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Win A Signed Copy Of The New RAX Book
Icelandic photographer RAX (Ragnar Axelsson), has been creating striking portraits of Nordic nature for over forty years. His signature style—stark monochrome studies of harsh landscapes and their inhabitants—has become internationally renowned, and emblematic of Icelandic nature photography. His new book ‘Where The…
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Enter Our Quiz To Win Grapevine Goodies
Just in case Santa didn’t bring you what you wanted this Christmas, (was your naughty/nice ratio a bit top-heavy over the last twelve months?), The Grapevine is going to give you the chance to get a second visit. And this time, with…
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Bag Yourself Some Icelandic Candy
Halloween creeps up on us once more this weekend, and since this annual celebration of all things ghoulish has become closely associated with candy we thought that we’d give you the chance to win a box of delicious Icelandic confectionery. We’ll even…
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Your Weekly Postcard From Reykjavík – Special Nipple Themed Edition!
Wow! Did you catch that crazy nipple kerfuffle that’s been taking social media by storm over the past couple of days, snowballing from a couple of posts to Iceland’s lonely corner of Twitter to a full-fledged “trending topic” (whatever that is). The…
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Word on the Street
At half past midnight the sidewalk outside Bakkus was peppered generously with the drunk, the yet-to-be drunk and the soon-to be comatose. It was fertile ground for an interviewer trying to get a handle on this, the second night of Airwaves and…
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Iðnó – Thursday
At Iðnó, the festival’s second night started, proceeded and ended at a very relaxed pace. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, although those looking for the place to cut loose on the dance floor would have been left a bit disappointed. But…
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Sódóma – Thursday
What‘s the deal with Soundspell’s singer‘s weird pantomime guitar move? Soundspell were very ‘cutting edge’ and ‘experimental’, but I won’t hold that against them. They were quite innovative, in their own oblivious way, and the fact that they managed to make their…
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Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make Me A Match
A musky aura of suspense hung in the air as Lucas (Austrian) and Tobias (Swiss), winners of our Win a Date Frímann Frímannsson contest, waited anxiously for the arrival of the man of the hour. Fifteen minutes later, Mr. Frímannsson himself glided…
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You’ve got to hoooold on!
“Everything is live! No playbacks, no karaoke, great musicians and me in pink outfit with a lot of energy! It can’t fail!” says Berndsen, selling his upcoming Airwaves performance to everybody out there still unfamiliar with this new kid on the block.…
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Sódóma – Wednesday
Led by Icelandic folk star Þórir (of My Summer as a Salvation Soldier, Gavin Portland, Deathmetal Supersquad) , melancholic trio Bummer started the night, striking some intensively sentimental tones. In some ways, the band bore a rather righteously coined moniker, ‘cause what…
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David Lynch Answers Grapevine Questions On TM
As you probably know by now, Grapevine cover-star (and awesome director) David Lynch ventured to Iceland this month to preach the gospel of Transcendental Meditation and announce a nationwide project to bring “enlightenment, prosperity and peace to the people of Iceland.” We…
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Monsters and Mythical Beings: Grýla
Fittingly enough, the unlucky thirteenth instalment in our Hugleikur Dagsson illustrated series of Iceland’s monsters and mythical beings is about an evil old ogress called Grýla. Mostly known nowadays as the mother of the thirteen Yuletide lads, the lady has a dark,…
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Monsters and Mythical Beings: Nábuxur
This twelfth instalment in our Hugleikur Dagsson illustrated series of Iceland’s monsters and mythical beings (or are they…?) uncovers a fashionable and lucrative garment entitled nábuxur (also: “nábrók” and “finnabrækur”). For the record, nábuxur translates as: “corpsepants.” How cool is that? Now,…
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The End of Neo-Liberal Neverland
The Meaning of Success ‘How to succeed in Modern Business: Lessons from the Icelandic Voyage’ is the title of an address given by Iceland’s president Ólafur R. Grímsson to British business leaders in London’s Walbrook Club in 2005. In his lecture, the…
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The History of Icelandic Rock
Reykjavík, late fifties. Once rock ‘n’ roll had arrived fresh and powerful, the kids born around 1940 fell flat for it. Their foreign role models were swank rock and pop singers, not beat groups as later in the sixties. Therefore not many…
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Grapevine Exposes Sordid “Music Trip” to ‘scandinavia’s sodom’
A fortnight ago, the Grapevine hitched a ride with cover stars Retro Stefson, Ólafur Arnalds and Hjaltalín as they made their way to Oslo, Norway. Their mission: to perform at the annual by:Larm Nordic showcase festival and charm the socks off Scandinavian…
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Stuff We Like!
Tonight’s the night we launch our new concert series with performances from three awesome bands, one awesome composer and a mediocre DJ. The henceforth monthly concert series is called “Grapevine Grand Rock”, takes place at legendary concert venue Grand Rokk (right in…
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The Grapevine Presents: 2K8 Round Table Round Up Bonanza Extravaganza Madness!
So this is the New Year. Aught nine. Seems pretty dark and rainy thus far, but then again most Icelandic years start out that way. And given the present situation, all the cold, rainy darkness seems to fit in perfectly with the…
