Album Review
Latest
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Track By Track: Futuregrapher’s ‘Hrafnagil’
Famous for rapid-fire drum ‘n’ bass tunes, electronic artist Futuregrapher—real name Árni Grétar—has made a name for himself as a great live performer, collaborated with numerous artists, and released three albums of his own. His fourth upcoming album, ‘Hrafnagil’ (“Raven Ravine”), is…
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Eitt
I was taken aback when I first started listening to this album, which manages to simultaneously sound like a score for an unmade film, theatre music and meditation music. I really started enjoying it when out walking, as it provided the perfect…
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Psych Fuck
Although not quite of it, Singapore Sling are a constant in the Icelandic music scene. As trends cycle from hip-hop to krútt to metal to techno and back again, Sling comfortably rest on the outskirts, eternally gazing into the void through dark…
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Few More Days To Go
Fufanu evolved out of Captain Fufanu, a two-piece techno production team that rose to prominence in Reykjavík’s electro scene at the beginning of the decade. Opting to ditch the mixing deck for a backing band, Fufanu churn out sparse, distorted post-punk on…
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‘Icelandick’
So, there’s an anonymous, experimental electro-R&B group called Vaginaboys, and they have an EP out entitled ‘Icelandick’. I feel like, you know, what more information could you possibly need on the subject, but as Vaginaboys are clearly setting out to perfect some…
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Epilepsy EP
Let’s be straight from the start on this one: it’s not all indie-rock, quite often it’s the other way around; “Brick Thief”, the final track on this grower of an EP, provides more crunch than you’d anticipate from the Big Country-ish opener…
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Vettlingatök
Æla was formed in a garage somewhere on the Reykjanes peninsula by four guys who wanted to sound like Purrkur Pillnikk (that legendary punk band fronted by Sugarcube Einar Örn). They quickly drew notice for their on-stage energy, winning over many an…
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Destrier
There are some high-quality moments on ‘Destrier’—the play with harmonics (and is that a Tartini tone I hear?) for the intro/outro; or from the 2:30 mark onward on “Dark Water,” for instance. The latter example highlights the technical skill on the part…
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Clockworking
The new record from Icelandic chamber music ensemble Nordic Affect showcases new works combining historical performance traditions with fresh new sounds. In addition to familiar instruments like the violin and viola, the group plays the traverso (a wooden flute), tthe harpsichord, and…
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Umleikis
Composer/violinist Una Sveinbjarnardóttir’s new album of violin solos is titled ‘Umleikis’, or “playing around.” Una is best known for her role in the Icelandic Symphony, performing and recording for countless national and international pieces. Originally intending to make an album of old…
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Double Slit
Some years ago there was an Icelandic band named Lada Sport, that was one of many mainstays in our local grassroots music scene. Despite having a few hits, such as “The World Is A Place For Kids Going Far,” they eventually split,…
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Mainland
I put on Lily The Kid’s EP, ‘Mainland’, early in the morning. As Lilja’s ethereal voice emerged, a housemate remarked that it was “perfect morning music.” “Unless this gives way to a wrenching punk scream— for all we know,” I smarmily replied.…
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Unortheta
‘Unortheta’ is a forty-minute frisson full of looming doom, blasting fury, and cavernous bellows that seem to emanate from the deep, below. [bandcamp width=100% height=120 track=1657488719 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small] The record’s atmospheric palette ranges from the ethereal to the oppressive,…
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Í Sporum Annara
Logn come screaming through the gates with a vicious noise attack egged on by a pair of voices battling to out-aggress one another, like two demons in thumbscrews howling insults at their tormentors. The instruments flail about in a barely controlled cacophony…
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I Got A Feeling
The opening track “Like A Bird” is well-named because it really does resemble the output of Mr. Oizo of Flat Beat fame. The blobby beats and tinkly top-end of “Throw It Away,” married to an insistent beat and strange squeezebox-esque sound, are…
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Apeshedder
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 which, for example, “Harmala” gleefully ends. Or the funtime trippiness of the spacey, cushiony “Ootz.” Or the way that track’s beat crumbles and stumbles toward drum &…
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We Came As We Left
The Bandcamp blurb for ‘We Came As We Left’, the second EP by Buspin Jieber (aka Murya, aka Guðmundur Ingi Guðmundsson) opens with the statement “Some call it Retro-Wave or even Retro-Futurism—we call it good music.” To that I can only say,…
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Mono Lisa
Quickly following the late March release of an EP called ‘Acid Eclipse’, electronic musician Daveeth has released his first full-length album, ‘Mono Lisa’. Daveeth, Akureyri native Davíð Hólm Júlíusson, has released several EPs since 2004. The new album is a genre-defyingly eclectic…
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Auðn
From the anguished beauty of the bittersweet melodies and the dark, atmospheric, aura, to the stellar sound production and the vicious throat-tearing vocal delivery, Auðn’s self-titled debut album is altogether flawless. Black metal has no right to be this beautiful. It is…
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Heretic EP
A man woke up from dreams of flying to find the grey skies had finally, irrevocably and godlessly fallen; a dense, muggy, sick, slow-oozing fog squelched and squeezed at the roof tiles of the world, sprawling in a dazed deception, proof at…
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The Sun’s Gotta Shine…
In numerous ways this is a pure blues/rock album, but the lyrics throughout are sharp, witty and personal/political. It’s easy to pull out any number of Bart Cameron’s pithy phrases: “You wanted a fight, alright you got a fight / But this…
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Söngvar elds og óreiðu
A friend of mine once said to me, “You know, black metal is a lot cleverer than it thinks it is.” And while many black metalheads, in their quest to be the tr00est ov cvlt, would run for a mile at the…
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Theatrics
‘Theatrics’ is Puzzle Muteson’s second album on the Bedroom Community imprint. He is still elusively hushed in style; his Antony-like vocals still quiver delicately along with his sparse, fingerpicked guitars. There’s a lot of talk about existence on the album, coded into…