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HAMPARAT Live Review: “A Yellow Weather Alert Experience”
On March 21, perennial rock band HAM teamed up with the synthesiser-based group Apparat Organ Quartet for a once-in-a-lifetime performance dubbed HAMPARAT. This is what it felt like. A female voice semi-whispers through the layers of white noise sounds as if it…
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Machine Gun Etiquette
Trailblazers HAM and Apparat Organ Quartet Melt Into HAMPARAT On March 21, members of HAM and Apparat Organ Quartet join forces as Iceland’s newest supergroup: HAMPARAT. When two cult collectives unite, the effect might be akin to a suddenly occurring natural phenomenon.…
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Do You Truly Love Sátan?
Iceland’s newest metal festival features a legendary comeback From June 6-8, the town of Stykkishólmur on the Snæfellsnes Peninsula hosts the first edition of Sátan, a brand new heavy metal music festival. I grabbed a coffee with Sátan organiser Gísli Sigmundsson…
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Grapevine Events: HAM, Viibra Release Show, Art Book Fair & New Hot Happenings Episode
Things truly get heated up on this week’s edition of Hot Happenings, as we have an absolutely fire discussion with Icelandic music industry expert Anna Jóna Dungal. A wearer of many hats in the industry with a rich and varied background, she…
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Grapevine Events: Lost Track, Slavic Spring Rituals, NeoArte & Much More
TGIF! Next week will bring us some extra days off before Easter, but before you go into hibernation from eating way too many chocolate Easter eggs, check out some of the cultural happenings in town. More events can be found at events.grapevine.is.…
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Welcome To The Old Skool: Icelandic Legends To Play Airwaves
Airwaves. That time of year when annoying youngsters fill the streets with their unbridled joy, loudness and new-fangled music (this magazine is infested with it: check pages 22-33). But for people who prefer their rock stars to be over 50, and preferably…
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Track by Track: HAM – ‘Söngvar Um Helvíti Mannana’
Icelandic rock megaliths HAM recently dropped their newest album, ‘Söngvar um helvíti mannanna’, or “Songs about the Hell of Man.” We sat down with the group to hear more about their hellish world. 1. Eldur (“Fire) HAM: This is one of many…
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Inside Sticky Records, Iceland’s Only Pro-Bono Label
The cliché goes that record labels are run by stuffy men in suits who make decisions about the future of artists in penthouse office ivory towers, from where they look down upon the little guys. But that’s as far away as you…
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History Of Jóhann: The Composer’s Path Through The Reykjavík Scene
Jóhann Jóhannson’s career has taken him through a broad range of bands and collaborations, some of which are profiled below. In our in-depth interview, he cited Reykjavík’s scene as a formative factor on his working method, saying: “One of the great things…
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Does Jóhann Dream Of Electric Sheep? The Rise Of Jóhann Jóhannsson
Jóhann Jóhannsson emerges blinking from the dark doorway of the studio into the brightness of a late-summer Reykjavík afternoon. He’s looking fresh and relaxed, jacketed and bristly-bearded, enjoying the sun as he beckons me inside with a friendly, scholarly bearing. Jóhann is…
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Foreigners Reportedly Responsible For Increased Pork Consumption
The most likely explanation for the swift increase of pork consumption in Iceland: foreigners, supposedly. Kjarninn reports that pork consumption in Iceland increased by 10% between 2014 and 2015, according to data from Statistics Iceland. In real terms, this comes out to…
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HAM TONIGHT & FOREVER: Shedding Skin, Reaching New Heights
Infamous cult favourites-cum-everyman rockers HAM have been at it for almost three decades now, turning an entire generation of Icelanders on to their monstrous, leftfield take on “heavy music”. Returning to the fray by popular demand a few years ago, after a…
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Eistnaflug Saturday: Not A Fizzle But A Bang
On the final day of the three-day metal festival, I was determined to catch as many bands as I could. The roster looked particularly good, both on the main and off-venue, which meant I was constantly running between the two. Here’s a brief…
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Testes Not Required For Metal
For the rockers and metalheads of Iceland, the second weekend of July is a religious holiday, road trip and family reunion all rolled into one. It marks the annual Eistnaflug festival (“Flight Of The Testes”), held in Iceland’s eastern-most village, Neskaupstaður. During…
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5 Picks For ATP Iceland!
This year’s line-up at ATP Iceland is definitely one of the best that the festival has had in the last few years, with top headlining acts such as Mogwai, Portishead, Interpol and the mighty Swans performing. But what of the other bands…
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Harpa’s Metal Night: Considerable Damage To Structures
For your review-reading accompaniment: field audio recording of the wind storm currently unleashing holy hell on this wee island nation. From the darkened gates of waning gloom, we were summoned. From the wind-frozen terrorface of a Greenlandic glacial shitstorm,* we were summoned.…
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Midnight Gallery
One of the most difficult things to do as a writer is to speak critically, if not negatively, about genuinely good artists, particularly if they exude humility and genuine dedication to their craft. I spoke with every band at Reykjavik Art Museum,…
