Hús datt is a collection of 21 deliciously short collaborations between perverted drunkard/master wordsmith Megas and oddball country duet Súkkat, and the result walks a fine line between prolific brilliance and being as thick as the proverbial post. Megas sings and plays…

It should come as no surprise that middle-aged pop celebrity Björgvin Halldórsson’s dabbling in country, rock and blues have aged far better than his cheesy, contrived power ballads. The explicit agony of sitting through songs like Sóley, Skýið and Sendu nú vagninn…

Swedish-Icelandic reggae group Hjálmar’s self-titled sophomore release is its predecessor’s superior in every way. The songs have lost their careless let’s-all-get-high atmosphere and wound down to a steady, professional pace that bypasses all preconceptions of what a reggae album can be while…

Many a creative masterwork has been salvaged from the shards of a broken heart, and although Kona is by no means a work of genius, it certainly stands out as Bubbi’s best work. A musical manifestation of desperate bitterness thinly veiled behind…

It’s undeniable: Blues-rock revivalism has a very captivating energy when done by the right people at the right time, and Bubbi Morthens was undeniably that. A bitter, opinionated youth and visionary musician in a stagnant, short-sighted society whose creativity was grinding to…

An album seemingly intended for the music collections of those who can’t be bothered to have a musical taste, Yfir Esjuna looks as perfect on the shelf of your local Hagkaup as it does on the Ikea-purchased coffee table next to your…

Lengi Lifi Lýðveldið is a collection of pointed and remarkably accurate political and social satire hollered off-key over the lamest, blandest and most rushed post-punk ever distributed. These guys bring a whole new meaning to the words cringe worthy. They put nails…

The house songwriter Ingibjörg Þorbergs was born in eventually housed poet Kristján Hreinsson, and here they have collaborated on an album whose mere creative process seems to guarantee it instant success among the knitwear-clad “cute” generation of Icelandic musicians and artists Reykjavík…

Úlpa’s sophomore effort is a bittersweet listen, flowing surprisingly smoothly from the tortured screams of opener Sexy Dick to the shy mumblings of the title track. It’s also a surprisingly visionary album, not because of any bold sonic experimentation, but rather for…

The picture on the Stranger cover shows an amiable man looking down modestly. The tracks on this album are also amiable and modest. Singer Hjörvar Hjörleifsson has a relaxed delivery, sometimes delivering higher notes like an early David Bowie. The compositions are…

A Danish and Icelandic band, Delicia Mini present extremely catchy pop rock, in the better sense of the term. You want to sing along to the choruses, even if they don’t mean that much: “Don’t go back to pieces,/ but do go…

Benni Hemm Hemm plays chords on an acoustic guitar, and has an enormous brass band, a Led Zeppelin-inspired drummer, and a solid bassist essentially echoing him. The result, as Benni repeats a chord structure and the music layers, is an energetic feel-good…

One warning: Strákarnir Okkar, the film, is set in the 1980s. If you have any nostalgia at all for the 80s hard rock scene, you will love the opening tracks in this collaboration between Mínus and Bang Gang’s Barði Jóhannsson. Even the…

The album says it will be album of the year, and the production, a blend of bedroom studio technique with Pet Sounds ambition, feels audacious enough to deserve the title. The 20 tracks on this album take time to digest. Many times…

What do you like in your ambient electronica? Perhaps evocative basslines and drums with presence (similar standards, of course, as you might have for rock or pop or reggae.) Worm is Green have the groove down, and they set up the vocals…

Is it irony to name an album that follows a music craze that dominates the music charts and uses a disco beat Death Before Disco? Like Franz Ferdinand, Jeff Who? write about relationship difficulties, though they’re a little less cutting in putting…