Iceland Music Export: Not Just Björk and Sigur Rós

For such a small country, both in landmass and population (about 300,000), Iceland has managed to make an impressive amount of news lately.

As I write, the plume of ash from one of Iceland's volcanoes is still creating flying slow-downs across Europe, though the situation seems to basing somewhat. And the people of Iceland are still coping -- and making headlines by fighting against -- the raw deal they got from the international bankers, who managed to crash their economy and leave them with a crushing debt.

Even though I haven't been there (yet), I've become fascinated with this remote, weirdly landscaped country and its culture.

My Íslandphilia began with my liking for the music of Björk, which led me to search out the Sugarcubes playlist (Sugarcubes being her first group), and on to Sigur Rós and a couple of others. Just when I think I can lump all of this music together in some sort of Nordic-European pop category (one suffused perhaps with a haunting weirdness to match the land and the climate), I discover Lay Low, a fresh Icelandic singer who channels Patsy Cline of all people.

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So, I want to know more and to hear more of this country's musical output. And, it would also be great if possible to keep up with the news directly from Iceland -- in English (Icelandic is a fascinating language, virtually the same as what the Vikings spoke, but even other Scandinavians cannot understand it).

As I understand it, most Icelanders do speak English in addition to their native tongue, so it would not surprise me to find an English-language radio station broadcasting or streaming from Iceland. Alas, that does not seem to be the case.

There are a couple of dozen Icelandic stations that stream on the Internet and that come already programmed into many of today's wi-fi Internet radios. My Aluratek, for instance, seems to have most of them already on tap.

Unfortunately, none of those stations provides news or discussion in English. (Útvarp Sögu, the all-talk station, is interesting to listen to just for the opportunity to hear the sound of the Icelandic, though.)

As for music, the Icelandic stations mostly seem to play the same artists you would hear on U.S. and U.K. stations -- Beyonce, Taylor Swift, and all the rest. I assume they do mix in some of their homegrown artists, but I don't care to sit through an American top-40 rotation to wait for them to come around.

To the rescue comes Iceland Music Export, or IMX. (URL icelandmusic.is/).

IMX and its web site are part of an effort to promote Icelandic music to the world. In addition to news and information on Icelandic artists, it offers a continuous stream of Icelandic music.

I don't know if the IMX stream qualifies, strictly speaking, as a radio station, even in the Internet sense. It sounds to be a pure-music stream, without announcements or talk. Nor am I aware that is available on any wi-fi radio devices, which is where my real interest in Internet radio lies. But for those of us eager to explore Icelandic music, it seems to be the only game in town -- but a good one.

The IMX stream will definitely introduce you to the whole range of contemporary Icelandic music. To quote the web site: "If anything, the island’s incessant soundtrack is growing ever more dynamic, as artists and bands, inspired by the continual international success of their peers, continue to create original, world class music."

Because the stream includes all genres -- the common denominator being that all the artists are Icelandic -- the experience is much like listening to a college radio station.

When I tuned in this morning, I heard a bouncy pop song, followed by someone rapping in Icelandic (a weird experience in itself), followed by something reminiscent of a capella church choral singing, but which was said to be by an Icelandic metal group.

Now I am listening to a country song (sung with English lyrics), which was preceded by a minimalist jazz/New Age type piece.

The IMX site includes a "constantly updated list of some of Iceland's most active and able bands, musical groups and musicians in every genre." At a glance I would say there are about 300 acts on the list (single artists and groups).

Give Iceland Music Export a listen. You might be surprised at the diversity, as well as the quality, of the music pouring out of this little country. Long after the volcanic ash plume has dissipated, this music will surely be having its influence on the rest of the world.

By the way, the IMX site has a section of Icelandic music videos you might want to take a look at.

Videos. Volcanoes. Icelandic singers. This allows me to segue to this charming little clip of Icelandic artist Eliza Geirsdottir Newman explaining how to pronounce Eyjafjallajokull -- with a ukulele, no less.