Review
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Gandhi: A Keralan Kiss Amiss
The popularity of Indian food is a wonderful contradiction. Everyone seems to love it, however, few seem to really know it. Given the country’s vast diversity, its various regional cuisines still await their moment to shine. While each region is distinctive in…
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Brooklyn Bar, We Need To 718
Brooklyn is a hodgepodge of a hundred different nationalities, ethnicities and customs and does not present a single unified presence. I won’t delude myself into thinking I have any claim to Brooklyn, but after living in three separate parts of the borough…
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Revolution in the Elbow of Ragnar Agnarsson, Furniture Painter
‘Revolution in the Elbow of Ragnar Agnarsson, Furniture Painter’ is that most maligned and misunderstood of musical entities: the concept album. Written by Ívar Páll Jónsson, it tells the story of Elbowville, a small nation that lives in the elbow of said…
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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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Restaurant Review: Austur-Indíafjelagið—Trip To India In A Thali
Any place that truly considers itself cosmopolitan today boasts a rich landscape of dining options. It is a testament to Reykjavík’s curiosity and inclusiveness that a restaurant like Austur-Indiafjelagið has not only survived, but thrived. To celebrate Holi, the festival of colours,…
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Live In London: Fufanu Are All Set To Dominate
I arrived at the venue early to find it utterly heaving with cool-looking people. I’m not talking poser East London folk —the room was packed with genuinely interesting characters of all ages. Had I taken the time to look up GrimmGrimm and Bo Ningen before I…
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Frostbitten By The Teeth Behind Kisses – Ben Frost At Húrra Reviewed
When a novice musician such as myself stumbles upon a talent such as Ben Frost offering up an event, one can’t help but attend and take notes. This is my reaction to his show at Húrra on March 18. But first, let…
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Remembering The Sea Baron
Sægreifinn, The Sea Baron, is a fish restaurant that was founded in 2003 by the late, great Kjartan Halldórsson. Originally a fishmonger, Sægreifinn soon began offering grilled fish and lobster bisque to hungry travellers and locals in the downtown area. Kjartan sold…
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We All Need More Thai
Krua Thai was one of those places that really saved the culinary landscape in Iceland at the turn of the century. From the early 90s there had been a growing number of new restaurants offering dishes from the Far East, but to…
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The Tower Of Foronicity
Psychotic from moment one, “You Drive Me Insane” explodes into your consciousness like plunging down the first hill on a roller coaster. There is no escape from the insanity. A tsunami of intensity, this is like a lost, twisted surf single from…
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Innra
Rökkurró’s third album ‘Innra’ (or “inner”) comes to us four years after their quiet but stunning sophomore outing, ‘Í annan heim’. On ‘Innra’, the band’s palate has expanded, the sound broadened. It is an eclectic album tied together by quivering soprano vocals,…
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Ascending//Descending
‘Ascending//Descending’ is the debut effort of Icelandic hardcore upstarts Icarus, which makes the mastery of the metallic hardcore genre displayed on the album all the more impressive. Every song is composed with a great sense of dynamics—the band switch between parts with…
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SHELLSHOCKED
Eating a large portion of dark, heavy food on a dark, wooden table in a bright teal building by the marina. We have been here before. Höfnin offers a moderately priced cocktail of the month (1,770 ISK) and we ordered an excellent…
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Aeoline
DADA is the musical outlet of one Sigtryggur Ari Jóhannsson, who creates music inspired by mid-century analog synthesizers and the software of the beat-driven modern age. His album ‘Aeoline’ is an engaging mix that will appeal to many audiences. Those familiar with…
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Weird. Neat. But, Weird
This past Friday I attended the premiere of the Icelandic Dance Company’s ‘TAUGAR’ a two part performance with works by Saga Sigurðardóttir and Karol Tyminski. I had recently interviewed Karol and I was really looking forward to seeing his piece as well…
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Kontinuum Killed It! DOOMRIDERS Sucked!
The Mercy Buckets’ performance was a first for me. And a first for their front man as well, it would seem, as he was well winded and nearly unable to speak between songs. But in light of their crushing performance, it was…
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Floating In A Bubble
Red little spotlights moved constantly across the Húrra logo on the wall, and I could feel the relaxed vibes lingering in the air. Every seat was taken by folks enjoying pints of beer and chitchatting in the dimmed room, and everyone seemed…
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Known Unknowns: Mortal Orchestra Part II
After watching the Unknown Mortal Orchestra off-venue show on Friday, I internally told myself I would watch the off-venue feature gig at Harpa Norðurljós on Saturday so I could compare and contrast the two with a scrutinizing eye, like any good Doctor…
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All Too Earthly Pleasures
We’re just about to beam up. We’re seriously there. Einar stands crouched and shaking on stage with his pointer finger in the air. His eyes are closed painfully tight. The audience has ceased to be an audience, we are his minions now…
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The Kids Are All Right
It is hard to stand out with a good band name. Many bands these days have taken a counterintuitive approach: pick something impossible to remember (e.g. Nguzunguzu, AmabAdamA), entirely misleading (e.g. Adult Jazz, Girl Band), or simply Icelandic. In this arena, I…
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The Way We Live Now
Taking its inspiration from idiosyncratic headlines around the globe, ‘News Muse’ by Vala Hafstað combines two very Icelandic interests–the daily news and poetry–and uses them to paint a sometimes amusing, often ridiculous portrait of contemporary life. With a few notable exceptions, the…
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Hugar
I found myself six tracks into Hugar’s self-titled instrumental debut before realizing that the first song had ended. This could mean one of two things: either the lack of lyrical stimulation reaching my brain sent me into an inert mental state, or…
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47
Japanese Super Shift’s ’47’ is an unexpectedly emotional album. The record, which marks the newest creation from producer-instrumentalist Stefnir Gunnarsson, offers a healthy mix of dance-y instrumentals and mature, lyrical songs, representing a multifaceted album that feels as though it could fuel…