Number One: Ultra Mega Technobandið Stefán

Having just returned to the UK from Iceland, my soft-spot for the pop music of the northern Atlantic country is only recently massaged, so I'm going to kick off this blog by bringing to your attention Ultra Mega Technobandið Stefán.

Of course, the astute amongst you will readily point out that Ultra Mega Technobandið Stefán have appeared at multiple editions of the Airwaves festival already and headlined one of the small venues only this year. Indeed, they appeared on Icelandic TV as far back as 2006 so can't possibly be classified as 'new'.
However, the likes of Hjaltalín (featured in the Guardian Airwaves 2010 preview) have headlined shows in the UK and Europe extensively, whilst For A Minor Reflection (likewise) toured the world as the main support for Sigur Rós towards the end of 2008. Owing to their relative obscurity outside of their homeland, therefore, I deem Ultra Mega Technobandið Stefán worthy of introduction via these pages. That, and the fact they're outrageously entertaining.

In Sigurður Ásgeir Árnason, they have a front man who fits somewhere in between Guy McKnight of Eighties Matchbox at his least Iggy-sounding and Ricky Wilson of Kaiser Chiefs at his most athletic, who lends the act the franticness that music of a danceable techno persuasion requires. This is a sound built of lead synth lines and racing rhythms, square waves aplenty. But the European techno club reliance on the drop-out and (here it comes) subsequent kick-in is exchanged for traditional pop arrangements building to gloriously upbeat choruses. You can't help but get caught up in the desire to move about and jump up and down.

Naturally then, it is in the live environment where Ultra Mega Technobandið Stefán come into their own. Should you ever find yourself in the greater Reykjavík area when a UMTBS show is scheduled, I implore you to go along because, despite their own assertion that they are "too weird to live, too weird to die", this is a band with fantastic potential. Here, I hope, is what the commercial success of the likes of Kids by MGMT has foretold. The next crossover: indie techno.

"3D Love" live at NASA, Reykjavík, Oct 2009:
Myspace.
UMTBS on Gogoyoko - stream & buy mp3's.