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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 Vestmannaeyjar have been declared the winners of this year’s Battle of the…
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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 highlight some of the more pressing news.) After t.A.T.u. – the greatest…
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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 unpredictability of the bass, it could be mistaken for a solo project. But, upon further listening,…
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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 Trust is avant-garde would be an understatement bordering on the comically ludicrous,…
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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 for the band supporting the album. Tanglewood is a very good album, but some…
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Grapevine Presents: Benni Hemm Hemm Live at Hotel Borg, March 30th
For our second podcast, the Grapevine presents Benni Hemm Hemm’s Hotel Borg performance of March 30th, 2006, in its entirety. We are skipping the introductions and interviews for a few reasons: 1) the show itself is exactly an hour, and we don’t…
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T-Model Ford
We interviewed T-Model for the last issue, and complained that his comments may be repeated a bit too often, and that his music wasn’t appreciated enough. We were amused, then, to hear that the same quotes he told us were even the…
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There’s One Born Every Minute
Arriving an hour and a half after the doors opened, the photographer and I couldn’t help but notice that there were about seven people in the club, the stage already adorned with a giant GLC banner bearing the slogan, “You knows it,”…
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First Annual Þórir Week Approaches Climax with Grapevine Podcast
The Grapevine’s First Annual Þórir Week reaches dizzying heights today, Friday, March 3, as Þórir takes to downtown Reykjavík to bring his music to the people. Starting at 5 pm, local time, Þórir performed at 12 Tónar with his band the Death…
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If Tattoos Were Instruments
When Jón Atli of Hairdoctor told me the opening line he was planning, I was expecting a rumble. Jón Atli is a small, well-groomed… well, pretty boy with a good voice who fronts Hairdoctor, and who likely has women call him to…
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You’ll Be Dead in Three Years:
The last 18 months have been productive for singer and songwriter Þórir Georg Jónsson (also known by his interesting stage name My Summer as a Salvation Soldier). In 2004, Þórir was selected as the most promising new talent at the Icelandic Music…
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Björgvin Halldórsson: Ár og öld
It should come as no surprise that middle-aged pop celebrity Björgvin Halldórsson’s dabbling in country, rock and blues have aged far better than his cheesy, contrived power ballads. The explicit agony of sitting through songs like Sóley, Skýið and Sendu nú vagninn…
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Hjálmar: Hjálmar
Swedish-Icelandic reggae group Hjálmar’s self-titled sophomore release is its predecessor’s superior in every way. The songs have lost their careless let’s-all-get-high atmosphere and wound down to a steady, professional pace that bypasses all preconceptions of what a reggae album can be while…
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Sálin hans Jóns míns: Undir þínum áhrifum
Sálin have seemingly discarded their usual forthrightness for a more scattered, loose approach, opting for a blander, more finely crafted style of guitar-pop than the catchy, hook-driven songs they’re known for. Only Blær seems to possess a hint of the energy one…
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Worm Is Green: Push Play
A placid, atmospheric selection of electro trip-hop with a lyrical fixation on lonely robots, Push Play oozes listlessly from song to song, finding comfort in radio-friendly contentedness. There is an air of insincerity to the laid-back atmosphere of the album, however, and…
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Svala: Bird of Freedom
Endearing attempts at halfway-decent pop composition occasionally poke through on this soulless, soggy stool sample of an album, but they are almost completely buried under a mountain of utterly brainless guitar melodies and what are quite possibly the worst lyrics this reviewer…
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Ampop: My Delusions
Why does everyone whose band can do a halfway-passable impression of Radiohead suddenly think they’re qualified musicians? I don’t propose to answer that, but I will tell you that Ampop’s latest album, while hackneyed and commonplace in the extreme, is a pleasant…
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Ðe lónlí blú bojs: Komplít
If you feel like buying a Björgvin Halldórsson album (may God have mercy on your soul), but don’t have the financial standings to shell out 2,500 ISK for the three-disc leviathan detailed above, then you might want to consider this as a…
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Editor’s Choice
Hairdoctor: Shampoo Hairdoctor snuck up on us—known more for their hairdressing and DJing at Sirkus bar, they seemed to be taking advantage of the good will they’d built up when they got onto the big stage at this year’s Iceland Airwaves Festival.…
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Blues Gone Wild
Bob Log III, the black sheep of Mississippi blues label Fat Possum Records, hit Iceland like a more hormonal, if more awkward, Matthew McConaughey. The stoner charm of his voice matched with the road stories I’d heard about this legend of the…
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Wish We Were There
Grapevine resources were stretched too thin, and no reporter was able to document the chemistry of Mugison, Trabant and Hjálmar playing together at NASA just before the holidays. According to those in attendance, highlights included Hjálmar doing straightforward back-up for Trabant, and…
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Sturdy Bar Required
Walking into Hressó on December 21st to see a Þórir gig, it felt a bit like New Year’s Day—the party had obviously already happened, and Reykjavík! was entirely responsible. While there was a universal view that Reykjavík! were “morons”, there was disagreement…
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Atmospheric Basement
Some bands are possessed of an eerie, if not very adventurous, talent: The ability to sound almost exactly the same live as they do on record. Worm Is Green is definitely such a band. They relied completely on the atmosphere of the…