Mugison

Iceland's Mugison (aka Örn Elías Guðmundsson) makes music that ranges from gentle laptop pop to heavy, flamboyant rock. Mugison was given his nickname on a visit to his dad, Muggi, in Malaysia, and began recording songs on his laptop in 2001. After moving to London, he worked with a DJ on the whimsical glitch-pop songs that became 2003's Lonely Mountain, which was released on Matthew Herbert's Accidental label. That year, Mugison and his father founded the Aldrei Fór Ég Sudur (AFS) festival, and Mugison recorded the soundtrack to Fridrik Thor Fridriksson's 2004 film Niceland in a church in his hometown, Isafjordur, then settled in Sudavik before the release of his 2005 album, Mugimama, Is This Monkey Music?, which won five Icelandic Music Awards that year, including Album of the Year and Song of the Year for "Murr, Murr." The album's eclectic, sometimes carnivalesque sound made fans out of Super Furry Animals, Fantômas, and Ghostigital, all of whom invited Mugison as support on their tours. For his next album, Mugison went in a heavier, more organic direction, trading electronics for more bandmembers and cranked-up guitars. Mugiboogie was first released in 2007, and issued in the U.S. via Ipecac in 2008.