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Good Viibrations: On Tour With Björk & Viibra, A Utopian Photo Diary
Björk’s 2017 album ‘Utopia’ saw her form a unique team to bring her vision into reality, and to tour it around the world. This included everyone from long-time collaborator James Merry, who also designed her masks and facepieces, to Instagram-famous makeup artist…
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Electric Dreams: AAIIEENN’s Noise, Darkness & Electricity
Over the past few years Hallmar Gauti Halldórsson—better known as his alter ego AAIIEENN—has been experimenting with raw analogue synthesizer rhythms and noise. His playful techno and sombre ambient music has been released on his own label RIMAR Tracks and also, befittingly,…
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The Artist’s Vision: MIMRA Aims To Retain Creative Control
Music, films, and books can easily come across as light-hearted entertainment that serve to make us forget our everyday worries. Recording studios, film companies, and publication houses often rigorously control the creative process to meet this ideal and make the material appeal…
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Grapevine Playlist: Birnir, AAIIEENN, Hekla, BleachKid Funi, Saga Nazari & more
Like a skulk of hangry arctic foxes prowling into your living room, here’s the new Grapevine playlist, including more hip-hop, soothing screeching and more. Birnir – Dauður (Feat JFDR, Arnar) Just when you thought, “Yet another hip-hop track?” the answer is yes,…
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Cloud Nine: The Extreme Chill Festival Aims For The Skies
Since 2010, the Icelandic electronica community has been rallied together by the annual Extreme Chill festival, a multi-locational gathering of the country’s best and most beloved electronic acts, along with very select international names. Now on the verge of its ninth edition,…
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The Goth Bitch Speaks: Countess Malaise’s Artist Playlist
Countess Malaise, Iceland’s premier horror rap goddess, welcomes you all to her castle of turnt darkness with this playlist of her favourite Icelandic songs. You know, the formative tracks that instilled in her the horror she has since unleashed on the world.…
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Build The Pattern, Break It Apart: Munstur Focus On The Repetitions
On a sunny, breezy late afternoon, bandmates Kristinn Arnar Sigurðsson and Atli Arnarson stroll calmly across the grassy Hagatorg roundabout towards the cement statue platform in its centre. Dressed in workers’ clothes and hand-painted sneakers, the pair are easy going and friendly,…
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Otherworldly Sounds: Berlin-Based Artist On Experimenting With Visual Art And Electronic Music
Kolbrún Klara Gunnarsdóttir is an artist out of Reykjavík who currently resides in Berlin. She is a part of the Sweaty Records music label—previously mentioned by Electric Dreams in issue #10. She believes she has found her voice through experimenting with visual…
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Claiming The Rock Scene: Feminist Punk Band Hórmónar Releases Its First Album
It was on a dark New Year’s Eve that a group of five young friends decided to make a resolution: participate in and win the “Icelandic Battle of the Bands,” also known as “Músíktilraunir.” The newly formed band, which the friends called…
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Music News: Extreme Chill Schedule Finalised, Hayley Kiyoko Plays Airwaves, Birnir’s Matador On Fire
The Extreme Chill festival schedule has been finalised. The avant-garde music festival that takes place September 6th-9th, with its focus on electronic music, moves between venues, setting up shop at the Harpa-Kaldalón music hall on Thursday, the vaunted Gamla Bíó on Friday, a…
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Techno Superpower: X/OZ Label Manager On Untapped Potential, Trust And Connecting Through Music
Anna Ásthildur Thorsteinsdóttir is a mainstay in the vivid world of Icelandic music, where she usually resides behind the scenes. She has experience as a project and marketing manager, head of communications and promotion and, in the past year, as label manager…
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Artist Playlist: Acid, Berghain And CGI Vaporwave With Hermigervill
Hermigervill is Sveinbjörn Thorarinsson, an accomplished electronic musician, performer, producer, and ever-present Reykjavík scene mainstay. With some exciting new music coming down the pipes, we asked him to share a playlist of some of his favourite Icelandic tracks. Chevron – It’s All…
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Visiting The Family: Norðanpaunk Assembled Iceland’s Underground Scene
There are very few events like Norðanpaunk. In fact, I’ve never been to one that even comes close. Norðanpaunk is an annual gathering of the Icelandic punk community and, aside from being an opportunity to meet (un)familiar faces from the Icelandic underground…
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The Birth Of The Pop Alien: Katrín Helga Evolves Into Special K
Chances are, if you follow Icelandic music, you’ll have seen Katrín Helga Andrésdóttir. A founding member of Reykjavíkurdætur and Kriki, she’s been active in the Reykjavík music scene for years. She plays and tours with Sóley and her solo project, Special-K, debuted…
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Music News: President Bongo, Airwaves For Gender Equality, G Y D A’s Moonchild
Acclaimed producer and DJ President Bongo—a former member of GusGus—has announced a new solo record. The release is the third in the LAPB (Les Aventures De President Bongo) series—an ambitious endeavour wherein Bongo “assumes the role of producer/instigator/artistic director, tasking some of…
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Grapevine Playlist: G Y D A, Vök, JFDR, Munstur, Grafík, Joey Christ & More
Welcome to another rich and varied Grapevine Playlist, containing everything from the starry gentility of the acronymic G Y D A and JFDR to the objectifying clusterfuck of the latest big rap track. Enjoy! G Y D A – Moonchild If you’d…
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Moderately Warm In The City: Billy Idol In Reykjavik
The evening starts with a surprise, and not an altogether pleasant one. Instead of getting our Billy on time, an unannounced opening act appears, looking and sounding nothing more than like Deep Purple in the deep south. The are called Rock Paper…
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All Our Yesterdays: Guns N’ Roses Take Reykjavik
Guns N’ Roses take to the stage like a lumbering Apatosaurus, crushing everything in their path and in constant danger of collapsing under their own weight. But then they always were. It’s just that the Jurassic period is over. Slash has the…
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Amanda Palmer Announces Surprise Ninja Gig Tomorrow At Iðnó
Amanda Palmer, singer, pianist, songwriter, author, performance artist, mother, meditation-enthusiast, wife of Neil Gaiman, and so much more, will be holding one of her famous Ninja Gigs tomorrow at Iðnó. If you’ve never heard of her Ninja Gigs, well it’s what it…
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The Grapevine Interns Present: The Official Summer 2018 Playlist
Even though this year, with its lack of warmth and sunshine, the Icelandic summer has been anything but summery, we, the interns at the Reykjavík Grapevine, Noemi and Christine, have steadfastly decided that it shall be summer from this day onwards. But…
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Premiere: Gyða Valtýsdóttir Becomes GYDA; Releases Beautiful “Moonchild” Video
The Icelandic solo musician and master collaborator Gyða Valtýsdóttir, whose album of reworked classical compositions ‘Epicycle’ met with great acclaim upon its formal release in 2017, has unveiled a video for “Moonchild,” directed by Rebekka Rafnsdottir. It’s her first original solo work…
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Christmas Ends And Monday Starts: The Post Performance Blues Band Give It All
We all know the feeling. The moment you read the final word of an amazing book. The second your plane touches down on your flight back home from a holiday. The lights coming on after your favourite band has left the stage.…
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Music As Mirror: Futuregrapher On Process, Collaboration And Releasing Music
Árni Grétar is an Icelandic musician best known under the pseudonym Futuregrapher. He co-founded the Möller Records label and has in the past decade made consistent contributions to Iceland’s electronic music scene, ranging from unbound ambient music to accelerating techno and beyond.…