Album of the Day

There can't have been many people looking to Iceland for music's “next big thing” before the arrival of The Sugarcubes' debut, LIFE'S TOO GOOD, in 1988. While most members were veterans of the country's post-punk scene, the band was kind of a lark until the collection became a surprise success; the album made year-end best-of lists across Europe and America and lead single “Birthday” topped BBC DJ John Peel's Festive Fifty. Additional singles “Coldsweat” and “Deus” also paired playful lyrics to the appealing, occasionally eccentric, vocals of Björk Guðmundsdóttir and Einar Örn Benediktsson (an approach not unlike the B-52s in their prime). Though Björk would soon become a solo star, LIFE'S TOO GOOD is too good to relegate to footnote status in her career – it's gleeful proof that exciting alternative rock knows no international boundaries.