Of Monsters and Men: Iceland's Folk-Pop Stars
It all began back in 2010, when Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir decided to add more members to her then-solo project. read more
Found in: Music, FeaturesÓlöf Arnalds Performs At SXSW
Watch Icelandic songwriter Olof Arnalds perform at Paste's Party in Austin. read more
Found in: Featured VideosJake Gyllenhaal to Appear on Man vs. Wild
Bear Grylls is no stranger to having celebrities appear on his hit Discovery Channel show Man vs. Wild. Two years ago, the “born survivor” was accompanied by Will Ferrell as they trekked through Northern Sweden. But to kick off a run of all-new episodes, Bear has enlisted the help of Jake Gyllenhaal.... read more
Found in: TV, NewsOlafur Arnalds, Seabear, More Featured in Iceland: Beyond Sigur Rós Documentary
Serious Feather, a film and media production company, has created a 30-minute documentary about the music scene in Iceland. Iceland: Beyond Sigur Rós includes performances and interviews from Seabear, DJ Musician, Olafur Arnalds, Haukur Maugnusson and many other Icelandic artists, producers and distributors. The documentary is available for streaming on the Serious Feather website.... read more
Found in: Movies, NewsCatching Up With... Amiina
Instead of hovering in an ever-twisting ambient mist, these new tracks are relatively concise, beat heavy, and highly melodic. read more
Found in: Music, FeaturesÓlöf Arnalds: Old-Fashionable Icelandic Songbird Finds a Timeless Tune
Folksinger Ólöf Arnalds is perched in a back room of Sandholt Bakery, a sleepy café located along Reykjavík’s busiest shopping street, wearing traffic-stopping pink lipstick and a sparkly butterfly brooch... read more
Found in: Music, FeaturesÓlöf Arnalds: Innundir Skinni and Olafur Arnalds: ...and They Have Escaped The Weight Of Darkness
Iceland’s Next Top Musicians Olöf Arnalds and Olafur Arnalds are not the same person. Sure, they share some blood as first cousins, they are both making waves in the contemporary music scene of their Icelandic homeland and they are both releasing sophomore albums. Their names are similar enough to inspire confusion in any conversation, but their music speaks individually: the plodding instrumental chamber music of Olafur’s newest effort and the lilting, songbird folk of Olof’s each offer something different.... read more
Found in: Music, ReviewsCure for the Eyjafjallajökull Blues: Songs For Volcano-Stranded Travelers
Whether you're camping out on a hard, cold terminal floor, waiting for friends to get back Stateside or just watching it all unfold from afar... read more
Found in: Blogs, PlaylistThe Most Exciting Artists I Discovered This Year
Here at Paste, we pride ourselves on championing new artists. So much so, in fact, that we devoted a whole cover story to the subject just a few months back. For the purposes of this blog post, I automatically ruled out anyone who appeared in that Best Of What’s Next feature, or in our monthly Emergent section. Beyond that, the only criteria were that I first heard them in 2008, and that I liked what I heard. ... read more
Found in: Blogs, List of the DayBjörk releases charity single "Nattura" with Thom Yorke
Björk is many, many things, but one thing she is not is boring. The Icelandic songbird has been occupying her time recently with helping come up with a fix for the sinking economy in her native country. Eerily paralleling our own problems here in the States, the Icelandic economy has crumbled under the weight of debt and skyrocketing prices, leading to the governmental takeover of banks. ... read more
Found in: Music, News
