Náttfari, the band, not the folklore, were formed in 2000 and quickly became Icelandic favorites, receiving rave reviews for live shows including a New York Times piece calling them “mind-blowing.” Then, despite an eight year break, they returned in 2011 to pick up where they left off. They did too, and were named as one […]

My Independent Bookshop has just awarded my virtual bookshop ‘Books Of Iceland’ a MIBBY for shop of the week! My Independent Bookshop is a website set up to provide a whole new perspective to book buying, esp. in light of Amazon’s hold on the market. You can set up a ‘virtual bookshop’ and choose 12 […]

All Tomorrow’s Parties is coming to Icelandic shores in July. ATP provide a different festival experience: think more customer experience, hand picked music and a keen eye on quality, rather than snogging teenagers, cheap lager and funky hats. It’s a formula that has seen ATP travel from its holiday park beginnings in the UK to […]

1. Water. It’s the best in the world. It comes out of the tap for free. Don’t buy it in bottles! Hafdís Huld once gave me a huge telling off for buying water in Iceland. She was absolutely right. 2. Places to hide. Reykjavik City Hall (Ráðhús Reykjavíkur) is a great place to hide from […]

Ok, it’s National Day in Iceland today. Iceland is celebrating 70 years of independence. Congratulations! To celebrate, I thought I’d put together a little competition – heaven help me, this is probably never going to work! – please take a selfie of you reading Iceland, Defrosted and post it to Twitter using hashtag #icelanddefrosted, or […]

Fura is a collaboration between the songstress Björt Sigfinnsdóttir and the producer duo Hallur Jónsson and Janus Rasmussen, behind Bloodgroup. From humble beginnings as record store workers – which I can relate to – they now produce late night electronica and stunning vocals from the Eastern reaches of Seyðisfjörður. Björt tells us more: Who or […]

Hi. How are you? So sorry I’ve not been around for a while, I’ve had to concentrate on something in real life which may have ultimately not been worth it anyway. We’ll have to wait and see. But I just wanted to let you know that I’m back. I’m sorry to have left you. It […]