Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.12.2014, Síða 23

An Anthology of the Writings of the Novelist, Essayist, and Humorist
Thórbergur Thórdarson
Translated by HALLBERG HALLMUNDSSON
and JULIAN MELDON D’ARCY
Of Icelandic Nobles
& Idiot Savants
Reykjavík 2014
Also published by BRÚ:
The funniest chapters from the writ-
ings of Mr. Thórdarson, along with
the most daring, as for example his
letter to a Nazi from the year 1933.
The Poetry of Egill Skallagrímsson,
Hallgrímur Pét urs son, Jónas Hall-
grímsson, Stephan G. Stephans-
son, Einar Benediksson, Davíð
Stefánsson, Tómas Guðmundsson,
Jón Dan, Kristján frá Djúpalæk,
Jón úr Vör, Einar Bragi, Ragnar Ingi
Aðalsteinsson, Sigurður Pálsson,
Steinunn Sigurðardóttir, Ísak
Harðarson, Jónas Þorbjarnarson
and many more.
Of Icelandic Nobles is 217 pages
and Potpourri is 243 pages
Translations and
biographies by
Hallberg Hallmundsson
Of Icelandic
Nobles & Idiot
Savants
An Anthology of the
Writings of the Novelist,
Essayist, and Humorist
Thórbergur
Thórdarson
Translated by
Hallberg Hallmundsson
and Julian Meldon D'Arcy
Distributed by Forlagið – JPV. The books are available in all of the bigger bookshops
A Potpourri of
Icelandic Poetry
Through Eleven Hundred Years
Amtmannsstíg 1 • 101 Reykjavík • +354 561 3303 • www.torfan.is
experience
classical cuisine
and Jaako Eino Kalevi’s energetic per-
formances, but they weren’t the best. It is
very tempting to nominate Future Islands
or The Flaming Lips as the best—after all,
they were two of the headlining acts and
had a deeply emotional impact on me,
with the former absolutely gutting me, and
the latter being such a grand blues-buster
that my face still hurts from smiling.
It would be easy to pick them, but the
“BEST THING I SAW” was clearly Girl
Band. No, they aren’t the Irish Spice Girls,
they are a four-part smack-in-the-face
noise post-punk outfit that excel at sub-
verting your expectations and rocking the
fuck out! They are the real deal and you
should go see them play, both because
they’re really good, and also because
there’s not much to watch or listen to on-
line, as these bloody wankers still haven’t
released anything more than a single 7”...
Moments
Chris D’Alessandro
This is a query that I find daunting, frustrat-
ing, and unanswerable and I don't think I'll
answer it with the typical expected expla-
nation of "Flaming Lips put on the best
fucking show holy fucking dog dicks, Fuck
yeah Iceland!"
Nah, I think I'll go a different route on
this one, but it's no less genuine as I feel I
could never narrow a festival spanning five
blurry nights of dazed and confused magic
into one favourite moment. It's never about
just one occasion, or specifically one per-
formance, it's a beautifully decorated cor-
nucopia of good times with good people,
with good music, with good vibes and a
whole lot of liver punching with alcohol
consumption.
Some things are lost and forgotten in
the hippocampus, which is a major com-
ponent in the brain responsible for creat-
ing new memories, both long-term and
short-term, as well as spacial navigation,
hence the swaying of drunkards to and fro
as if the gravities of the world are tugging
at them from every which angle. I may not
remember everything exactly as it hap-
pened, but looking back through my pho-
tos I'm reminded of one particular beauty
I saw at the Girl Band/Spray Paint show
on Friday. Here it is in all of its glory:
Behold, in all its free-flowing beauty! As
a stereotypical hockey-loving Canadian,
the best thing I saw at Iceland Airwaves
2014 was definitely this dude's hockey
hair. Everyone, meet Kaarl Cårlsberg, he
was drafted to the NHL in 2014 for having
perfect hockey hair. His flow is impetuous
and his defense is impregnable, his stick-
handling with the biscuit (puck) is sub-par
and his wrist shot is shit, but that doesn't
matter when your hair looks this good...
anyway players are often too completely
distracted by his valiant flow to strip the
puck off this rookie.
Why was this my favorite Airwaves
moment, you may ask in bewilderment?
Because man, like Neil Young once said,
Rock and roll is about micro moments, and
if you don't appreciate this micro moment,
than you don't appreciate rock and roll…
You hoser.
PS—His name isn't really Kaarl and he
doesn't identify with hockey in any way,
but he was a good sport about us snap-
ping a photo of him, if you see him around
give this dude a high five! fuckin' right bud.
Selfie
Valgerður Þóroddsdóttir
The best thing I saw at Airwaves 2014 was
when two blonde, teenaged Icelandic girls
came up to 19-year-old Danish-Palestin-
ian poet Yahya Hassan at a bar in down-
town Reykjavík and asked if they could
take a selfie with him. They said, "Excuse
me, I know this is weird but we love your
poetry." I have never seen anyone act like
that around a poet before in my life. Long
live the revolution.
Vintage
John Rogers
Well, this was a "vintage Airwaves" in my
opinion, although I seem to say the same
thing every year. The headliners didn't
disappoint, although the programming of
Future Islands against The Knife did.
Having chosen Future Islands, I was duly
blown away by their odd, intense, emo-
tional, theatrical pop music.
The only thing that hit quite the same
peaks for me personally was Ghostig-
ital—a king of improv-electronic-punk
band that whip up a storm of energy, and
seem indefatigably creative. From the new
Icelandic crop, M-Band's tenor vocals
and atmospheric soundscapes seemed to
shine particularly brightly.
23The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 18 — 2014 MUSIC