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Music News: Cate Le Bon Comes To Iceland, We Boo As Húrra Closes
The Hljómahöll museum venue at Keflavík’s Museum of Rock ‘n’ Roll, has announced a concert by Welsh indie star Cate Le Bon on Monday September 9th. Cate’s latest album, ‘Reward,’ has been making waves internationally and gaining plenty of critical acclaim, sweeping…
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Premiere: Mr. Silla Wants To Run Away With You On New Single “Naruto”
Mr. Silla has unveiled the first single from their forthcoming second solo album ‘Hands On Hands.’ “Naruto (say you’ll run away)” is a blissful, summery house-pop track with a relaxed, late-night-after-party feel. The video was shot in Gondomar, close to Porto in…
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What The Hell Is Post-dreifing? An A-Z Guide To The DIY Music Scene
The Post-dreifing scene has so much going on, it can be hard to find your bearings. To get you started, here’s a rough guide to the main players, bands, venues and events that make up the collective. asdfhg. A keyboard-mashing lo-fi trio,…
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Lucky 15: Eistnaflug 2019 Goes Back To Basics
Over the past 15 years, Eistnaflug has grown from a tiny one-room DIY shindig to one of the biggest festivals in Iceland. This year, though, in honour of its 15th anniversary, the Neskaupstaður metal festival is going back to its roots. It’s…
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Track By Track: ‘Undir skyggðarhaldi’ By Andavald
Black metal supergroup Andavald dropped their debut, ‘Undir skyggðarhaldi,’ earlier this month, capping three years or work. It’s an imposing monolith of a black metal album—one designed to beat you down with no hope of help or return. To learn more, we…
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Music News: Innipúkinn Festival, New Symphony Conductor & Une Misère
The initial lineup for this year’s Innipúkinn festival—the only place in Iceland where you can pound Breezers on a carpet of fake grass—has been announced. Performers this year include Hildur, Between Mountains, Vök, dj. flugvél og geimskip, Friðrik Dór, Joey Christ, Moses…
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New Wave DIY: Meet The Post-dreifing Music & Arts Collective
In a bright sunlit living room lined with antique furniture and tchotchkes, a group of friends are gathered around a large wooden table, pouring coffee and delighting over the theme song to The Price Is Right. More people arrive in a casual…
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Having A Ball With Simon Le Bon: Duran Duran In Iceland
If someone in Glasgow asks you if you are a Celtics or Rangers fan, simply stating that you don’t follow football won’t cut it. It will inevitably be followed by: “but if you did, which team would you support?” Much the same…
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Eclipsing the Sun: Living Legends Take Laugardalur
There are a few concerts which can be said to have changed the Icelandic pop landscape. One of these was Led Zeppelin’s seminal gig at the Reykjavik Arts Festival in 1970. The swinging sixties were more or less still in full swing…
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Sounds From The Quiet Place: Composer Hafdís Bjarnadóttir Sees Music In Everything
Hafdís Bjarnadóttir has been performing, teaching and composing music for close to three decades now, diligently—and prodigiously—creating music for multiple acts across nearly every genre. Her most recent effort, ‘A Northern Year,’ is an extensive and fascinating composition she made for Passepartout…
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Contemporary Classics: Reykjavík Midsummer Music Reviewed
You could be forgiven for thinking that a piece entitled ‘Homage to Robert Schumann’ might sound like music by Schumann. I’m guessing that most of the audience who attended the Reykjavík Midsummer Music Festival on June 21st might have thought the same.…
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Vape Clouds, Hard Bass & Hatari: Secret Solstice 2019 Reviewed
Grapevine contributor/photographer Sigurður Ragnarsson gives us the low-down on his experience at Secret Solstice 2019 iteration. Friday: Secret Solstice 2019 Walking into Laugardalur, I was greeted by a sea of golden vests, police officers, thick vape clouds, and pre-teens on the phones…
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Electric Dreams: TRPTYCH’s Techno Trilogy
Around five years ago, veteran Icelandic techno label Thule Records caught the attention of well-respected Russian DJ and трип Records founder Nina Kraviz. Since then, трип Records has included Icelandic techno artists Bjarki, Exos and Biogen on their their LPs, EPs and…
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Warm Is The House Band: Warmland Emerge With Their Debut Album ‘Unison Love’
Warm are most things that start close to home. Emerging pop duo Warmland are Arnar Guðjónsson and Hrafn Thoroddsen—both prominent figures in the Icelandic music scene. Arnar is a producer and the lead singer and guitarist of Leave, while Hrafn is a…
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Premiere: Jae Tyler Unveils A “Famous” New Single
Regulars on the Reykjavík music scene will be more than familiar with “Kansas-bred art boy” and self-proclaimed psychedelic-party-pop artist Jae Tyler. A long-time Iceland-dweller who’s married to Icelandic musician Mr. Silla, Jae is now located in Berlin, where he continues to release…
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An Ocean Of Sound: Anna Þorvaldsdóttir Evokes The Vastness Of Nature
At first, there’s a loud hissing, like a hard wind whipping up sand from a barren plain. It’s joined by a high, persistent screech wrung, perhaps, from a violin at full stretch. Steadily and purposefully, other elements start to appear in this…
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First Blood: Meet ROKKY, The New Club Kid On The Block
Sometimes all it takes is the right song. Quite suddenly last fall, newcomer producer ROKKY dropped a single that would single-handedly put her on charts, in festival lineups, and land in an Esprit commercial. The song, “My Lips,” is a thumping clubby…
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Grapevine Playlist: ROKKY, Hildur & Teitur, Sigur Rós, Gyðjan Uxi & More
Like six hidden people pirouetting out of a weird misty summer moss-scape, here are the latest mythical emergences from the Icelandic music scene in a brand new edition of Grapevine playlist. ROKKY – deux A bit like a less goth and silly…
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Track By Track: Daniel Pioro – Dust (Ft. Valgeir Sigurðsson)
Icelandic composer Valgeir Sigurðsson picked up an award at the International Composer’s Conference in Argentina earlier this year. The piece in question was “Dust”—a striking three-part work written for violinist Daniel Pioro, and part of Daniel’s 2018 Bedroom Community album of the…
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Iceland’s Festival Season: Flying Balls & Indoor Demons
Iceland might not be the best country in the world for camping, but that doesn’t stop us from putting on a fun and diverse array of summer music festivals. Most of them are built around Icelandic acts, with a focus on intimate…
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Track By Track: AdHd – AdHd7
AdHd are an acclaimed genre-destroying four-piece group that started in 2008, comprising saxophonist Óskar Guðjónsson, guitar and bass player Ómar Guðjónsson, pianist Davíð Þór Jónsson, and percussionist Magnús Trygvason Eliassen. Since then, they’ve released seven free-flowing albums with elements of jazz, post-rock,…
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Levelling Up: Flóni Enters Stage Two
On every Icelandic hip-hop fan’s lips, you’ll hear the name Flóni. After dropping his debut album only two years ago, the singer quickly dominated the scene in a way that had never been done before. Now, he’s back with his second endeavour,…
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From Biennale To Vinyl: Styrmir Lays Performance Art Down On Wax
Most of us at some point have taken pause to ask ourselves “What am I doing with my life?” For Styrmir Örn Guðmundsson—artist name simply Styrmir—this question came to him during a fateful walk through a Riga cemetery and became the title…