Dikta is an

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band from

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

. They have released five albums thus far.

Biography

In its present incarnation, the group began in 1999. They played in the Icelandic band competition

Músíktilraunir Músíktilraunir ( en, Music Experiments) is an annual music competition held in Reykjavík, Iceland. Winners * 1982 – Dron * 1983 – Dúkkulísurnar * 1984 – ''not held due to Strike action, teachers' strike'' * 1985 – Gipsy * 1986 – ...

in 2000 and were finalists. Dikta's four members have been friends since they were children. Last year they've played on festivals such as In The City in Manchester, the SPOT-festival in Denmark and Iceland Airwaves. Their powerful performance in front of a packed venue at Iceland Airwaves earned them a mention in Rolling Stone Magazine. Dikta's first album, "Andartak", was released in late 2002. It was released in Iceland by the band members themselves under their own label called Mistak Records. One of its singles reached the top of the Icelandic charts. All three singles, "Taminóra," "Andartak," and "Engin orð," were played frequently on Iceland's largest rock station at the time, X-ið 977. The lyrics on "Andartak" are all in Icelandic. Dikta released their second album, "Hunting for Happiness" in 2005 in Iceland. The album was produced by Ace from Skunk Anansie and was released by the

Sugarcubes The Sugarcubes ( Icelandic: Sykurmolarnir) were an Icelandic alternative rock band from Reykjavík formed in 1986 and disbanded in 1992. For most of their career, the band consisted of Björk Guðmundsdóttir (vocals, keyboards), Einar Örn Benedi ...

-owned label, Smekkleysa SM (Bad Taste). The album artwork was made by

Gabríela Friðriksdóttir Gabríela Friðriksdóttir (born 1971 in Reykjavík, Iceland) is an Icelandic visual artist, painter and sculptor. In 2005, she represented Iceland at the Venice Biennale, and she is a previous winner of Iceland's Gudmunda Art Prize (2001). She ...

, who has previously collaborated extensively with

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct three-octave vocal range and eccentric persona, she has de ...

. "Hunting for Happiness" also had four successful singles, "Chloë", "Breaking the Waves", "Someone, Somewhere" and "Losing Every Day". All the singles got heavy airplay on Iceland's rock radio stations X-FM and X-ið 977 as well as Iceland's National Radio (Rás 2), except for "Chloë", which was not played on

Rás 2 Rás 2 (''Channel 2'') is an Icelandic radio station belonging to the National Icelandic Broadcasting Service, RÚV. Launched on 1 December 1983, it is currently the highest-rated radio station in Iceland, with a schedule composed chiefly of ne ...

. The lyrics on "Hunting for Happiness" are in English. "Hunting for Happiness" was released by

Smekkleysa Bad Taste (known as Smekkleysa in Icelandic, literally ''Tastelessness'') is one of Iceland’s most important record labels; located in Reykjavík and known worldwide for being home to The Sugarcubes, it also publishes poetry books, short fil ...

in Denmark in 2006 and UK in 2007. Their third album is Get It Together (2009). Band members have said in interviews that the album would be a natural progression from their previous album, Hunting for Happiness. The lyrics are in English. The album was released in Germany, Austria and Switzerland by Smarten-Up!, a German indie label from

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

and distributed by Rough Trade, in March 2010. The album went platinum in Iceland. After touring extensively throughout Europe in 2010 and 2011, Dikta released their fourth album Trust Me. It was self-produced and released by Kölski in Iceland. For their fifth album, Easy Street (2015), the band hired German producer Sky van Hoff. The album was recorded in Germany and Iceland and contains 11 songs.

Band members

* Haukur Heiðar Hauksson -

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

and

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

. **Besides his band career, Haukur Heiðar Hauksson has had some performances on his own. Notably he was the featured artist on

Ólafur Arnalds Ólafur Arnalds (; born 3 November 1986) is an Icelandic multi-instrumentalist and producer from Mosfellsbær, Iceland. He mixes strings and piano with loops and beats, a sound ranging from ambient/electronic to atmospheric pop. He is also the ...

's song "A Hundred Reasons" on Ólafur Arnalds 2010 album ''...And They Have Escaped the Weight of Darkness''. In 2014, he performed "Is It Time" with Helgi Júlíus Óskarsson on Óskarsson's collaborative album ''Crossroads''. The song became the debut single release from the album charting in Iceland. * Jón Bjarni Pétursson -

* Jón Þór Sigurðsson -

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

* Skúli Z. Gestsson -

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

and

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

Discography

Albums

*2002: ''Andartak'' (Mistak Records) *2005: ''Hunting for Happiness'' (

) *2009: ''Get It Together'' *2011: ''Trust Me'' ( Kölski) *2015: ''Easy Street''

Singles

*2013: "Talking" *2014: "Nóttin var sú ágæt ein"

External links

Dikta's site (archive)
{{Authority control Icelandic alternative rock groups