Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.08.2005, Qupperneq 40

There’s usually integrity to any release
from 12 Tónar, Iceland’s independent
record label that closely resembles
America’s Nonesuch Records. The store and the local music scene always have
a stake in one of their releases, and even the failures are compelling. And when
12 Tónar hits the right note, they can capture the local imagination. (Yes, they
did that Mugison thing.)
The new jazz album, Vottur, by Flís, is so strong and immensely likeable, that it
should creep into the local culture soon. A respectable three-piece including Davíð Þór
Jónsson on piano, Valdimar Kolbeinn Sigurjónsson on bass, and Helgi Svarar Helgason
on drums, the group here reinvents the Icelandic standards originally performed in the
fifties by Haukur Morthens. The blend of moody ballad with classical touches and lyric
jazz takes on the endearing gothic tone that Tim Burton might ask for were he to direct a
movie of A Charlie Brown Christmas.
The discovery here, which may have more magnitude than Mugison, is that
music existed in Iceland before rock, and it may have been very very good. Kudos must go out to the recording engineers, and
Mr. Sigurjónsson on bass. The tone of the lows throughout this album are extraordinary.
Album R
eviews
Björk
Music from Matthew
Barney’s Drawing
Restraint 9
Explaining why he enjoys Icelandic staple Dr. Spock, who
are releasing their first CD after having played live around
Reykjavík for anywhere between a decade and four years,
depending on the source, a fan said: “They have the lyric ‘I like
pussy and pussy likes me.’”
That’s a good one.
The music, well-produced punk with virtuoso rhythm section,
is similar to a band we have recommended, RASS—who share a
couple members and the same label. But where RASS captured
our imagination with their punk lyrics and style, Dr. Spock
annoys the crap out of us.
Dr. Spock
Dr. Phil
With this new release, we get the dubious proposition of
attempting to understand both Björk and Matthew Barney,
wonder artist behind the Cremaster Cycle. What we can report
is that Matthew Barney and Björk work well together on the
tracks they wrote together—both touch on root instincts and
emotions, using surprisingly adept and modern tools. The
advantage the listener has in this CD is a more straightforward
narrative drive. The vocals on this album are outstanding,
especially an early Will Oldham track that draws a great deal
of inspiration from Captain Beefheart. Most surprising, Björk’s
voice only shows up on two tracks. Without her superstar voice,
the mood and feel of her compositions is allowed to come
through, and it survives very well. An extremely evocative disk.
We got an early review copy of the debut release from a
favourite live band the Nix Noltes. As best we can gather, Nix
Noltes deliver frenetic Balkan music that mixes the ABBA
song structure prevalent in fiddle music from around the world
with unique time signatures. Live, this music is extraordinary.
And this album replicates a live experience as best as we’ve ever
heard. The slight trick is that if you’re not dancing, the song
structure can be a little draining.
There’s a lot of layered acoustic guitar here, and a lot of layered
vocals. Vocal effects and outstanding fill-heavy drumming also
figure in prominently. The total of the parts sounds much like
90s Seattle band Alice in Chains, though instead of Layne
Staley’s drug addiction focus, Lights present more palatable
relationship fare. While it may not be especially innovative, this
record is extremely melodic, and using the tools of Alice and
Chains in more poppy material seems like a good idea.
Many visitors and fans of Iceland enjoy the film Screaming
Masterpiece, by Ari Alexander Magnússon. The film features
the best and brightest of Iceland’s “Cute Generation”, and
some of our staff were so repulsed by it that we ran a feature
discussing how many things had to go wrong in the world
before this film came out. To Mr. Magnússon’s credit, he
documented a great number of extraordinary musicians,
among them Björk, Mugison, Sigur Rós, Bang Gang and
Apparat Organ Quartet. He also found the exact theme that
unites them... or the flaw. While all of these musicians can be
appreciated on their own, together, on one disk, they became
intolerable. So much cutey cute, so much sugar, and you begin
to hate the whole lot of them. If you are a fan of any of the
bands on this disk, avoid at all costs.
Nix Noltes
Orkidpur Hawaii
Lights on the Highway
Self-titled.
Original Music from
the film Screaming
Masterpiece
FLÍS
Vottur
All music featured in this
section and plenty more is
available at the Grapevine Info.
Open from 12 - 22
on Laugavegur 11 see centerfold for location
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