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t.A.T.u. – The Greatest and most Awsome Band in the World, Part 3
It’s been entirely too long since I last reported to you about t.A.T.u. – the greatest and most awesome band in the world – and as you can imagine, they’ve been busy spreading their greatness and awesome around the globe. So great…
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Severed Crotch – Soul Cremation
Severed Crotch is a five piece progressive Death Metal band out of Reykjavík. Severed Chrotch is what you get when you mix Death Metal with quantum physics and ADHD. Their debut, Soul Cremation, is a self released 5 track EP and its…
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Standing in the Desert, Thinking of Rain
Yes, the Coachella polo grounds were not rainy. And this astounded the former Pulp frontman. He spent the better part of thirty minutes trying to wrap his head around that. A few days later, driving away from the desert site of the…
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Trassar – Amen
I do not have the faintest idea what this is and lacking any kind of musical reference point I don´t know how to pass judgement. There is some blatant Bush-bashing going down here and a bit of Bible belittlement to boot, so…
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Mínus – The Great Northern Whalekill
This was selected as the most awaited album of 2007 by music critics in the Reykjavík Grapevine’s 2006 year end list. Rock band Mínus has evolved a fair bit over the years, exploding from hardcore to stadium like cock-rock. This release continues…
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The Best Band No One Knows
The tiny non-profit co-op organic-café shop Hljómalind on Laugavegur has proven to be an incredibly popular concert venue, especially within the Reykjavík punk scene, where the sXe section holds a special affection for the place. Obviously, as a venue, Hljómalind has many…
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Seabear -The Ghost That Carried Us Away
Seabear is a four piece and this is their first full-length album, but previously they´ve released the EP Singing Arc. Reykjavík´s hipsters seem to like them and talk avidly about their concerts. The world is also taking notice, the influential German label…
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An Ample Dose of Happiness
After squeezing through an almost impenitrable crowd (receiving pokes and evil eyes as a reward for my aggression) I finally managed to get a good view of the stage at the Reykjavík Art Museum when Nouvelle Vague was performing their second song…
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Ólöf Arnalds – Við og við
Ólöf Arnalds has been playing music for a long time (for example with Múm and Stórsveit Nix Noltes) but this is her first solo release. Mostly it´s just Ólöf playing guitar and singing in a high-pitched voice that is definitely unique, sometimes…
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Wulfgang – Wulfgang
Wulfgang were runners up in 2005 Battle of the Bands. Since then they have been busy recording their self-titled first album, released on Cod Music. This is rock ´n´ roll, sometimes with a distinctive prog-rock feel. The song Machinery has received some…
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Mínus – Jesus Christ Bobby
Quite possibly the most abrasive release in Icelandic musical history, JCB is bass heavy, un-compromising and brimming with delectable drum work. This is Mínus at their most unpredictable and angry; a relic of their shaven-headed era. Befitting of the label “Art-Core”, or…
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Megas – Loftmynd
When Megas first appeared in the 70s, he was the first artist to attempt writing intelligent lyrics in Icelandic within the context of rock music, at which he remains unsurpassed. His 1977 collaboration with Spilverkið, Á bleikum náttkjólum, has been named the…
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The Vulcan Dub Squad – The New Designers
The other day, a guy came by and dropped a CD on us that he professed to have recorded in his basement. The Vulcan Dub Squad hail from Ontario, Canada and apparently this is their sixth release. There is neither much Vulcan…
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The Best Depressing Music of the 90s
The early 90s were not a happy time to be young. In between communism and Al-Qaeda, with a Clinton in the White House and the apparent End of History, there was little to be passionately for or against. Even the 80s had…
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Das Kapital – Lili Marlene
As is often the case with artists, the worse they fare in their personal lives, the better they sound professionally. In 1984 singer Bubbi was at his nadir, having released two flops the same year and just about to start the first…
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Skátar – Ghost of the Bollocks to Come
Riding high on an indie rock wave, comes the Reykjavík fivesome Skátar with their first studio album, and it has its irregular glorious moments. With a barrage of guitars, bass doodles and whacky keyboards that at times seem to be heading in…
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Evil Madness – Demon Jukebox
Although flawed in places, this collection of ambient noise is nevertheless a fine product, and in many places a testament to the brilliance and/or complete and utter insanity of its creators, although there are other times when the obvious minimalism of some…
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Sudden Weather Change – Sudden Weather Change
The self-titled debut album from indie rock quintet Sudden Weather Change is a middle of the road CD, never boring, but not particularly engaging either. Founded on the remains of System Failure 3550 ERROR ERROR, Sudden Weather Change occasionally display great potential…
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Cannibal Corpse – Kill
Kill is an apt reference to what CC are all about and far removed from their older, laboured, album titles. But that is about the gist of CC´s progression. Once you get into the album you soon discover that it is just…
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An Exceptional Anomaly
There was a fair amount of anticipation on my behalf before Ólöf Arnald’s debut release concert. Ólöf has gotten great reviews for her new album and I had previously seen her warm up for Amiina in concert but this was Ólöf’s night.…
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The Kitchen Motors Collective – The Kitchen Motors Family Album
Bad, bad, bad: this is the collective worst of Icelandic music neatly bundled up in all its shallow, pretentious and self-indulgent glory, with some extra-pretentious liner notes thrown in to boot. Representative Man kick off this shitfest with some block rockin’ beats,…
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Can I Get a Witness?
When The Sugarcubes first embarked on their musical voyage under the slogan ‘World Domination or Death,’ few people expected them (or more accurately, one of them, although many of the ‘Cubes still work closely with Björk) to live up to the hype.…
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The Brotherhood of the Negative
Iceland’s favourite sons of rock n’ roll, collectively known as Mínus, are back at it. After being hailed as the saviours of metal by several esteemed rock publications following their third studio release – Halldór Laxness in 2003 – this April will…