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Straumur: East Of My Berlin—Icelandic Synth Stars On The Move
Electro-pop duo East of My Youth have been making international rounds in the past years. In the middle of September they released a brand new song and video. The Berlin-based project is comprised of Thelma Marín Jónsdóttir and Herdís Stefánsdóttir, who earlier…
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Straumur: Poem Thiefs Dancing In The Disco Lights
Grísalappalísa, Iceland’s premier literate new wave band, just put our their first new song in like ages, and threw a concert at Kex Hostel—their first in over a year. It’s good to have them back and ‘Kvæðaþjófurinn’ (Poem Thief), does not disappoint.…
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Straumur: Power-Punk And Trippy Historic Sites
Icelandic-Brightonian punk-pop trio, Dream Wife, just put out the song ‘Fire’ and it sure has been blazing up music publications, both domestic and international, as well as getting good press at The Fader, Stereogum and airplay on BBC 1’s Annie Mac. It…
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French Masters Do Distortion Justice
In our last column we wrote about ‘Take Me Down,’ the first single from the upcoming EP ‘Unravel,’ by electronic singer-songwriter Einar Indra. The EP is now out and it is his third release on Möller Records–one of Iceland’s premium electronic labels–…
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Straumur: The Old And The Nu, With Black Pox, Par-Ðar, EinarIndra & More
The rapper Bróðir Big just released his debut LP, ‘Hrátt Hljóð’ (“Raw Sound”), and while there sure is a swelling hip-hop wave in Iceland right now, Bróðir Big sits on shore and watches it. The album is pure 90s golden age hip-hop:…
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Straumur: Anderson .Paak-robatics and kef LAVÍK Videodrome
First things first, the Secret Solstice festival that took place in Laugardalur from June 1518 was a monstrous blissful good time for us. The best in show this time was for sure Anderson .Paak, whose swaggering rap antics, ferocious live band funk…
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Straumur: Juggling Pineapples With Smjörvi
Old favourites Bárujárn, who haven’t been active for quite a few years, returned last week out of the blue with a brand new song and video. Those who’ve read our column before know our affection for their unique brand of surf rock…
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Straumur: More Songs About WD-40 And Djammviskubit
An emerging electronic act with an eccentric name caught our eye recently: two guys who go by the names of Johnny Blaze & Hakki Brakes. They just put out two music videos, and one of the songs is an ode to an…
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Straumur: Mountains Between Mountains
Músíktilraunir, the annual Icelandic Battle of the Bands, was held a couple of weeks ago. The winning band was Between Mountains: an impressive duo comprising two young girls from the Westfjords, Katla Vigdís Vernharðsdóttir (16 years old) and and Ásrós Helga Guðmundsdóttir…
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Straumur’s Top 5 Icelandic Albums of 2016
#5 Samaris – ‘Black Lights’ On their third and most mature album Samaris deliver threefold on their early promise as the best post-dubstep Icelandic pop band. Black Lights by Samaris #4 Aron Can – ‘Þekkir stráginn’ The young and talented singer/rapper Aron…
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Straumur: Disco And Not Disco
Earlier this summer we introduced you to the debut album from Andi, who makes delightful retro-sounding instrumental synth pop with nods to synth maestros of the past like Cerrone and Yellow Magic Orchestra. He just released a new song titled “Eltingaleikur” (“Chase,”…
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STRAUMUR: Excursion To The Ambient Underwaterground
Sindri Freyr Steinsson is a jack of many musical trades. He explores surf punk with a theremin twist in the band Bárujárn and is one of the leaders of the golden-era disco outfit Boogie Trouble. But his first solo venture is another…
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Straumur: Life Secretive
A comprehensive overview of the 2016 Secret Solstice experience. Thursday The Good Flatbush Zombies Flatbush Zombies incited a minor riot on the Valhalla Stage. The Brooklyn rap trio tore up the stage with an amazing performance, most of it shirtless. Their music…
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Straumur: Icelanders Abroad
For the first time in the history of this column, the Straumur editorial board went outside of Iceland to mine for material, and we did it just for you, dear reader. We travelled to Barcelona for the gigantic and well-respected Primavera Sound…
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Sci-fi Disco, 60s Lounge And Berlin Techno
An odd recording came over our transom last month: the self-titled debut album/cassette of electronic musician Andi, which came out May 19 on the prestigious underground label Lady Boy Records. It’s a beautiful cassette that looks and sounds like an ancient relic…
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Straumur: Tarnished
Musical recycling is a long and enduring tradition, kept alive this month by a gem of a remix, Einar’s Indra treatment of the song “Pikaia” by Magnús Leifur Sveinsson (former member of indie band Úlpa). Einar Indra is an electronic musician who…
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Nintendo, Slack Rock And Psychos!
This month saw the release of ‘Polyhedron’, the debut LP from the long-overlooked one-man band Laser Life. The one man in question is Breki Steinn Mánason, a 25-year-old guitarist with roots in the east of Iceland and hardcore rock acts such as…
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Straumur: High Quality House & Melting Hearts
The editorial board of Straumur travelled all the way to Ísafjörður over Easter to witness the always extremely chilled and awesome Aldrei Fór Ég Suður (I Never Went South) music festival. It was two nights of festive fun with loads of bands…
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Straumur: The Voice Of A (de)Generation
The find of February for us was local band kef LAVÍK. Although they didn’t perform at Sónar, they were there in spirit, as a song they produced and performed on was a part of the Vaginaboys show. They sound like a more…