Reykjavík Grapevine - 06.11.2009, Qupperneq 23

and a delicios lobster
at Fjörubordid in Stokkseyri
by the sea
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Reykjavík
Downtown Hostel
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One of the interesting things about
Arkranes (apart from the road out
of it) is the variety of music that is
coming from there. Such as Worm is
Green with their new album, Glow.
Their downtempo electronic sound
is reminiscent of Massive Attack
and groups such as The Knife and
Fever Ray. Whereas other Icelandic
electro bands like Bloodgroup and
FM Belfast aim to lift the spirit and
get you moving, Glow feels more like
the flipside of a weekend comedown
in an abandoned farm on a snowy
January morning. Their opening
track “Hopeful,” for example, has an
oppressive baseline that is lifted by
the lilting vocals of singer Guðridur
Ringsted. The rest of the album
contains a mix of soft pianos, deep
synths, minimal clicky percussion and
whispered vocals. However there isn’t
a lot of variety in the tracks and the
album does feel to be stuck on the
same tempo and minor key throughout.
That’s not to say that it’s bad but
sometimes it wouldn’t hurt to let the
sunshine in and expand their sound.
- BOB CLunESS
On Ben Frost's new album, artwork
and music unfolds like a Scandinavian
thriller. Headlights claw their way into
the nothingness, ambient werewolves
slice through shadows and echo the
nervous swells of secret instruments
bark by guttural bark. Blood-soaked
snowbanks feed crystallized plasma
into porous ice.
Ben's music has always been
cinematic but lately he’s been
ploughing into it with a mad fever.
Between composing for miniseries
and Australian thrillers, it seems he
may be slipping away from us. It’s a
pity, since he’s one of the most visual
(and visceral) musicians working out
of Iceland these days. If nature is a
playground to Sigur Rós, then to Ben
it’s a battlefield. His Iceland is the
kind of arid plane where religion is
born—desperate chants to smother an
unforgiving climate.
His music doesn't pulsate or tick—it
flows and merges. It’s the sound of
clenching and unclenching, of tension
and release. Sounds are fed, sustained
and brought to slaughter. - RAGnAR
EGILSSOn
GusGus
Lady and Bird
Caterpillarmen
Stereo Hypnosis
Worm is Green Ben Frost
24/7 (2009)
La Ballade of Lady and
Bird (2009)
Adopt a Monkey (2009)
Hypnogogia (2009)
Glow (2009) By The Throat (2009)
wormisgreen
An album that’s moody, dark and
loves to stay there...
theghostofbenfrost
On By The Throat, artwork and
music unfolds like a Scandinavian
thriller.
The core members of GusGus have
ruled the Icelandic club scene for an
obscenely long time (15 years?). And
the miraculous thing is that they've
stayed that course without altering
their sound nor updating their image
in any significant way. The sound that
started out cutting-edge, became de-
pendable and finally retro devil-may-
care with their 2002 parasol-pink drug-
pop-meisterwerk Attention, managing
to sidestep the purgatory of obligatory
embarrassing obsolescence.
But with their recent move to Kom-
pakt it seems they felt the need to
impress their po-faced brethren with
lacklustre results. I applaud them try-
ing out new things; the male catalogue
model image is spot on, and on-and-
off member Daníel Ágúst is still is a
masterful singer. But the ratio of play-
ful to stern is off, and they come off as
distant. Where are the grooves? Even
Add This Song takes off as a rohypnol
rager but peters out into the krautrock
swamps that seem to claim most musi-
cians eventually.
24/7 is a hit-and-miss attempt at
following the experimental sideroads of
their first album and finding that they
double back to a giant neon sign point-
ing at Nasa, saying "GusGus – stop fid-
dling and get back to dominating!”
- RAGnAR EGILSSOn
gusgus
Saying that the GusGus party
has come to an end would be
premature and unfair, but this is
still their weakest record to date.
Lady and Bird is the collaborative
project of singer-songwriter Keren
Ann Zeidel and Barði Jóhannsson of
Bang Gang. Their latest album is taken
from a live concert they performed
with the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra
in 2008, and contains both original
compositions and reworked tracks
form Bang Gang’s latest album,
Ghosts From The Past. The result is
a mix of lush, textured pop songs
that gain an extra dimension from
having the weight of a full orchestra
behind them. Old tracks such as One
More Trip sound like adult fairytales
with a large streak of melancholy,
while the opening track Malmo Lives
wouldn’t sound out of place in a Pedro
Almodovar thriller. There are one or
two flat moments though. Sailor and
Widow, for example, has a Beatles style
“oompah” chorus that makes me fast
forward to the next track.
Overall, however, this is a great
album for losing yourself on a winter’s
night. Possibly naked with chocolate
smeared over yourself, although that’s
optional... - BOB CLunESS
There are some truly evil people
out there. You had a man Like Josef
Fritzl who kept his daughter and
their children hidden from the world
in a basement for eighteen years.
And there is apparently a monster in
Reykjavík right now who kidnapped 4
young men from birth, kept them in a
basement and only gave them access
to early Pink Floyd, King Crimson and
Can records. The bastard must be
stopped! But as for his “victims,” they
became Caterpillarmen and they´ve
created their debut EP.
To say it reeks of late 60s/early
70s prog rock would be a massive
understatement. With sprawling
Hammond organs, spidery guitar
lines and a thumping bass, it creates
a weirdly British picture of old BBC
children’s programmes, occult
Aristocracy and psychedelic tea.
That’s not to say it´s perfect. Some of
the songs have some jarring changes
in pace and tone. Now The Man
Can Can Can’t Not Cat should have
been split into two songs. And the 12
minute opus of Idle Hands/Monkey
See, Monkey Do doesn’t really sound
OPUS enough to grab me. But wait ‘til
these guys discover 70s Krautrock and
Komische. They ŕe going to blow our
fucking heads off! - BOB CLunESS
Father-son duo Stereo Hypnosis was
formed in 2006 by Jafet Melge (Óskar
Thorarensen) and Beatmakin' Troopa
(Pan Thorarensen). The pair are
based in the remote island of Flatey
in Breiðafjörður, where they mix and
record their music. This latest offering
of theirs offers an almost abstract
experience.
Ambient, at times bordering on
dark, there is an elusive quality to
the music that makes it difficult
to pin down. It is nonetheless an
interesting album, progressing slowly
but surely across the flat plains of
some enigmatic other world. The
outfit's name, Stereo Hypnosis, is
very apt, as although their music
is down tempo, there is something
mysteriously compelling about it,
which keeps it engrossing. It could
be the combination of slow, rhythmic
beats with a measured progression of
carefully woven samples and loops, or
the way that one track slides almost
seamlessly into the next. If you want
something very earthy and down-
tempo to listen to, give it a go.
- BERGRún AnnA HALLSTEInSDóTTIR
ladyandbirdband
Intimate songs with a rich, big
sound on top.
stereohypnosis
Best enjoyed whilst lying on the
floor, staring at the ceiling.
Available via www.Gogoyoko.com
Iceland in Psychedelic Monkey
Trafficking Shock Horror!
Music | Album Reviews
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 17 — 2009
13