Author: Joe Shooman
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/a0544006334_16.jpg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
Epilepsy EP
by Joe Shooman
Let’s be straight from the start on this one: it’s not all indie-rock, quite often it’s the other way around;…
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/rivers-and-poems-600x600-web.jpg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
Rivers & Poems
by Joe Shooman
A collaboration between Frosti Jónsson and Japanese ambient drone artist Nobuto Suda, this four-and-a-half track suite falls deeply into the…
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/11742764_1463975727238160_9123724624842419524_n.jpg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
I Got A Feeling
by Joe Shooman
The opening track “Like A Bird” is well-named because it really does resemble the output of Mr. Oizo of Flat…
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/a0072858354_10.jpg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
Apeshedder
by Joe Shooman
Glitchy synths, ambient interludes, and dreamscape pop: that’s ‘Apeshedder’ in a nutshell. What that doesn’t tell us about, of course, is the shimmering flourishes with…
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/Ottoman-e1431681857322.jpg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
Heretic EP
by Joe Shooman
A man woke up from dreams of flying to find the grey skies had finally, irrevocably and godlessly fallen; a…
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/11045443_10152642474916277_3759040484002468171_o-e1431510197825.jpg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
The Sun’s Gotta Shine…
by Joe Shooman
In numerous ways this is a pure blues/rock album, but the lyrics throughout are sharp, witty and personal/political. It’s easy…
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/Bitter-Resentful.jpg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
Bitter & Resentful
by Joe Shooman
Smekkleysa (2014)Well, he isn’t really, although he comes close on “The Lovers” a giddy duet in which he and his…
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/8db9c5db7e3aaeda.jpg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
Autumn Skies
by Joe Shooman
What beautiful sounds this album delivers; it’s simply a brilliantly-designed and controlled set of pastoral pop songs that delivers an…
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/15eba4cfc5feb0.jpg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
Black Valentine – Polygamy Is Alright With Me
by Joe Shooman
Whoa, someone likes the Velvet Underground don’t they? “Get It Together,” which opens this tawdry album, is—probably by design—exactly like…
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/c28fe291ed8bd150.jpg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
Klezmer Kaos: Froggy
by Joe Shooman
Get ready to dance! And possibly cry. And then to say, “Hang on, how come this band is now playing…
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/817c48255ac3c21.jpg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
For Weeks
by Joe Shooman
Oh ok then, Henrik Björnsson sounds like some kind of deadpan cynical cowboy fronting a hybrid Pet Shop Boys /…
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/f127dd79de934292.jpg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
AMFJ: Bæn
by Joe Shooman
‘Útburður Umskiptingur’ is a cracking opener: for nearly a minute you’ll be turning the volume up and up to try…
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/e469f58fd3bb9f5.jpg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
Ham: Svik, Harmur Og Dauði
by Joe Shooman
A juggernaut doesn’t have to be going at 100mph to squish you flat: the inexorable push forward of a 25mph…
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/87b2efc4c394476.jpg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
Skúli Mennski: Búgí!
by Joe Shooman
The opening tracks of this fine, strange album—‘Innsigling’ and ‘Leggir’—set up this LP as one containing the best doomy-blues songs…
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/8c8acf3d2561cb.jpg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
Daníel Ágúst: The Drift
by Joe Shooman
Blues doesn’t get the appreciation it deserves. But if Daníel Águst has got anything to do with it, that’s gonna…
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/73cec96cf9f4b856.jpg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
Deep Jimi and the Zep Creams: Better When We´re Dead
by Joe Shooman
Start this album on track 7—‘Don’t Let Your Dreams Go’—which will tell you everything you need to know about the…
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/20ff237a68c8.jpg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
Jón Jónsson: Wait For Fate
by Joe Shooman
What is evident about Mr Jónsson is that he has absolutely impeccable taste. The title track’s acoustic spins on The…
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/536fe09dd63a1ce5.jpg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
Valgeir Sigurðsson: Draumalandið
by Joe Shooman
Divested of the enviro-politic moving picture of the same name, this ceases to be a soundtrack and transcends even the…
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/d0eac62c583f8810.jpg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
Ourlives: We Lost The Race
by Joe Shooman
Thanks, you bastards. I was having a zonked-out Sunday there, minding my own business, before your proggy, introspective tunes made…
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/3beada431f51e25d.jpg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
Nögl: I Proudly Present
by Joe Shooman
Well, yes indeed: why not be proud of what you produce? We were massively proud of a cake we made…
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/40122cf78bb6b28.jpg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
Snorri Helgason: I’m Gonna Put My Name On Your Door (2009)
by Joe Shooman
This debut solo album takes in country-blues (The Silence Of The Night) , a kinda hoedown rock (Freeze-out) and purer,…
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/89a4a771b69941c.jpg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
The Foghorns: A Diamond As Big As The Motel 6 (2009)
by Joe Shooman
The boy Bart Cameron and friends return with an album that manages to simultaneously inhabit a Midwestern, dusty landscape and…
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/f9acbe8cc124e88.jpg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
Moto Boy
by Joe Shooman
Mozzer—were you in Sverige 20-odd years ago? We think you were… If Morrissey was a little less of a miserable,…
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/e132c891e2dc6e70.gif?quality=95&resize=294,200)
Casiokids
by Joe Shooman
Oh yes! Dubby, poppy, swinkly basslines, Mr Oizo-esque bubbly farty electro-kazoo noises! Jaunty drums! Yes, jaunty! Sweet pop melodies! Harmonies!…
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/4fe20c46dc8732.jpg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
Metronomy
by Joe Shooman
Inventive to the point of annoyance Who’d have thought that being in debt would make you famous these days? For…