It's still January and the first Icelandic (musical) visitors to the UK are on the way, very exciting news and a Friday night too so I don't have school, I mean work, the next day. They're very likely appearing somewhere near you if you live in Europe too, check out the full list of January dates…

Thu 8  Copenhagen – Rust
Fri 9  Cologne – Werkstatt
Sat 10  Munchen – Atomic Cafe
Sun 11  Vienna – B72
Mon 12  Innsbruck – Weekender
Tue 13  Sursee – Kulturwerk 118
Wed 14  Luxembourg – Exit 07
Thu 15  Eurosonic – Schouwburg
Fri 16  Groningen – Plato Instore
Fri 16  Eurosonic – Magic Mirror tent
Sat 17  Maldegem – Cafe Maison
Sun 18  Brussels – Botanique w/ Finn.
Mon 19  Cologne – Cologne Music Week
Tue 20  Paris – Cafe de la Danse w/ Mugison
Wed 21  Midem – Magic Mirrors
Thu 22  Brighton – The Freebutt
Fri 23  London – Luminaire
Sat 24 UK  Coventry – Kasbah

Ending on a high in Coventry I see. I wish I could make it to the Paris show with Mugison but such extravagances are beyond me right now (although I have just booked to see Bloc Party in New York, but that's just a very happy coincidence of time). Back to the point, iceblah will be very much present at the lovely Luminaire venue in Kilburn and will report back. Hjaltalin's album 'Sleepdrunk Sessions' (right) is a fabulous debut and I've been lucky enough to catch them live a couple of times in Iceland, so to have them in London will be fabulous. They're also very lovely people as you can see from this interview I did with them before Airwaves last October. So if you like "beautiful eclectic powerpop" or if you want to know what the teletubbies might sound like if they formed a band, I'll see you there at the end of next week.

One other titbit, also stolen (sorry!) from the official Iceland Music site is that the Icelandic, yet distinctly Eastern European ensemble, Storsveit Nix Noltes, have signed a deal with Iceland-friendly UK label, Fat Cat.  Fat Cat was home to Sigur Ros until recently and is still home to Mum. And of course Storsveit share members with Mum, and Benni Hemm Hemm – but who doesn't!