There's nothing pretty about Girl Band. In fact, the Dublin-based four-piece play some of the most abrasive pop songs you're likely to hear. But it hadn't always been that way. Singer Dara Kiely and guitarist Alan Duggan had played together in more conventionally "indie" type bands before hitting u…
It's mind-boggling how a place so small can create so much terrific music. This year, as I was compiling my list of top Icelandic releases, I couldn't help but wonder if I'd find as many great albums as last year and the year before. Would I find ten? Twenty? Actually, as it turns out, a lot more! …
My favorite song of the year is “Color Decay” by Icelandic singer-songwriter Júníus Meyvant. I wasn’t blown away by the song the first time I heard it, but it’s not that type of song. It’s deceptively subtle, with a quality that pulled me in, haunted me, and made me want to listen to it again, and …
In Icelandic their name means "seasons", but the warm, acoustic chamberpop songs of Árstíðir are particularly comforting on these cold days of winter. Recently, the group has been busy recording and crowd funding their third LP, Hvel (due February 2015), but they took time to share a handful of gor…
Sóley is the cutest creeper out there. The Icelandic singer-songwriter is so disarmingly charming, and her voice so exquisite, that even her songs about killer clowns, murderers and weird, one-eyed ladies are quite soothing. She's also an expert looper and a snappy dresser. In other words, there's …
The guys from ADHD keep busy with a multitude of projects, but that's not to say they distract easily. In fact, since forming on a whim in 2008, this award-winning Icelandic super-group of sorts has produced five albums of expressive avant jazz. But still, bringing brothers Óskar and Ómar Guðjónsso…
It's shoegaze, not navelgaze. Oyama may have a strong My Bloody Valentine-streak, but the Icelandic five-piece have followed up their initial EP with an invigorated their sound on their debut LP, Coolboy, whose woozy, pitch-bending melodies range between airy dream pop and fuzzy psychedelia. We rec…
Northern soul? How about arctic soul? That's yet to be a thing, but if young Icelandic singer-songwriter Júníus Meyvant has anything to do with it, you'll be hearing a lot more similarly soul-stirring melodies from way up north. Júníus Meyvant -- real name Unnar Gísli Sigurmundsson -- has yet to re…
We are HAM! If you aren't yet, that's okay. HAM is legend. It took years of inactivity to become the rock icons they are today. Following the Icelandic doom metal band's prolific years, from 1988 to 1994, their legion of fans grew, until finally their members stepped aside from their other careers …
In 2018, KEXP celebrated the 30th anniversary of local record label Sub Pop with a four-month retrospective, "counting up" every catalog number in their vast discography of over 1,200 releases. Dig into the archives of our catalog coverage, featuring in-depth coverage on the history of their releases.
