From Iceland — Electric Dreams: Jónbjörn On Life, The Future And Reykjavík's Dance Music Scene

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Elina Shorokhova

The audible and visual subsistence of music is undeniable. Jónbjörn Finnbogason—also known as JB and one-half of house music label Lagaffe Tales—is a creative who works within both worlds as a music producer, DJ, label-manager, promoter and designer.

Design and Music

He currently works at digital agency Dark Arts of Digital in Berlin, specializing in social media and digital marketing for record labels and musicians. “In my spare time, I do the design, A&R and label management for Lagaffe Tales, which I started back in 2012 with my good friend Viktor Birgiss,” Jónbjörn explains. “I also started working on my solo project again after a three year hiatus around the time I moved to Berlin.”

Jónbjörn feels his inspiration comes from all over, and he likes having personal side-projects to keep him inspired. “Sometimes a visit to my hometown [Hnífsdalur in the Westfjords] or travelling around Iceland really does it for me. Other times it’s my experiences from different clubs in Berlin,” he explains. “Speaking to like-minded people about music and their work also makes me excited about making something interesting myself.”

Future clubbing

Having been away from Reykjavík for a few years, Jónbjörn can see clearer how it differs from larger cities like Berlin. “The main difference is that most venues [in Iceland] have a broad audience, so there is no place for dance music only,” he says. “Shout-out to Kaffibarinn and Sónar festival, but I think what Reykjavík needs now is a small, raw and versatile club for all kinds of dance music.”

This year, Jónbjörn has performed in Helsinki, Vienna and Tbilisi.  He recently started making dance-edits of pop songs—like Páll Óskar’s 1996 euro dance hit ‘Ég Er Bundinn Fastur Við Þig’—available as a free download on Bandcamp. “I’m working on loads of original music and I’ll be releasing something very soon,” he says. “Then I’ll play at my favourite club in Berlin, Zur Wilden Renate, on August 2nd before moving back to Reykjavík later that month!”