Pretty Music, Ugly Spectacle
The stage set-up for Bubbi Morthens’ three-hour, live-on-TV, straight-to-DVD, 50th birthday show was beyond anything I had ever seen an Icelandic artist perform upon. There were
Thugz on Parole – Rape Time!
Although live recordings seldom do hip-hop bands justice, Thugs On Parole’s performance at Hitt Húsið may just be the single most energetic, hilarious, bracing and altogether p
Lára – Þögn
Foregoing unnecessary complications and abstract pretences, singer/songwriter Lára Rúnarsdóttir’s sophomore release, is at times, an honest, pretenceless portrayal of heartbre
Breaking the Chains
The seminal hardcore band I Adapt have been at the forefront of the Icelandic hardcore scene for over five years. They are about to release their third album, and have […]
Barði Jóhannsson – Haxan
Barði Jóhannsson’s accompanying symphonic score to Danish recluse Benjamin Christensen’s 1922 surreal witchcraft documentary is very much Barði, with Bang Gang’s signature
Harp Inspires Hyperbole
There was art in the air. Everybody was wearing woollen sweaters and scarves or hats or drapes they had ripped down to sew a gown. The first act of the […]
Powersolo – Egg
Fuzzy, pompous, raunchy to the point of being overbearing and a dead ringer for a punk band covering the theme music to a Gidget movie: Yup, three more of Jon […]
The Beasties – The Beasties
Cheerfully sweet pop only identifiable as being off-the-beaten-path by the rough-hewn production quality and sometimes obscure subject matter of the lyrics, this is a sometimes int
Kamp Knox – A Tad 65
I fucking swear I’m going to pull a Tsar Nicholas II on these indie/lo-fi/folk motherfuckers soon. I know exactly how I’m going to do it, too: I’ll advertise an album [&helli
THE CHARADE – The Best is Yet to Come
Shallow, vacant Swede-indie that rather reminds one of the idiotic grin of someone who has recently inhaled far too much marijuana, or that intensely irritating person who always m
Reykjavik Gets Tropical
The saxophonist for Zappa Plays Zappa provided us with one of the most surreal, and possibly precognizant, quotes in the history of the Grapevine: he asked us if Iceland was [&hell
Sigurður Flosason og Kristjana Stefánsdóttir -Hvar Er Tunglið?
In typically uncreative fashion, a bunch of classically schooled musicians have banded together to perform their jazzy takes on some modern poetry: Are you thrilled yet? Does this
Sleater-Kinney Interview
The Riot Grrl threesome of Carrie Brownstein, Janet Weiss and Corin Tucker, collectively known as Sleater-Kinney has been touring Europe in support of the latest release, The Woods
The Private Show
The atmosphere at NASA prior to the start of Coco Rosie’s set did not point towards a terribly enjoyable evening. The crowd was of the vegetarian coffeehouse variety, consisting
Poachers Too – As in Also
Sad, pathetic excuses for lyrics pockmark this otherwise smooth ride of well-written and well-played folk that is as pleasing to the ear as it is unlikely to revisit your memory, [
15 Great Minutes
It was my deep respect for Palli, guitarist from the pop band Maus, that led me to restrain a section of the audience from launching a surprisingly heavy ashtray (note […]
Fat Old Guy Mocks Pretty Girl
Arriving at Laugardalshöllin to see the Ian Anderson concert, I felt like this was the opening night at an oversized old folks’ home. Most of the people there had 50 […]
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
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