Reykjavik is a small town of 110,000, a place untouched by the influences of North American society, yet a hop and a skip away from London.  It's a place where you could easily be on the moon, where friendships are made over jellybeans (as was done with Kippi Kaninus), and artsy precociousness is as acceptable as galoshes on a rainy day.   Within these 110,000 are a 3 person design collective and music making machine named Kitchen Motors.  These are Kristín Björk, aka Kíra Kíra, Hilmar Jensson, and Johann Johannson.  

Kira Kira answers some questions for Keetologue.  

How did you guys meet and what were your first impressions of each other?

Initially I just thought Hilmar and Johann were very interesting people and I was curious about them.  I thought Hilmar's approach to the guitar was terribly interesting and we soon found that our ideas about music were quite closely linked although we come from different backgrounds. The same goes for Johann.  What basically brought us 3 together was a common need for an experimental music playground in Reykjavik. We felt it was a shame that there were never any concerts with challenging music there even though so many people were tinkering with sounds in their bedrooms, so we took the initiative and started a series that we called Tilraunaeldhúsid. That later became Kitchen Motors when we had done recordings of our events and started distributing them world wide.

How do you describe the music scene in Iceland?

It's very open and easy to function within.  Reykjavik is a small town, people are close and making experiments with different collaborations and alternative venues is quite easy.  I think that helps to make it as vibrant as it is.  You constantly run into new bands and artists even though the place is small, because this smallness causes people to become inventive in making do with what they have in front of them.

What do you think of your Icelandic compatriots that have done well internationally?  

I think Múm, Sigur Rós and Björk all have in common is that they're all no-nonsense people. They do things their way without ever compromising their integrity and I have all the respect in the world for that. They deserve the recognition that they get because they've earned it by being real and making amazing music.

What kinds of things do you guys design?

We make our album covers, posters, flyers etc ourselves or one of us (usually me) collaborates with other visual artists or designers on these things.

How does the Kitchen Motors record label work?

We're first and foremost three people who like to dream up wild ideas for artists, including ourselves, to work with. Then we'll do strange inter-disciplinary performances all over the planet with these artists that sometimes get recorded and released. But we always work with other labels, such as Bad Taste or Edda Media, who will handle the more practical side of things while we get to do all the fun stuff.

How was your first performance in New York at the Tonic?

The good vibrations at Tonic made me very happy. A lot of people came and seemed to be really into what we were doing. We put 80 neon clay mountains on the walls and asked the audience in the beginning of the gig to make creatures out of them and the best one got a prize in the end. I thought people were terribly cute, messing with the neon clay all through the gig, helping each other build little clay worlds.  They were quite ambitious too. There was simply a really nice vibe going on that night and I thought everyone played a fantastic set as well.

Do you guys have separate day time jobs?

Hilmar sometimes teaches music at the local jazz school, but he mostly works on his own music and tours with Alas No Axis and other New York based bands and artists quite extensively. Johann only does music related work, he writes for films, modern dance and theatre as well as playing in Apparat Organ Quartet. I go to art school in the day where I am now making a giant, demonic door bell and once a week I have a short program on experimental music on the National Radio -Channel 1 or "Gufan" (translated as "The Sauna") as we like to call it. 

What is next for Kitchen Motors?

We've got some events to curate and perform in, in St Petersburg, Helsinki, Hasselt and Gent in Belgium and various other places. We also do a monthly series at The Living Arts Museum in Reykjavik that we call Sæluhúsið, The Safe House in English. That makes a really comfortable playground for us to experiment with music in and tinker with the idea of a complete meltdown between art forms.  We've also got some fantastic music coming out, but it's a secret for now.

Check out the kitchenmotors official website at http://www.kitchenmotors.com.