You might imagine our office as a European wonderland, with espresso machines and turtlenecks and sophisticated furniture. As a street paper, we keep our overhead low. So during the week, many of us have massive headphones on, blaring our music of choice.
As a service to us and to our readers, then, we are sharing what Icelandic music is being played in the office this week. (Mostly through headphones).
I’ve been reminded of one particular appeal of the Reykjavík music, the vibe-heavy bar gig, this week. A favourite series is going on at Kaffibarinn, which, last week, featured Knackered. We covered Knackered with the September release of FYI. The track that comes up frequently on my playlist is “hot and bothrd (depression talking),” a track that starts extremely bass-heavy and almost paranoid in lyrically content, that then takes off melodically about halfway through. I find the songwriting stunning. I listen on Bandcamp here. Separately, I’ve been listening to Lada Sport, who are on Spotify here. Lada Sport, part of the lo-fi melodic rock scene when I edited 20 years ago, are playing Kaffibarinn this week. BC
I’ve had “untitled (folding decoy)” by sideproject on repeat this week. Released just about a month ago, the electronic trio uploaded the track solely to Bandcamp as a “name your price” download; but if you do pay for it, all proceeds go directly to Félagið Ísland-Palestína. “untitled (folding decoy)” moves slower than a lot of sideproject’s other work; clearer tones create a underlaying melodic narrative that flows in contrast to their usual fast-paced, harsher IDM-adjecent work. But sideproject have never been ones to stick to a singular genre, so this doesn’t come as a surprise. The trio also joined Rinse-FM’s UK-based Swimful this week, bringing a thirty-minute guest set to the hour-long programme, full of weird and experimental beats — also worth checking out.
sideproject ended their text about “untitled (folding decoy)” on Bandcamp with “p.s. lots of new sound soon,” so I’m planning on keeping my eyes out and ears open. ISH
This last week, I’ve been excited for songs released by the two most promising solo female artists, Elín Hall’s magnificently ‘90s “Tachylite” and lúpína’s gravity-defying title “The Rain Goes Up.”
lúpína’s single builds on her most amiable and characteristic features — using her vocals in a distinctive, attention-catching manner. Personally, I had been hoping for a bigger chorus drop earlier in the track, but the bass drum’s four-on-the-floor approximately mid-way through transforms the song from an introspective earbud tune to a dance-worthy stomper.
Back from her popularity-boosting showcase at the Eurosonic Festival, Elín Hall continues to channel her inner ‘90s alternative rocker in “Tachylite.” Her recent releases have shown her straying away from her biographical, heart-on-her-sleeve acoustic pop which heyrist í mér? comprised, turning to grungier melodies. Similar to Lúpína, and perhaps due to my preconceptions, I was expecting a sudden snap into an overwhelming chorus, which might be an unreasonable ask from Elín Hall. JB
The only thing in my headphones this week has been interview transcripts. Plural. I did manage to listen to half of Elín Hall’s new song before convincing myself it was procrastination. Things get busy when you have a paper to write. Guilty. IZ
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