Reykjavík Grapevine - 11.09.2009, Side 33

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While bereft of the homemade, tinker-
happy style that so distinguished
his earlier work, Egill’s new album is
nonetheless an excellent showcase
of the man’s fine pop sensibilities.
The improvised fun of Tonk Of The
Lawn is nowhere to be seen here,
save for some very unwelcome
attempts at forcibly recreating it
(Bold Hearted Woman, Sleep), but
it isn’t really needed. As a relaxed,
simple pop album, Egill S is about as
solid an offering as they come, and
it is a testament to Egill’s effortless
creativity and talent that even when
he is being as lackadaisical as this, he
is still about 83 times more interesting
than his Icelandic singer-songwriter
contemporaries. -SInDRI elDOn
egill S
Egill S (2009)
egillsaebjornsson
The lighter side of Egill
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Kippi Kaninus, otherwise known
as Guðmundur Karlsson, is not a
newcomer to the Reykjavík music
scene. He released his début album
in 2001 and has worked steadily
since, building a hefty profile. His
latest creation, Happens Secretly, is
a delicately woven affair. It combines
multi-layered electronica with
beautiful, almost ethereal vocal and
instrumental sampling to create music
that is somehow simultaneously
tangible and evanescent—very
pleasant to listen to anyhow. The
album maintains a steady, relaxed
pace throughout, but manages to
avoid falling into the trap of becoming
boring background music through its
distinctive sound and well metered
progression. Happens Secretly would
probably not appeal to those with a
preference for a more mainstream, less
experimental sound, but for everyone
else it is well worth checking out.
-BeRGRún anna HallSTeInSDóTTIR
There’s a point where art-music
becomes almost transcendentally
self-indulgent and that is the point at
which it also becomes magnificent.
Amidst the rolling, repeated bass-
bumps of Klasar, AMFJ reaches this
point as the lead voice, covered in
huge reverse reverb, bounces off
the bleeps and fracturing beatscape
to create an effect somewhat akin
to, sorry, dropping a double-dip
strawberry and hiding underneath a
tube station platform listening to the
announcements. The monstrously
ascending amplitudes and filtered
stumps of sonics become heartbeats,
the vocals a Rotterdam-gabba-esque
harangue. Sometimes music can be a
beautiful nightmare and this unsettling
doomy harbinger of an album is still
preferable to listening to the output
of any number of Billy Ray Cyrus’
progeny. The choppy plainsong of Ég
er Guð is a pop song in comparison to
a dense, occasionally brilliant exercise
in the reclamation of musical profanity.
-JOe SHOOMan
Kippi Kaninus
aMFJ
Happens Secretly (2009)
Itemhljóð og Veinan (2009)
kippikaninus
Beautiful and slightly surreal
amfjmusic
Art, shouting, runaway glitchy
madness
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Music | Reviews
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 14 — 2009
21
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U N I V E R S I T Y O F I C E L A N D P R E S S
haskolautgafan.hi.is – hu@hi.is – tel. 525 4003
RING OF
SEASONS.
ICELAND: - IT’S
CULTURE AND
HISTORY
Terry G. Lacy brings both
the perspective of an
outsider and the familiar
eye of a long-term resident
to this delightful exploration
of all facets of Iceland, past
and present. She conveys her
story with a skillful interlacing
of history, religion, politics, and culture to paint a vivid
picture of the way Icelanders live today.
„This fascinating book is a must for anyone who is interested
in Iceland.“ - Dick Ringler
SURTSEY - AN ECOSYSTEM FORMED
Dr. Sturla Fridrikson describes the birth of the island in
1963 and how in itself it became an interesting
geological phenomenon and a biological laboratory,
where scientists could investigate how organisms
disperse across the ocean to remote islands and how
plants and animals colonize completely barren areas such
as Surtsey. Available in English, French and German
Surtsey was inscribed on
UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 2008.
THE MANUSCRIPTS OF ICELAND
In this collection of articles scholars present the story of
Icelandic manuscripts, their medieval origins, the
literature they contain and its influence up to the present
day. This book is a tribute to the central role that
medieval Icelandic literature played in forging national
identities in N-Europe.