Reykjavík Grapevine - 11.02.2005, Page 22

H
eard
th
ru

th
e G
rap
evin
e
Sex D
ivision, an 80’s them
e N
ew
W
ave Ska band,
are currently recording their debut album
in their
hom
etow
n of K
eflavík. A
nother K
eflavík band,
punkers Æ
la, are also in the studio. Is the cradle of
Icelandic rock set to reclaim
the throne as the m
usic
centre of Iceland?
Singapore Sling are still looking for a drum
m
er after the
departure of Þ
órir. T
heir new
bass player is a girl nam
ed
B
íbí. Þ
órir w
ill continue to sit in w
ith the band, though,
w
hich plans to m
ake its return to the R
eykjavik stage in
the m
iddle of February.
60’s guitar heroes T
he Shadow
s are rum
oured to be com
ing to
Iceland to play a concert next sum
m
er. M
eanw
hile, P
laid w
ill be
playing along w
ith A
ddi E
xos at G
aukurinn on 4th, and C
onverge
are playing at the C
ave on the 9th. T
hey played Iðnó last year and
happen to be A
lli the ad m
an’s favourite band.
P
residential favourites T
rabant are due w
ith an album
out
at the end of M
arch. T
he m
usic has been described as
“am
oral, sodom
ic electro-pop.” Som
e are already betting on
this as the album
of the year.
He’s turned everyday
things like eating
hamburgers and tidying his room into a form
of art, but it was through his not so everyday
music that Birgir Örn Thoroddsen originally
made his mark. His debut album, Haf, is
very much a product of an era that saw the
emergence of alternative acts such as Maus
and Stilluppsteypa who, at the time, sounded
like nothing heard in the local music scene
before. Under his Curver moniker, he was very
much at the forefront of this new wave and has
carried that momentum ever since, although
more as a multi-artist than a musician these
days.
In celebration of Haf’s ten-year anniversary,
the album was re-released at the end of
last year along with tracks from several
compilations and one previously unreleased.
Clocking in at 80 minutes, the resulting album,
titled Sær 1991-1994, is complex and abrasive,
even ear-piercing at times, but with elements
of a certain pop-sensibility that seems to follow
Curver around wherever he goes. Above all
it’s the work of an ambitious and intrepid, if
slightly naïve, teenager realizing his potential
and searching for new ways to achieve it.
Throughout the 17 songs featured on this
album, Curver thrashes out some sonorous
guitar riffs in the vein of My Bloody Valentine
and Sonic Youth while his computer provides
the beats and background noises. In fact,
Curver isn’t simply a one-man band but a
collaboration, if you like, between man and
machine, as noted in the informative liner
notes. Some of “the band’s” earlier work
is especially noisy and almost brutal while
the songs on Haf lean much further into a
dark, distant and more cold direction, with a
conscious nod to The Cure, Joy Division and
even Slint, to name a few. Obviously, a decade
(or more in some cases) has passed since
these songs originally saw the light of day but
that only adds a bit of nostalgia to an already
charismatic album that’s always worth a closer
inspection, especially if you missed the first
time.
by Árni Viðar
albums
FEBRUARY
CURVER
SÆR 1991-1994
Nýdönsk – Skynjun / Santiago – Chase the Bird / Fræbbblarnir – Dót /
Búdrýgindi – Juxtapós / Brain Police – Electric Fungus / Antlew/Maximum
– Time, Money & Patience / Hæsta hendin – Hæsta hendin / Igore – 9
Líf
For most of the year, the Icelandic record industry is in a deep slumber until
the bright and blinking Christmas lights send it into a frenzy in the true
spirit of the season. Here’s a quick look at eight of the seemingly endless list
of albums released in the later stages of 2004:
Nýdönsk are the latest in a line of major 90s
pop bands to join forces with the Icelandic
symphony with their new album, Skynjun,
documenting a concert held at the end of last
year. Instead of tinkering with the classic hits,
already carved into people’s minds, the quartet
(along with the 80 piece orchestra) mostly
opts for some of its lesser-known material and
deserves credit for not taking the easy way out.
I’ve never been a fan of Nýdönsk or this overly
theatrical splicing of pop with classical music but the two outfits in question
are probably as harmonious as possible while having fun at the same time. It
carries out to the audience and ultimately those listening to the album so I’m
sure the old fans will be happy although new ones will hardly be won over.
Santiago’s second album, Chase the Bird
sees the band chasing decent melodies rather
than birds. Unfortunately, they prove hard to
get a hold of, leaving the band and listeners
alike feeling confused. With hints of jazz and
country the album reaches its peaks during the
more sombre moments but the flirtation with
contemporary adult music seems somewhat
strange given the relatively young age of a band
capable of so much more.
So while Santiago seemingly make music for
their elders, maybe it’s up to the old warhorses
to satisfy the kids. Being Iceland’s first proper
punk band Fræbbblarnir obviously blew a lot
of them away back in the late 70s but their new
album, Dót is unlikely to have a similar effect.
The band sticks to what it knows, which
isn’t a lot actually, but enough to cook up a
lightweight punk dish that goes down without
any problems.
The four members of Búdrýgindi weren’t even blinks in their fathers’ eyes
when Fræbbblarnir were at their peak, but still know a thing or two about
producing good, catchy punk rock songs. Even if its success sparked envy
from certain quarters, the band’s energetic debut, Kúbakóla, was highly
entertaining to say the least and its successor, Juxtapós finds the teenage
sensations in similar territory. They’ve naturally matured over these past two
years but the youthful exuberance in Búdrýgindi’s tongue-in-cheek approach
is still there to be enjoyed.
Brain Police is another rock band but this
time with a capital R. They’ve been riding
high since recruiting singer Jenni for their
eponymous second album and Electric Fungus
keeps the momentum going with the band’s
mighty sound reaching a new level. Driven
by an immense force (which the actual songs
basically serve as outlets for), unless you’re into
this heavy stoner-rock thing, there isn’t all that
much in the Brain Police arsenal for you.
But maybe you’re into hip-hop and if that’s the
case you could do a lot worse than checking
out Antlew/Maximum’s first album, aptly
titled Time Money & Patience. The duo has
clearly put plenty of thought into their work
and manage to produce a solid, if slightly
conventional, record with the inclusion of such
illustrious artists as Sage Francis adding extra
weight.
There are also plenty of guest stars featured on
Hæsta hendin’s
self-titled debut, namely some of Scandinavia’s
most prominent hip-hop artists. Frontman
Erpur Eyvindarson was of course the genre’s
poster-boy when his band, XXX Rottweiler,
came bursting onto the scene a few years ago.
Up until then, Icelandic hip-hop had mainly
stayed underground and appears to be heading
back down there after much of it being labelled
“unprofitable” by the bigwigs. This effort
hardly encourages second thoughts from the
industry, but then again that may well be in the best interest of the many
fine hip-hop artists around the country.
Let’s just hope they don’t follow the path
of Igore, a strange little creature growling
“master” to the hand that feeds it while at
the same time craving an identity of its own.
The quartet also appears to be caught in two
minds between the lure of commercial success
and being true to their own artistic beliefs,
vaguely present even though mostly through
the gifted musicians recruited for the occasion.
For the time being Igore’s approach falls short
of success in both categories with the band already down to the last of the
nine lives referred to in the album title.
Sea Change
22