Reykjavík Grapevine - 14.01.2005, Qupperneq 22

albums
JANUARY
THE ALBUM
Árni Viðar
SKÁTAR
HEIMSFRIÐUR Í CHILE
Screw the elves,
fuck the system
Don´t mention Nick Drake
It’s opener, ‘Introduction’ is a perfect example;
a soft and sweet guitar/cello melody in the vein
of Halifax Pier or Sackville, although I´m not
sure if Doddi is familiar with either of them.
The same formula is applied on ‘Forest’ but the
song itself is slightly more upbeat with Doddi’s
hushed vocals coming into the fray. Of the
three vocal tracks it is probably the weakest
one while ‘In One Way’ and ‘Autumn Song’
are obvious highpoints. The instrumental
‘Sound of the Cities’ reminds me of when I
listened to a Sigur Rós lp on 45 rpm (don’t
ask) while ‘Marco Polo’ is slightly reminscent
of múm, with a harmonica playing the key-role
and some minimal electronics making a one-
off appearance.
In many ways, the album can be divided into
three sections, with the aforementioned ‘In
One Way’ and ‘Autumn Song’ beautifully
wrapping up parts one and three, respectively.
In between, Doddi has a bit of a dip in form
and ‘This Place, that Morning’ sounds
particularly out-dated due to the almost
obligatory post-rock sampling of a preacher.
Another sample is featured on ‘Love Liza’,
this time from a movie of the same name
(starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman and
music written by Jim O’Rourke). The song
is easily the albums poppiest moment with
plenty of instruments (presumably played by
Doddi himself ) but unfortunately some sloppy
overdubs prevent the song from ever reaching
it’s full potential. The stripped-back piano
melody of the album’s penultimate track,
titled ‘Windowsill’, is far more convincing and
hopefully an indication of what to expect from
the young artist, also a member of a rock group
called Heróglymur.
If you count a cd-r made exclusively for family
& friends a couple of years ago, Doddi has
now got 2 albums under his belt and is steadily
learning his trade. Though his music could
hardly be described as groundbreaking it’s
certainly has enough enthralling moments to
justify a closer inspection.
Nick Drake...there, I’ve said it.
I’ll try not to mention his name again
throughout this review as I’m sure Doddi,
like so many like-minded artists, will
attract endless comparisons to the late
maestro if he continues developing the
best ideas on show here. For two thirds of
this homemade cd-r though, he focuses on
subtle instrumental pieces that easily pass
Brian Eno’s definition of ambient music
and how it should be as ignorable as it is
interesting, which pretty much sums up
the whole album.
Doddi: Expectations
Despite a low-key release on
Grandmother Records in the midst
of this years annual Christmas
madness, Skátar’s debut album
managed to snatch a place on a few
critic’s top 10 lists and for a good
reason too. Whether it’s a short
album or a long ep. is debatable
but the quality of the record
itself is not; so fans of Icelandic
underground music, please take note. Having said that, there’s actually
very little here that falls in frame with the outsider’s view of Icelandic
music and this eccentric quintet most certainly does not sound or look
anything like elves (no disrespect to the Elfin branch of Iceland’s music
industry). In fact, the only notable comparison I could come up with is to
the the legendary fieyr...had they been an American lo-fi rock-group in
the 1990’s.
Of course, they weren’t but alternative acts such as Trumans Water,
Polvo, Halo Benders, Sebadoh and Pavement all spring to mind, as well
as various post-punk bands, Captain Beefheart and, to some extent, The
Fall. Put this in the blender, sprinkle on some general weirdness and you’ll
end up with what’s been labeled as noise-skronk-rock even though that
probably doesn’t say an awful lot.
Even though the music itself sounds somewhat “American” the lyrics are
still in Icelandic but you would have problems telling at times because
they are barely audible as opposed to the screechy guitar riffs. Then again,
actions speak louder than words and Skátar is certainly a band of actions
as proven over the course of the 6 featured songs.
The first one, titled ‘Karnival’, kicks off with a recording of singing kids
before a guitar comes screaming to rally the five-piece. Half-way through
the song they take a break for a bit of tomfoolery to creep in, as it does
every now and then throughout the album, making sure things never get
too serious. The second song, ‘Halldór Ásgrímsson’, is in “honour” of our
prime-minister (previously in charge of Iceland’s foreign affairs) and his
own war-games during the war in Iraq.
The fieyr-factor I mentioned earlier is at it’s peak on the verses of ‘Power
and Gold’ while the album’s fourth track, ‘Gunnar Huseby’ starts of as
a mezmerising nod to slow-core pioneers Codeine before reaching it’s
climax with a good ol’ fashioned kraut-rock pounding. ‘Bedid eftir Benna’
and ‘Know Your Banana’ are slightly half-baked and somewhat redundant
but these underground scouts already had me convinced, ensuring the
overall experience of listening to their debut is a very interesting one
indeed.
by Árni Viðar
H
eard
th
ru

th
e G
rap
evin
e
T
he reggae band H
jálm
ar popped out of now
here (or K
eflavík) to becom
e, along w
ith
M
ugison, the m
ost talked about act of last autum
n. T
hey released their debut album
just in
tim
e for last C
hristm
as and are rum
oured to be already back in the studio recording a follow

up album
due for release this spring. T
hey are also set to release a live concert D
V
D
, w
hich
should be out som
etim
e next m
onth. . H
jálm
ar’s album
, H
ljóðlega af stað, is being released
in Japan. W
ho’d have thought Icelandic reggae w
ould prove export friendly?
H
ard rock m
asters M
ínus have decided not to m
ove to
L
A
to record their new
album
this January, as they had
previously announced. T
his m
ay jeopardise their hard w
on
Sony recording contract. M
eanw
hile, drum
m
er B
jössi can
be seen behind the bar at B
ar 11, follow
ing in the footsteps
of bassist Þ
röstur w
ho is w
orking at D
illon.
Skátar’s album
is set to be released
by the label M
oshi M
oshi in the
U
K
. T
he label currently distributes
album
s by am
ong other Icelandic
artist K
G
B
/B
ob Justm
an and local
favourites H
ot C
hip.
Jan M
ayen w
ill be playing the B
yL
arm
festival in
Stavanger, N
orw
ay, w
hich runs from
the 10th to the 12th
of February. From
there, they w
ill go directly to B
ritain on
tour opening up for various local acts in am
ong other places
L
ondon, York and C
ardiff. L
ocal fans can expect to hear
the band play upon these shores again in M
arch.
from 850,- ISK
11:30-16:00
from 1090,- ISK
after 16:00
shalimar.is
-every day from 18:00-22:00
Take
aw
ay
Ta
ke
aw
ay
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