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Silvia Night – Goldmine
Sylvia Night is a fictional character that is based on a satire of Paris Hilton and other celebrities that have a questionable claim to fame. She was responsible for a much talked about mockumentary TV show where she would annoy people endlessly…
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International Music Festival in Akureyri
Organised for the second time, this year’s Akureyri International Music Festival (AIM) will take place at various venues in the town of Akureyri (located in the northern part of the country), from May 31 to June 2. With artists as diverse as…
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Weight Issues and Gimmicks
I’m quietly kicking myself for not having paid attention to Celestine earlier. What tightness they might lack in the live setting, they more than make up for with their ear shattering intensity. For pure unadulterated heaviness, theirs is definitely the level for…
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Nubean Nintendo
When I hear the term “World music” I automatically think of Nick Hornby’s negative connotation. He used the word describing how lame his next door neighbour was: “Ray was into whatever world music that was trendy at that time.” But when I…
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Das Kapital – Lili Marlene
As is often the case with artists, the worse they fare in their personal lives, the better they sound professionally. In 1984 singer Bubbi was at his nadir, having released two flops the same year and just about to start the first…
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The Best Depressing Music of the 90s
The early 90s were not a happy time to be young. In between communism and Al-Qaeda, with a Clinton in the White House and the apparent End of History, there was little to be passionately for or against. Even the 80s had…
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Mínus – The Great Northern Whalekill
This was selected as the most awaited album of 2007 by music critics in the Reykjavík Grapevine’s 2006 year end list. Rock band Mínus has evolved a fair bit over the years, exploding from hardcore to stadium like cock-rock. This release continues…
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The Best Band No One Knows
The tiny non-profit co-op organic-café shop Hljómalind on Laugavegur has proven to be an incredibly popular concert venue, especially within the Reykjavík punk scene, where the sXe section holds a special affection for the place. Obviously, as a venue, Hljómalind has many…
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Seabear -The Ghost That Carried Us Away
Seabear is a four piece and this is their first full-length album, but previously they´ve released the EP Singing Arc. Reykjavík´s hipsters seem to like them and talk avidly about their concerts. The world is also taking notice, the influential German label…
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An Ample Dose of Happiness
After squeezing through an almost impenitrable crowd (receiving pokes and evil eyes as a reward for my aggression) I finally managed to get a good view of the stage at the Reykjavík Art Museum when Nouvelle Vague was performing their second song…
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Ólöf Arnalds – Við og við
Ólöf Arnalds has been playing music for a long time (for example with Múm and Stórsveit Nix Noltes) but this is her first solo release. Mostly it´s just Ólöf playing guitar and singing in a high-pitched voice that is definitely unique, sometimes…
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Wulfgang – Wulfgang
Wulfgang were runners up in 2005 Battle of the Bands. Since then they have been busy recording their self-titled first album, released on Cod Music. This is rock ´n´ roll, sometimes with a distinctive prog-rock feel. The song Machinery has received some…
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Mínus – Jesus Christ Bobby
Quite possibly the most abrasive release in Icelandic musical history, JCB is bass heavy, un-compromising and brimming with delectable drum work. This is Mínus at their most unpredictable and angry; a relic of their shaven-headed era. Befitting of the label “Art-Core”, or…
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Megas – Loftmynd
When Megas first appeared in the 70s, he was the first artist to attempt writing intelligent lyrics in Icelandic within the context of rock music, at which he remains unsurpassed. His 1977 collaboration with Spilverkið, Á bleikum náttkjólum, has been named the…
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The Vulcan Dub Squad – The New Designers
The other day, a guy came by and dropped a CD on us that he professed to have recorded in his basement. The Vulcan Dub Squad hail from Ontario, Canada and apparently this is their sixth release. There is neither much Vulcan…
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Motion Boys – Hold Me Closer To Your Heart
It’s about one thirty in the morning, the dance floor is packed with all manner of unseemly folk, a sweaty crowd of drunken animals swelling and surging like a single organism. The DJ, a twenty-something chick magnet with three-day stubble and a…
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Skátar – Ghost of the Bollocks to Come
Riding high on an indie rock wave, comes the Reykjavík fivesome Skátar with their first studio album, and it has its irregular glorious moments. With a barrage of guitars, bass doodles and whacky keyboards that at times seem to be heading in…
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Evil Madness – Demon Jukebox
Although flawed in places, this collection of ambient noise is nevertheless a fine product, and in many places a testament to the brilliance and/or complete and utter insanity of its creators, although there are other times when the obvious minimalism of some…
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Sudden Weather Change – Sudden Weather Change
The self-titled debut album from indie rock quintet Sudden Weather Change is a middle of the road CD, never boring, but not particularly engaging either. Founded on the remains of System Failure 3550 ERROR ERROR, Sudden Weather Change occasionally display great potential…
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Cannibal Corpse – Kill
Kill is an apt reference to what CC are all about and far removed from their older, laboured, album titles. But that is about the gist of CC´s progression. Once you get into the album you soon discover that it is just…
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An Exceptional Anomaly
There was a fair amount of anticipation on my behalf before Ólöf Arnald’s debut release concert. Ólöf has gotten great reviews for her new album and I had previously seen her warm up for Amiina in concert but this was Ólöf’s night.…
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The Kitchen Motors Collective – The Kitchen Motors Family Album
Bad, bad, bad: this is the collective worst of Icelandic music neatly bundled up in all its shallow, pretentious and self-indulgent glory, with some extra-pretentious liner notes thrown in to boot. Representative Man kick off this shitfest with some block rockin’ beats,…
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Can I Get a Witness?
When The Sugarcubes first embarked on their musical voyage under the slogan ‘World Domination or Death,’ few people expected them (or more accurately, one of them, although many of the ‘Cubes still work closely with Björk) to live up to the hype.…