeland, Eivör has released three solo albums, the last one recorded with the Danish Radio Big Band.
www.eivor.com

ERPUR EYVINDARSON
From irreverent TV-host to rap guru, Erpur Eyvindarson takes to each of his many roles with gusto, spreading the gospel of Icelandic rap beyond the concert stage. With his band XXX Rottweilerhundar he was instrumental in promoting the style around Iceland and showing that rap lyrics could be written in Icelandic and made to address issues relevant to Icelandic youth and society.
www.haestahendin.com

FINNBOGI PÉTURSSON
A visual artists whose works incorporate sound in various ways, Finnbogi Pétursson is one of the leading figures on the Icelandic art scene and his works are exhibited around the world. In his art, sound becomes a physical presence, often almost a tactile element, and his close study of sound textures, frequencies and harmonics make for unexpectedly engaging art. Finnbogi Pétursson represented Iceland at the Venice Biennale of Art in 2001.
www.finnbogi.com

HILMAR ÖRN HILMARSSON
Somewhat of a legend on the Icelandic music scene, Hilmar Örn has worked in many capacities, as composer, performer and producer. He was a presence in the band Þeyr which was one of the most influential groups of the early 1980s and later played with various groups in Icleand and abroad, including Psychick TV. He has also written music for a number of motion pictures. Hilmar Örn has worked extensively with ancient Icelandic music and poetry in collaboration with such artists as the traditional singer Steindór Andersen and Sigur Rós. Hilmar Örn is also the head-pagan of the old pagan religion in Iceland, worshipping the old gods Odin, Thor and Freyja.
www.asatru.is

JÓHANN JÓHANNSSON
Jóhann Jóhannsson has worked with among others Marc Almond, The Hafler Trio, Barry Adamson, Pan Sonic and Mum. He has also released three critically acclaimed solo albums, Englabörn, Virðulegu forsetar and Dís, his soundtrack to an eponymous Icelandic film. He is a leading member of the remarkable Apparat Organ Quartet and his many projects as composer and performer take him around the world. In late 2005 he recorded IBM 1401 – A User’s Manual, a composition for 60 piece string orchestra, at the legendary Smecky studios in Prague.
www.johannjohannsson.com

MÍNUS
With lead singer Krummi and their unique blend of hardcore, electronics and driving rock, Mínus have revived the spirit of rock and roll in Iceland. Their irresistible energy and brutal thundering rhythms draw crowds wherever they play and they have inspired a generation of new bands that reject the insipid pop music of their time in favor of sweaty on-stage workouts and out-of-control guitars.
www.minusonline.com

MUGISON
A former sailor from Ísafjörður in Iceland’s remote Western Fjörds – the name means “Fjord of Ice” – Mugison had a huge hit with his debut album Lonely Mountain in 2003. His live performances are even more exhilarating, mixing vocals and crashing guitars with sampled noise and looping chord changes. His latest solo album, Mugimama – is this monkey music, has confirmed his position as one of the most inspiring solo artists on the Icelandic scene.
www.mugison.com

MÚM
Since forming in 1998, Múm have forged a gorgeously warm, rich and melodic take on electronica, imprinting it with their own unique sound and character. What sets the band apart from so many of their peers is their strong vocals and warm, bold integration of analogue and digital technologies. Playing an assortment of instruments alongside some crisply programmed electronic washes, beats and bleeps, the band’s musical talent is immediately audible. Following a number of earlier collaborative projects, the group’s celebrated debut album Yesterday Was Dramatic, Today Is OK garnered a wealth of glowing press and widespread praise, as did their following releases. Since that debut Múm have also written and performed their own soundtrack for the classic Sergei Eisenstein film Battleship Potemkin.
www.randomsummer.com

NILFISK
The band was formed in 2003 in a small village on the southern coast of Iceland. That same year a coincidental meeting led to them fronting the Foo Fighters at a massive concert in Reykjavik. These events are now passing into legend as the band continues to prove itself worthy of praise and has now, in 2005, released its first album.
http://nilfisk.valnir.com

ODIN’S RAVEN MAGIC
Odin’s Raven Magic by Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, Sigur Rós, Steindór Andersen and María Huld was performed at the Barbican Centre in London in 2001, at the Reykjavík Arts Festival 2002, and to full houses at Grande Halle De La Villette in Paris in 2004. In addition to the above, the piece features a full choir and a large string orchestra, as well as the unique stone harp, played by its builder Páll frá Húsafelli. Odin’s Raven Magic is an old Icelandic poem in the ancient Edda tradition. The poem recounts a great banquet held by the gods in Valhalla. While they are absorbed in their feasting, ominous signs appear that could foretell the end of the worlds of the gods and men.
www.listahatid.is

QUARASHI
The group’s music is an eclectic blend of rap, punk, and hard rock that displays a wide array of influences. “Our goal is to mix hip-hop and industrial, but always with a live feel,” said drummer and producer Sölvi. “To make people think this is a live band, though most of it is programmed and sequenced.” Quarashi was originally formed in 1996. Their debut album was recorded in October of 1997 and that same year Quarashi opened for both the Fugees and the Prodigy and Sölvi was then tapped to remix the Prodigy’s song “Diesel Power”. Their beats range from straight-up hip-hop to murky industrial, sometimes provided by a drum machine, other times by a live drummer. Turntable scratches give way to fat bass lines and screeching guitars. Background vocals blend with the flows of two or three rappers at a time. Horns, voices, and piano rolls are sampled and distorted.
www.quarashi.net

SIGUR RÓS
For twelve years, this remarkable band has been playing its wildly original and totally entrancing music to an ever-growing audience. Their latest album, Takk, has taken their reputation to new heights and they have toured extensively, playing to large crowds around the world. Their songs are almost symphonic in structure, atmospheric, effects-laden and essentially unique, haunting melodies driven by insistent rhythms, often building to an indescribable crescendo with lead-singer Jónsi’s high voice and bowed guitar driving fans into ecstacy. Sigur Rós collaborated with Radiohead to write music for the modern dance piece Split Sides by Merce Cunningham.
www.sigur-ros.co.uk

SINGAPORE SLING
Singapore Sling formed in the spring of 2000 and garnered critical plaudits and attention for their appearances at the 2001 and 2002 Iceland Airwaves Festivals. The band has released two albums, Life is Killing my Rock and Roll and The Curse of Singapore Sling. Despite some extensive changes in line-up the band continues to play concerts and record, led by Henrik Björnsson.
www.stinkyrecords.com/stinky_artists

SJÓN
Poet and novelist Sjón collaborated with K.U.K.L. already in the 1980s and later with The Sugarcubes where he gueststarred at their shows as Johnny Triumph performing Luftguitar. He has also worked closely with Björk since early on in her solo career, writing lyrics for some of her biggest hits and collaborating with her and director Lars von Trier on the award-winning film Dancer in the Dark. Sjón is the author of several books in Icelandic, some of which have been translated. In 2005, Sjón was awarded the prestigious Nordic Prize for Literature.
www.bjartur.is

SLOWBLOW
Orri Jónsson and Dagur Kári Pétursson have been active for almost a decade as the duet Slowblow. They have made their mark on the Icelandic underground scene with a certain kind of friendly dust-music. They exhibit a uniquely Icelandic aesthetic of home-made, lo-fi analog tinkerings, which both musically and lyrically blend together the everyday and the fantastic. They have released three albums and provided the music for Dagur Kári’s acclaimed films Noi the Albino and Dark Horse – film directing being his other, highly successful career.

STEINDÓR ANDERSEN
Iceland’s ancient musical tradition revolves around the poetical tradition known as rímur, highly structured poems of up to hundreds of verses dealing with mythological and historical subjects. Today, Steindór Andersen is the best-known performer of this old poetry, sung to melodies that have been handed down orally through the centuries and only recently written down or recorded, often involving scales and tonal intervals no longer found in established Western music. Steindór Andersen’s collaborative efforts with such musicians as Sigur Rós, Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson and rapper Erpur Eyvindarson have renewed interest in the musical tradition and brought his chants to new audiences, not just in Iceland but all over the world.
www.rimur.is

THE SUGARCUBES
In the late 1980s The Sugarcubes, a six-person band from Iceland blazed a new-wave trail through the world. The Sugarcubes formed 1986 and in 1988 they released a funky, off-kilter, alternative album titled Life’s Too Good. The line-up included Björk and Einar Örn singing, Þór Eldon on guitar, Bragi Ólafsson on bass, Sigtryggur Baldursson on drums and Margrét Örnólfsdóttir on keyboards. The Sugarcubes eventually disbanded in 1992.
www.smekkleysa.is

TRABANT
The first band to play electronic music at the Icelandic Presidential Residence, Trabant have a history of breaking down boundaries and providing noisy but entrancing anarchy for all audiences. Fronted by singer and visual artist Ragnar Kjartanson, the band has played festivals and concert halls in many countries and their album Emotional has been released to enthusiastic reviews.
www.trabant.is

VINYL
Vinyl brings together five childhood friends from the outskirts of Reykjavik who know exactly where they are going in their music. They are bursting with attitude and there is a sense of underlying danger in their music. Vinyl is led by the vocalist Kiddi backed up by his twin brother Gulli on drums, Egill the melody maker on guitar, bouncing Addi on bass and professor Halli on keyboards.
www.vinyl.is