Yes, rejoice fans of music from the isolated island nation. Icelandic national radio have selected their 100 best Icelandic records, and the results are in.
We'll be honest and admit we're struggling with the translation on the official page about how the list was compiled, whether it was voted for and all those other details. Still, we can just about make sense of the list they published. Hurrah.
The top EVER Icelandic record is...Ágætis byrjun by Sigur Rós. Disappointingly, Björk's highest entry is at number 6, and that's with Debut, not Vespertine, which doesn't even make it into the Top 50.
Elsewhere on the list, there's a dashing of Emiliana Torrini who has albums placed at 11 and 13, and fleeting glimpses of both Mugison at 19 with Mugimama Is This Monkey Music? and Hjaltalin for Sleep Drunk Sessions.
You can view the full list here. Be warned though, none of it is in English, so navigating your way around the page may prove a little tricky.
There's also a media player through which you can, supposedly, listen to the albums though if you can get it to work in spite of the language barrier you are a better person than I. I think you just need to click the name of the album and then, hey! it works. Try it.
For those of you who simply cannot be arsed to click onto that link, this is what the top 10 looks like.
1.Ágætis byrjun - Sigur Rós
2.Lifun - Trúbrot
3.Á bleikum náttkjólum - Megas & Spilverk þjóðanna
4.Hinn íslenzki Þursaflokkur - Þursaflokkurinn
5.HlustaSumar á Sýrlandi - Stuðmenn
6.Debut - Björk
7.Gling-Gló - Björk Guðmundsdóttir & Tríó Guðmundar Ingólfssonar
8.Ísbjarnarblús - Bubbi Morthens
9.Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust - Sigur Rós
10.Sturla - Spilverk þjóðanna
Is Ágætis byrjun really the best Icelandic record ever? Is Debut really Björk's best? Has anyone anywhere heard of Bubbi Morthens?
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yes
i've sort of imagined agaetis byrjun as their national treasure, besides, err, umm, all that cool volcanic activity...
I've heard of bubbi morthens...
ace he is.
Life's Too Good by The Sugarcubes?
Surely should be in that top 10....?
Surely the Sugarcubes should be in the top 10 somewhere!?
shouldn't they? Poor Einar...
I was thinking of offering a translation
But there's not really much to translate! Basically, it was for Independence Day, as far as I can see you need to be signed in to stream full songs. Not a problem though! Because there is an English-language way around this, by visiting http://www.icelandicmusic.com/ you should be able to sign up for the free trial and you'll have a Username and Password.
No. 25 - Loftmynd by Megas is a real treat, revered by Icelandic speakers for his astounding use of the language and confusing non-speakers (and even some natives) at the same time.
Oh and Bubbi Morthens was big in the 80s when he was part of the "pönk"" or "punk" scene. Now he's just a money grabbing whingemeister. Still has some decent old songs mind you.
Bubbi...
And his most popular song "Fjöllin hafa vakað" (The Mountains have woken): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwiJ_Qf6G8E
Chose this clip because that guy with the white hair in the crowd near the start is the President of Iceland.
Sweet, lot's of investigating to do!
Cheers for the heads up!
*lots
you wally
I recognise this...
"Oh and Bubbi Morthens was big in the 80s when he was part of the "pönk"" or "punk" scene. Now he's just a money grabbing whingemeister. Still has some decent old songs mind you."
Icelandic Morrissey?
psh
how the hell does takk and that other unpronnounceable sigur rós album manage to get in when ( ) isnt even there? AND above a load of bjork too....
*shakes fists*
What??
Where the hell is Homogenic? Life's Too Good? Yesterday Was Dramatic?
What's that at 7?
Some sort of side project we're not allowed to know about?
Tis fantastic
Early Bjork album covering Icelandic folk songs with a jazz quartet. It's on Spotify...
its also one of her best
awesome stuff

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