Reykjavík Grapevine - 07.05.2010, Page 30

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“They put on such a beautiful
meal for us. We had the most
amazing freshest fish I've
ever had in my life. It was all
so perfectly cooked too...
Beautiful!”
Jamie Oliver’s Diary
Probably the best pizza
in town
Pizzeria tel. 578 8555 Lækjargata 8 Downtown
Music | CD Reviews
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 05 — 2010
BB & Blake
BB & Blake
bbblakeband
Disco pop that’s not original but
very danceable...
BB & Blake comprises former GusGus-
er Magnús Jónsson along with Vera
Sölvadóttir. The band has been going
for a while now, but their début album
only saw the light of day this winter.
I’m going to get brickbats from my
metal loving friends, but this album
is not half bad. Using seventies
disco soul as a cornerstone, images
of sweaty torsos at 3 AM and amyl
nitrate in the air instantly spring to
mind. Indeed, the falsetto chorus in
Mustang practically screams Scissor
Sisters, right in my face. The album
also manages to bring in elements of
eighties proto-house and Europop. The
Gallic Paris Je T´aime, for example, has
more than a passing resemblance to
the likes of Air.
The main driver to all of this is Vera,
as she exudes a power that, while not
quite reaching Roisin Murphy levels,
ensures that most of the songs keep
from sounding stale. But even she can’t
save some of them. On the Rundown
sounds trite and annoying, while Lenny
just doesn’t go anywhere. But when
it’s 2 AM and you’ve reached your
15-drink limit, there are a lot worse
things to dance to...
- BOB CLuNESS
Contrary to what the album cover
and sleeve would have you believe,
Synchronised Swimmers is as
straightforward and un-quirky as
they come. It is pure acoustic pop,
uncomplicated and simple, with not
even a semblance of divergence,
although some hints at depth appear
towards the end (I Almost Know
A Criminal, Robot Robot). I can
understand the value of upbeat music,
but this album is so infuriatingly
brainless it’s impossible to even
attach a mood to it, other than one
attained by a Brady Bunch member on
Prozac. It is even useless as a remedy
to holiday depression, by way of
overcompensation; if depression hasn’t
killed you yet, this album will make you
want to kill yourself through its abject,
stupefying idiocy.
- SINDRI ELDON
Hafdís Huld
Synchronised Swimmers
hafdishuld
Bleugh
Hoffman
Your Secrets Are Safe With Us
hoffmanis
A solid slab of alterna-rock. Can’t
wait till their third album comes out
in 2016
Hoffman released their debut EP Bad
Seeds in 2003 and it garnered lots of
praise, even from that towering bastion
of middle-of-the-road rock shit, X-ið.
But since then, it has taken them SIX
years to produce their follow up. Six
years?!? What have they been doing all
this time?
So is the new album worth the wait?
Yes and no. The album does have very
clean production values, more so than
most albums out there at the moment.
And when it’s good, such as tracks
Blow and Your Secrets are Safe With
Us, there are crashing drums, post
punk guitars and plenty of emo style
emoting. But some tracks, such as Ride
& Right and P.I.R just reminded me of
that really awful 90s US college rock
that Live, Bush and their ilk used to
peddle upon unsuspecting teenagers.
And it’s this which robs this album of
the ability to transcend its peers.
- BOB CLuNESS
Nögl
I Proudly Present
noglmusic
Present but not always correct
.Well, yes indeed: why not be proud of
what you produce? We were massively
proud of a cake we made yesterday.
And then proud of the massive turd
that the cake produced today. And,
hey, wow, guess what? This album’s
sweet, shit, satisfying, and sounds
kinda like Blink-182 when they decided
to get a bit serious just before they
broke up five years or so back. Nothing
inherently wrong with that; there’s
plenty of musical talent in that band,
and also in Nögl.
It’s immediately obvious that these
are people who know how to write,
arrange, produce and get it together
even in the occasional po-faced
moments where they mess about with
Trivium-ish choruses without quite as
silly widdly guitar parts—Hit & Run, for
example. Nothing to be ashamed of,
really: it’s a bit metal, a bit rock, a bit
meh. Stefán from Buff and Sigurður
from UMTBS guest on here too,
proudly.
- JOE SHOOMAN
Not really an ‘album’ of ‘music’, unless
you think of Weird Al Yankovic as
a ‘musician’ who makes ‘albums.’
TSUÍS sees Sverrir Stormsker’s alter-
ego belting out an inane collection
of familiar pop songs, with the
lyrics altered to themes of political
discontent, vague social criticism and
sodomy. Perhaps it’s better to think
of the whole thing as some sort of
ironic concept art, or a fundraiser of
some sort... in any case, this isn’t really
music, but a self-humouring ode to
tacky mediocrity and cheap wordplay,
but without the energy and enthusiasm
generally associated with such a
project.
- SINDRI ELDON
Serðir Monster
Tekið stærst upp í sig
Give it to someone you hate
útidúr
Í Göngutúr
utidur
The musical equivalent of textured
soy protein. Avoid.
When it comes to music, beware of
bands that give themselves hyperbolic
descriptions. Útidúr describe
themselves as thus; “Imagine if
Beirut and Calexico were stuck in a
Mexican standoff – Sam Peckinpah
style – fending off the Arcade Fire
and hanger-on David Bowie, when all
of a sudden Nina Simone and Serge
Gainsbourg would show up with a
band of gypsies.” Wow. That certainly
sounds impressive!
Well with their debut EP out, it’s safe
to say that they are nothing like they
describe themselves. Five tracks (two
of which are radio performances)
consisting of plinky plonky, listless
rhythms that are forced onto melodies
and vocals that just totally suck the
life-force out through your ears. It
may be all designed to sound quirky,
coy and effervescent, but in the end
just makes you want to put on some
splittercore and start a riot. Only the
track “the mess we’ve made” threatens
to be interesting, barely, but is ruined
when it decides to go all reggae
halfway through. You know, for a band
that boasts up to twelve members, it’s
pretty impressive to make an EP that
sounds so anaemic that you don’t want
it to stand up too quick, lest it passes
out and falls on the floor.
- BOB CLuNESS
I would guess that when most
people think of the word
“collective” they usually think
of Stalinist Russia, dirty smelly
hippies, or The Borg with their S&M
kitchen tools.
But in these post-kreppa days,
resources are scarce. It makes more
sense now for people to pool together
under a shared umbrella, a common
purpose. And that ś what a group of
musicians have decided to do in creating
the Paradísarborgaplötur (Paradise City
Records) music collective. Their mission
is thus: “We believe in D.I.Y. ethics and
fully realise the politics behind artistic
representation. Our art is a statement
against rock star hipster attitudes and
elitist bullshit.”
And the first fruits of their labour have
found their way to Grapevine towers,
where they have been placed into my
filthy pig-dog capitalist hands to review
and digest.
First up is Dead Zeppelin by
Deathmetal Supersquad. Five tracks
of standard meat & potato punk rock.
Although there are no new feats of
discovery here, it ś surprisingly catchy.
However the final track “330” does drag
on a bit. At least it’s good to see that
these guys will be able to take up the
mantle of Iceland’s premier pop punkers
when Morðingjarnir decide to hang
up their axes and become chartered
surveyors. (+/-)
Now, Dansað við Lík by Tentacles
of Doom is a rather different proposition.
They ŕe part of the punk umbrella, but
they´ve wandered off into a corner,
started drinking cider and blackcurrant
and listening to early Bauhaus and
Sex Gang Children. The EP takes these
influences and stamps repeatedly on
them to force out a harsh, abrasive sound
that makes me feel happily belligerent.
(+)
But to be shown how it ś done, we
can look to Andspyrna by DYS. This is
full-on old-school anarchist class war
Punk in the mould of Crass and The
Exploited that your dad used to bore you
about. Granted it ś nigh on impossible to
understand the political lyrics when they
are screamed in a flailing, torn manner.
But it ś as brutal as kicking a free-market
puppy in the face and they´ve included
the lyrics and a manifesto in the CD inlay.
FUCK YEAH! (+/-)
With further releases lined up from
Bummer & MVNVMVNTS, it looks like
the battle to change continues apace in
this one corner of music...
http://pbppunk.blogspot.com/
- BOB CLuNESS
Smashing The
System, One Release
At A Time
The PBP Records Collective
examined
Bar-hopping in Reykjavík when the sun
is up all the time makes you feel a little
like a dirtbag, and a lot like awesome
THE
SuNNY
SIDE
Our grandfathers grew up in hobbit holes with more siblings than you can count,
and an infant mortality rate just below modern day Somalia. We're making a living
on Macbooks in brightly lit coffee houses, in a country with the lowest infant
mortality rate on the planet. How bad can it get?