So said DBC Pierre a month ago in Observer Music Monthly in his review of the brilliant new Sigur Ros album. But it’s a quote that goes way beyond just that one band for me, and I guess it’s about time I had a first stab at explaining why this volcanic rock in the North Atlantic has such a hold on me. I’ve been going since I was 13 or 14, and (coincidentally) a fan of The Sugarcubes. I stayed a fan of The Sugarcubes, and then Bjork in her solo career but it never really went much beyond that, despite the occasional, and enjoyable, mixtape (remember them?) from a wonderful friend in Reykjavik.

I guess about 8 or 9 years ago, I was in Reykjavik and looking for some live music when this same friend suggested going to see a band named Runk. It was a superb night, and I started steadily acquiring music by Icelandic artists. On another trip soon afterwards a similar suggestion saw a group of us go and see an Icelandic reggae band called Hjalmar. There had to be a bit of persuasion before this seemed like a good idea, but it was – they were fun, great players and all-round superb. The fact that this band exist and succeed is an example of how this music scene works – anything can happen, often the more ridiculous it sounds the better. There is a camaraderie, new bands and new ideas are encouraged – I get the feeling that in forming a band in school in the UK you are opening yourselves up to piss-taking. In Iceland, these ventures are encouraged, there’s a great annual competition  for young bands which doesn’t feature the letter X or the word idol, and has no resemblance to such things. Some say there’s not much else to do over there, especially in the long dark winters – but what there is is a good provision of rehearsal space, studio time and bars to perform in. A lot of the acts cite 2 further influences; the unique landscape, and the unique positioning (geographically and culturally) halfway between North America and Europe. Icelandic bands share equipment, and often members. This is a country with fewer than 300,000 people and has produced not only Bjork and Sigur Ros who are known worldwide but many many more bands that are either genuinely innovative or are very very good exponents of their chosen genre globally. It rarely ceases to impress me.

There are two other musical phenomena that Iceland has which I’ll introduce briefly now but will return to in more detail. To my mind, Reykjavik has the best record shop in the whole world, 12 Tonar, which has just celebrated 10 years of trading. Here you can always get a friendly welcome, in-store gigs, good advice, free coffee and a decent credit card debt. Secondly, the best music festival – Iceland Airwaves. Every October for 4 or 5 days, about 200 acts from home and abroad perform in art galleries, nightclubs, bars, record shops and coffee shops. The line-ups from overseas are superbly well put together to complement the home team, long-established artists are rare – but they do have a knack of picking (in advance) the flavour of the moment. Counting the days…