So, next friday - november 17th, that is - The Sugarcubes are going to stand on stage together to form their cube-shaped constellation again for the first time in 14 years! This monument of an event takes place 8pm at the Laugardalshöll arena in Reykjavík, Iceland.

They are however not going to be the only to take the stage, as another Icelandic band familiar to many, namely; Múm, will be performing aswell on this night that celebrates the 20th anniversary of The Sugarcubes and Smekkleysa. All profit from the concert goes back into Smekkleysa SM who will continue to work on a non-profit basis for the future betterment of Icelandic music and artists, so all of us are ensured years of Icelandic goodness to come. Good deal! This will be the first gig of the year for Múm, who were last seen on stage in Taiwan last december (besides them DJ:ing over at Sirkus during the Airwaves last month of course).

Tickets for this gig are still available via shops in Iceland, and online via midi.is and packge trips including flight, hotel and concert tickets have been available via your local IcelandAir sites - not sure how many of those there are left still.

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Speaking of Sugarcubes, it is never too late to review their albums, it seems! Some albums age like fine wine, or ferment like old cheese. On second thought...

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As for more familiar faces and names to tie into this; Ensemble - who has collaborated with both abovementioned Múm and Björk - has a new album out. It too is called Ensemble, conveniently! Olivier Alary is the man behind the music, and this album has been called "a sumptuously recorded, played and arranged meeting of indie/electronica." Check it out on his homepage or myspace.

FatCat, who are releasing Ensemble, writes that Ensemble's first album 'Sketch Proposals' gained a small, dedicated audience upon its release, not least of which included Björk, who had the album on heavy rotation while working on her 2001 album 'Vespertine'. They put Olivier in touch with her and in 2002, Ensemble's remixes of her songs 'Sun In My Mouth' and 'Cocoon' were released as b-sides. Their collaborative relationship eventually led to Olivier's co-writing of the song 'Desired Constellation' on 'Medúlla', and still more remixes on the 'Triumph Of A Heart' single.