Iceland « Knox Road

Vök

These folks may be popular, but it’s the first I’m hearing of them, and damn am I smitten. Margret Ran Magnusdóttir, an openly gay singer, fronts the Icelandic Vök trio, and I only mention that because she’s made a point of sharing how her story, from an Icelandic perspective, has influenced her music. Regardless of what’s influenced her […]

Abby

Radical Face @ Kesselhaus in der Kulturbrauerei, Berlin

Ed Note: Abby’s Back!

At the only German gig in his 5 stop European mini-tour, Knox Road favorite Radical Face (Ben Cooper) was in typical form. Armed with his Jacksonville, Florida-based band, he delivered, per usual, a tome of stories plucked from a variety of his records released since 2007. It seemed to […]

Adam

Interview with Of Monsters and Men

If you haven’t heard of them yet, you will soon enough. On Wednesday, Of Monsters and Men graced the home page of Pitchfork and Spotify with a massive banner advertisement for their debut album, My Head Is An Animal. Animal hit as high as number two on the top-selling iTunes albums of the day, right behind the “queen of hip-hop” herself, Nicki Minaj.

So how the heck did a 6-piece band from Iceland get famous in America before even releasing a full-length album?

Even the band’s lead singer, Ragnar “Raggi” Þórhallsson, isn’t entirely sure.

Continue reading Interview with Of Monsters and Men →

Lee

Rökkurró

Rökkurró is an Icelandic (how’d you guess??) quintet that sounds exactly like what you’d expect from the band name and the album art above. Which is a good thing. Their music is charming, graceful, and exquisite. The compositions buoy themselves to soaring levels, with the prettiest female vocals that side of the Atlantic […]

Jon

Ólafur Arnalds to release new album this June

This week in Icelandic neo-classical news, Ólafur Arnalds will be releasing his sophomore album, …and they have escaped the weight of darkness, in the states June 8. There aren’t any MP3s available yet, but yay! I love Mr. Arnalds. He has an exciting way of infusing relatively simple compositions with all the emotion to…power…a…car. […]

Lee

Lay Low’s ‘Farewell Good Night’s Sleep’ to finally make U.S. debut

The Icelandic treasure that is Lay Low (singer/songwriter Lovisa Elisabet Sigrunardottir) will be releasing her 2008 album, Farewell Good Night’s Sleep in the States March 9, 2010. “Why has it taken so long”, you ask? With all my awesomely extensive music knowledge up at the plate, I can answer with a big, hearty, […]

Jon

Jónsi is going to release the best solo album ever ever ever ever

So it’s not particularly new news that Jónsi (aka that guy with the high voice from Sigur Ros) will be releasing his first solo album, called Go, on March 22, 2010. What is new is the fact that when you hear it you’ll double over crying and your tears will be sticks of […]

Jon

Ólafur Arnalds creates some lovely, if unmoving, tunes on Found Songs

It makes sense that Ólafur Arnalds‘ newest, Found Songs, doesn’t pack quite the same punch as Eulogy for Evolution does. In April, Arnalds composed and recorded a song daily for seven days, releasing each one to the web immediately. As a result, we have ourselves some Ólafur lite — while this isn’t the […]