French Kisses and Fucking Media People
At 30 years of age, I am easily in the oldest tenth percentile at most shows I attend. But not at Iggy and the Stooges. People in attendance were more […]
Good Morning, Mr. Spencer
It’s afternoon here, 9 am in New York. The man on the other end of the line is a regarded as a hero of rock music, as the man who […]
Fantastic Four – Original Melody
“Not too much stress…simple rhythms, nice melodies…just makes me feel good, you know what I’m sayin’?”…or so quoth an anonymous gentleman in a sample in t
Jet Black Joe – Full Circle
Despite its tendency to veer towards insipid clichés and some very dumb lyrics, Jet Black Joe’s return to the studio is tight, powerful and inspirationally short, relying mostly
Ókind – Hvar í Hvergilandi
Hvar Í Hvergilandi has a split personality. It is at times a focused, soaring and lyrically perceptive piece of apocalyptic rock blessed with the ability to veer from finely-craft
Sigur Rós
Two and a half months after the release of Takk, and with their album making a range of best of 2005 lists, Sigur Rós returned to play the largest concert […]
Islands – Return to the Sea
With members sporting names as pretentious as Neil Diamonds and J’aime Tambour, one would have expected something a little more gripping from Islands, but they seem to be content
Adem – Love and Other Planets
What a terrible name for an album. Oh well, at least it’s more interesting than the music on it. Bland, indecisive acoustic lo-fi folk sludge riddled with half-hearted sappiness,
The Melting Pot in a Cold, Cold Place
If you’ve ever wondered what the outer space colonies man will one day establish may look like, then Ísafjörður in winter might be for you. A rustic, spartan island of [&helli
Happy Trumps Cool And a peculiar sex analogy closer
The Wedding Present play catchy indie rock with lyrics that are really honest and are only about love or about not being in love (which kind of implies being in […]
Only the Voice is Childlike
If you’ve heard her once, you know the voice. Fragile, playful, original and, okay, childlike, Joanna Newsom sings of sleeping all day, of sprouts and beans, and on first listen
The Quota on Bagpipe Salsa: Infinite
The first real day of summer in Reykjavík was about to end and I headed out to NASA to the Rite of Spring festival with almost no idea what to […]
MAMMÚT – MAMMÚT
The singular, sharp and stunningly explicit and concentrated voice of Katrína Mogensen drives Mammút’s debut so that at first, were it not for the patient, buzzing unpredictabi
GHOSTIGITAL – IN COD WE TRUST
“How abstract can we get”….indeed. While a criminal who confesses is no less guilty, it does make one more inclined to be easy on him. Saying that In Cod We […]
Aldrei Fór Ég Suður
The third annual Aldrei Fór Ég Suður music festival will return to the remote town of Ísafjörður, Saturday the 15th of April. The festival’s name, which translates to ‘I
SILVER JEWS – AMERICAN WATER
Wait long enough, and things come around. Once known only as Pavement’s side project, Silver Jews are now garnering media attention for Tanglewood Numbers and the first-ever tour
Heady Days in Austin, Texas
The South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas is now the American music industry hotspot for signing the next media darling. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Shins, Clap Your [&he
An Evening of Listening and Restraint
José González’s reputation may well have preceded him, given that he recently played a show at the Iceland Airwaves festival, which has become an “I was there” sort of mome
The Acoustic Black Flag Disciple (from the land of Abba)
/// Your first album (Veneer) was released in 2003; when can we expect the next one? – I am working on it on and off. I have been so busy […]
The Foreign Monkeys Will Definitely Be the Next Arctic Monkeys
The results are in, the facts are solid and the bands have been consigned to their fates. The Foreign Monkeys, a straightforward, zero-bullshit rock band from the wayward shores of
t.A.T.u
(NOTE: While no amount of column space could possibly contain all the most pertinent updates about t.A.T.u. – the greatest band in the world – I’ve tried my best to […