Like a Kraftwerk Christmas Album Had There Ever Been One
Different from all of these is Jólaplata, a nice mixed bag of styles and approaches, with original songs written just for this album, some traditional Icelandic carols and modern
INDIGÓ: TOO LATE TO SHINE
You hear it sometimes: “If you squint, your friend kind of looks like Tom Cruise.” And you try it, and yes, indeed your large-nosed geeky friend can look like Tom […]
Five Main Reasons Why I Hate iPods
1. It’s unfair. I spent 16 years buying over-priced CDs and searching through bad neighborhoods, and worse, yuppie neighborhoods, for records. Now a 12-year old can get a similar
PORNOPOP: AND THE SLOW SONGS ABOUT DEAD CALM IN YOUR HANDS
Remember Pornopop? No? Well, don’t worry because most people had totally forgotten about the band…if they even knew about it in the first place. It’s been 7 years since i
albums
Zonet: Ólafur Haukur Símonarson: Allt í góðu. Compilation album of songs by renowned playwright, featuring KK among others and the irrepressible Heiða. Búdrýgindi: Juxtapó
COMPILATION : VARIOUS ARTISTS
On this compilation, 18 Icelandic artists come together to raise money for the young people of Balata, one of the most densely populated refugee camps in Palestine. The album start
THE SIMPLE BEAUTY OF TENDERFOOT
People seem not quite to have grasped it yet, as was to be seen from the poor attendance at the Tenderfoot gig at the Smekkleysa record shop last Friday (November […]
HOFFMAN: BAD SEEDS
For listeners of local rock station, X-ið 9.77, the name Hoffman might ring a bell as two of the bands songs have been featured on its playlist in recent weeks. […]
“Nick Cave is a real motherfucker”
That “almost everyone interested in music in Reykjavík is in a band at one point or another” is a well-known fact that Águst, guitar player of indie rock band Jan […]
ÞÓRIR: I BELIVE IN THIS
When you slip the lyrics “but your bad sense of humour and your laughter’s like a tumour to my brain,” into a song you deserve to sell a couple albums […]
ANTLEW AND MAXIMUM: Predecessors of Icelandic Hip-Hop
Before Hæsta Hendin, before XXX Rottweilarhundar, even before Quarashi, there was an Icelandic kid living in Sweden who heard hip-hop for the first time and inadvertently became t
Apparat Organ Quartet
The four organists in the band, Jóhann, Úlfur, Hörður, and Musíkvatur, use all of their 40 fingers to bring out a dazzling array of sounds from their collection of instruments
LOCALS ROCK AIRWAVES, Despite the Imports
When I saw Keane, The Stills and The Shins on the lineup for this year’s Airwaves festival, I expected the worst. The Iceland Airwaves Festival would be an innocuous gatherin
“There simply has to be a song in the world called ‘Brad Pitt’”
Meeting me between work and rehearsals, Gísli seems a busy man these days. He tells me that he doesn’t intend to sleep until the third album of the trilogy has […]
THE FOGHORNS
Grapevine: Has playing in a local band always on the lookout for gigs and fans compromised your position as an underground music critic? Bart: No. Bands that don’t like my [&hell
Jóhann Jóhannsson
When not delivering catchy melodies on vintage synthesizers in electronic rock outfit Apparat Organ Quartet, Jóhann Jóhannsson makes albums of mellow and beautiful contemporary c
Attacking the Very Thing You´re Defending:An examination of the latter day lyrics of NICK CAVE
On the masterful Let Love In, he concentrates on the conflict and heartbreak that so often comes with love, particularly on the title track: “Despair and deception/Love´s ugly l
HOT CHIP
Electronic funk outfit Hot Chip have recently achieved the accolade of having their song “Down with Prince” chosen as NME’s single of the week, being described as “genre-ho
TRABANT
The Mayor of Keflavík greeted them with open arms and an open apartment – setting up a special rate so that the band wouldn’t have to commute from Reykjavík. On […
GHOSTIGITAL
“You know how Bibbi got a lump on the back of his head?,” Einar Örn asks me, referring to the other half of his music project, Ghostigital, who’s not present […]
Accidental ReggaeHjálmar
“It was completely by accident that all the songs ended up being reggae songs. When we started recording, we knew that we didn’t want pop but we weren’t aiming for […]