Þegar öllu er á botninn hvolft

The indie rock powerhouse Botnleðja parked themselves into the Icelandic music scene in the mid-nineties after their win in the annual Icelandic Music Experiments. Born at the dawn of grunge they absorbed the simplistic and beguiling chunks of Nirvana and Mudhoney and mixed it up with elements of the slightly more melodic English contemporaries Blur and Ride early on in their career. Later on they rested towards noisier alleyways that evokes the best elements of Touch and Go advocates Slint and Girls Against Boys.

Þegar öllu er á botninn hvolft is a double CD anthology and a great introduction to one of Iceland’s finest rock band of 90s and the early 00s and it contains tracks from all of their albums, including songs like “Farðu í röð”, “Rassgata 51”, “Human Clicktrack” and “Þið eruð frábær” (a popular track that was a great inspiration to Blur when they wrote “Song 2”). The second CD includes English versions of their songs, remixes, demos and covers of songs by Devo and Megas.

Botnleðja performed relentlessly for most of their career and were even invited on tours with bands such as Blur, Pleasure Forever, Sparta and played the Shellac curated All Tomorrow’s Parties back in 2005.