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Becoming Canon: Electronic Artists Pay Tribute To Biogen
In music, canon is the technique in which a single melody is overlaid with imitation melodies at different intervals. The original melody is the leader, the subsequent copies its followers. In the church, canonization is the declaration that a person who has…
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The Remote And The Vital: Connecting California’s Desert With The Iceland
The California desert is a land based in contradiction. A place where the feeling of impending apocalypse mingles closely with hopeful utopia. Where alien encounters are as common as daily prayer, and often intersect one another. Where “off-the-grid” communities share borders with…
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A Way To See The Sun: ICEVIEW Looks At Iceland In A Different Light
On a park bench in Taiwan, KT Browne is watching. She is watching the embrace of the searing East Asian sun. She watches people in the park walk tree-lined laps with small radios slung around their necks. She watches workers on scooters…
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New Nordic Cuisine On The Floodplains Of South Iceland
It’s been over a decade now since René Redzepi and the crew sat down to dish out the Manifesto for the New Nordic Cuisine. A lot of words were thrown on the table during that meeting: accessibility, sustainability, seasonality. Their initial meeting…
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Space In Time: The Reykjavík Museum of Photography
I feel like a surfer. Torn between pride and secrecy, wanting desperately to blab about how great my local spot is, but knowing that doing so instantly diminishes its awesomeness through increased popularity. But I’ll do it anyway, because The Reykjavík Museum…
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In The Time Of If: Siggi Odds Brings Back the Runes
“If I hadn’t been in design, I would probably be an archeologist,” says Icelandic designer Siggi Odds, “out there digging up Viking swords and stuff.” Siggi spent the first part of his life in Vancouver, living on the University of British Columbia…
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Music News in Brief (All Caps Edition): JFDR, AUÐUR, GANGLY & More
Gone are the days of A-sides and B-sides, we’re in the world of track by track. Listeners are often seduced away from narrative storytelling and continuous threads by the Spotify temptress and the “new-here-now” workflow. But last month AUÐUR, one of Reykjavík’s…
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Morbid Curiosity: Exploring The Dark With Filmmaker Erlingur Thoroddsen
Stephen King, the contemporary father of horror and science fiction, has an interesting theory about why we enjoy watching horror movies: “I think that we’re all mentally ill; those of us outside of the asylums only hide it a little better.” Psychologists…
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The Marshall House Opens!
Grandagarður 20 is a stunning building. On sunny days it stands stark against the blue sky, four stories of chipped paint and glass. On overcast days its white shades and translucent windows blend into the clouds. The building was originally used as…
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The Certainty In Wind: A Tempestuous Trip To Vík
Our trip started on a piece of graph paper. Five dates, each with its own column. Each column with a town. Each town with a person, or a point of interest. We’re headed south: Vík, Skaftafell, Höfn. Early Thursday morning we…
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Be Still, My Beating Art: A Guide To Reykjavík’s Small Galleries
There are plenty of routes to get familiar with a city’s cultural scene, but some are easier than others. Easy: talk to locals. Hard: learn Icelandic. Easy: read the Grapevine. Hard: plow your way through the OG fad series, the Icelandic sagas.…
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Playing It By Ear: The Musical Universe of Kosmodod
Samaris is not a secret. The hazy electronic trio has been garnering attention from record labels, press, and, of course, adoring fans at home and abroad, since their debut in 2011. But success comes in different strokes. While some are “born to…
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Unbeautiful: The Photography of Þórsteinn Sigurðsson, AKA xdeathrow
For some, seeing is more than a sense—it’s a sensation. “It’s painful to be somewhere, see something amazing and not be able to take a photo of it,” photographer Þórsteinn Sigurðsson says. “The other day I went food shopping and on my…
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Let There Be Dark: Dark Music Days Happening This Week!
Going to the symphony, attending a classical concert. There is an aura of sophistication and tradition that floats around the Icelandic Composers Society, the group that founded Reykjavík’s “Dark Music Days” back in 1980. As one of Iceland’s longest running music festivals,…
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The Shape Of Things: Icelandic Design In 2016
Even in Iceland, design is not an island. There is an inherent function associated with “design” that allows it to eclipse art without being absorbed. Fashions are worn, products are used, buildings are built. Design happens within a context. But Iceland itself…
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It’s The Winners Of The Fifth Annual Grapevine Music Awards!
What do they have that you don’t? It’s the fifth annual Grapevine Music Awards. Which means that it’s the fifth time we’ve rounded up a panel of expert music nerds for a few rounds of drinks and the chance to hash out…
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Album of the Year: ‘Black Lights’ by Samaris
We’re riding on Segways. It’s the first time I’ve met Jófríður, Áslaug and Doddi of Samaris and we’re weaving through the summery old harbour on wheels, our roles oddly reversed with the gawking groups of tourists. It was 2013, and the trio…
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Sónar Reykjavík: RBMA Bring On The SónarComplex Stage
When it comes to scouting and presenting emerging beatsmiths, Red Bull Music Academy has gained our trust. Since 1998 RBMA has been cranking out electronic musicians like Flying Lotus, Hudson Mowhawke and Nina Kraviz. Luminaries, to say the least. For the third…
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Music News In Brief: Cryptochrome, Sigur Rós, The Kraumur Awards and more!
Mysterious melty-faced trio GANGLY are pros at testing our patience, releasing one…killer…steady…track…at…a…time. This past week they put out their third track and video for the single ‘Blow Out.’ The track is as meticulous and haunting as the TV murderer Dexter, and the…
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Congratulations 2016 Kraumur Music Award Winners!
We’re halfway through the end of the beginning. Or the beginning of the end. Or anyways, we’re halfway through. It’s December 15th and it’s that time of year, when the entire Earth turns into one big mirror and we start that month…
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Otherworldly, More Human: Cryptochrome Complete Their Year-Long Video Project
Earlier this year Cryptochrome released their second album, ‘More Human,’ an elaboration and enhancement of their original cyber-blasted, hip-hop and pop infused sound. And they’ve been just as eye-catching as they have been ear-catching. Along with the album a slew of high-quality videos…
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Rendered Useful: A New Line Of Reindeer Products By Alvara
Each permitted hunter is allowed one reindeer. There are around 1,200 permits issued through a lottery system during reindeer hunting season, from July 15 – September 15. The hunt is a mechanism to protect the fragile highland ecosystem and to keep the…
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Sigur Rós: North American Tour 2017
Come to Iceland! Come to Iceland! No, no wait. Stay there. We’ll bring Iceland to you. The Icelandic post-rock dreamscapers and one of the top five answers given to the question: “why Iceland?” Sigur Rós, have just announced their Spring 2017 North…
