Reykjavík Grapevine - 13.08.2010, Blaðsíða 18

18
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 12 — 2010
LungA
seyðisfJörður July 12 - 18
G! FESTIVAL
Götu July 15 - 17
LungA Festival Music
Madness
Two wristbands, torrential rain,
some rockin’ and not so rockin’
bands
FRIdAy
I made it to the Kimi Records show just
as Sudden Weather Change took the
stage. Sudden Weather Change remind-
ed me of every mediocre alt-rock band
of the ‘90s. Nearly every song in their
set used the same repetitive 4-count
pattern, loud-quiet-loud dynamics, and
3/4 song break down before the last
chorus. With three vocalists singing
the same lyrics in the same range, the
vocals sounded washed out and unaf-
fected. The same thing applied to the
three guitars. Without a definitive lead
and lack of creative rhythm exchanges,
the guitars served nothing more than to
fill the room with unmerited distortion.
Sudden Weather Change needs to
add something to their sound. : unex-
pected rhythms changes, interesting
guitar effects, harmonic diversity, syn-
chronized windmills, something. They
should listen to Pixies’ Surfer Rosa and
Dinosaur Jr.’s You‘re Living All Over Me
a few more hundred times and take
notes on how to create successful noise
rock atmosphere, the occasional killer
guitar solo, and powerful and effective
vocal projection. If you plan on blow-
ing the audience away with a block of
sound, I expect more originality and
energy than what they brought to the
stage. At the end of their set, they half-
heartedly shook their guitars at their
monitors without any suspense of possi-
bly smashing their instruments. We had
to wait for Kimono to take the stage for
some real rock and roll.
Next up was the five-piece psych-
pop band Tape Tum from Belgium. In
between passing the whiskey bottle
around on stage, Tape Tum turned out
some of the best music of the night. The
drummer used creative, jazz influenced
change-ups and fillers, holding together
some rather complex arrangements
throughout their set. The beginnings to
a few songs reminded me of ‘Nights in
White Satin’ by the Moody Blues. Just
when I thought the music was headed
somewhere epic, Tape Tum would throw
in some ‘60s pop rhythms reminiscent of
an up-tempo Zombies song.
The trumpet player/maraca shaker stole
the show with some crazy voodoo danc-
ing. Kudos to him for looking like the one
guy on stage possessed by the music.
He even played some serious trumpet on
some songs. Tape Tum found the perfect
balance between noise and silent space
in their more distorted songs. They
jumped around, added in some spooky
samples at all the right moments, and
even threw in some Beach Boys baa
baas to end their set. Tape Tum was
definitely the most mature and original
band of the night.
Next up was Stafrænn Hákon who
played a bland, forgettable set: typical
alternative music, cliché lyrics, nothing
about their sound stood out compared
to the rest of the bands. Kimono came
on last and rocked harder as a three
piece than all the other 4-5 piece bands.
My only complaint about Kimono’s set
is that it lacks variety. But they do what
they do very well. Kimono mixes post-
punk, grunge, prog-rock and touch of
early metal into a kick-ass rock show.
Articulate lead guitar solos, interesting
and percussive rhythm guitar, and fast,
precise drum builds, Kimono brought
everything to the stage that Sudden
Weather Change left out. Lead singer
Alex MacNeil reminded me of the Cure’s
Robert Smith with his effortless, waver-
ing vocal stylings. Everything about their
performance made Kimono seem like
hard rock veterans.
SATURdAy
Saturday we caught the end of Miri’s set.
The few songs we heard sounded like an
indie jam band without any interesting
solos or dynamic ambiance. Not terribly
thrilling. Seabear played next, followed
by Hjaltalín. Both bands, full of non-fes-
tival friendly instruments like violins and
oboes, played decent sets but lacked the
energy and excitement of later bands
like Retro Stefson and Bloodgroup. Play-
ing one after another, their sets sounded
too similar and unenthusiastic. Playing
a festival requires more than proving
you can recreate what your new album
sounds like. Both bands have excellent
musicians; they just need to learn how
to play for a wide audience, not neces-
sarily there to see their set.
Next up was Retro Stefson. They
combined funk, African chants, dance,
Icelandic lyrics, and pop-rock. Their set
was by far my favourite out of all the
bands that played at LungA. The lead
singer jumped around stage with his
hoodie and guitar like he was Rocky (the
first Rocky, when he was still cool). Most
of the crowd forgot about the rain and
danced along to every song. Retro Stef-
son met and surpassed every require-
Fucking G!reat!
Gøta’s G! Festival brought the
ruckus
The good people of the G! festival over in
the Faroe Islands decided it was a good
idea to invite us over to cover the 2010
edition. We have written about their
bash a number of times, and our review-
ers have usually come back waxing all
ecstatic about the event, its guests, the
musicians performing, the town of Gøta
and its locals, not to mention the Faroe
Islands themselves.
I plan on doing the same. Despite
some pretty major setbacks this year,
G! Festival is altogether pretty fucking
awesome, both in concept, execution
and setting (that beach they host it on
is goddamn beautiful, and so is the town
of Gøta, its mountains and its houses. In
his GV review of G! 2007, Ben H. Murray
described the set-up as one suitable for
“Valhalla’s own music fest”—who am I to
disagree).
Here are some negative things about
G! 2010. They can pretty much all be
written off as ‘rain related’ (except for
Danish rock sucking):
* It rained so much on the first day that
the cool beach stage they have couldn’t
be used for the rest of the fest, and mas-
sive scheduling problems (as well as lots
of confusion) ensued.
* In fact, everyone’s tents blew away
from the festival campsite, so lots of
folks were left wet and stranded (some
folks were saying that the Faroes’ en-
tire tent supply sold out that next day).
There seems to be a common theme to
outdoor festivals: if it rains, then that is
a pretty big problem. Folks get wet and
angry and they smell. Then they get su-
per intoxicated to be able to deal with
all the rain and wet feet and lacklustre
sleeping conditions, and will often seem
to be forcefully watching the bands, just
to get their money’s worth. Taking notes
in the rain is also hard.
* We arrived there late on the second
day of a three-day bash (conveniently
missing the brunt of the rainstorm that
laid waste to the fest’s campsite a day
earlier), so we missed FM Belfast and
Týr, among others. I am not Týr’s biggest
fan (hell, I don’t even like their patented
brand of Viking Hero LARP Metal), but
seeing them perform at G! has long
been a fantasy of mine. And it really
would have been nice to see the unusu-
ally enthusiastic G! crowd react to FM
Belfast’s set.
* Reykjavík’s own Bárujárn only got to
play four songs before being whisked
off stage to make room for Brandur Enni.
* Saturday’s headliners, Danish bro-
core outfit Nephew, proved once and
for all that Danes should under no cir-
cumstances be allowed any attempts at
playing rock music. Ever.
* Local Gøta hero, the super-talented
singer/songwriter Eivør Pálsdóttir, had
her would-be triumphant homecoming
set badly marred by all the rain. I was
actually well impressed by her perfor-
mance, but hanging out with her family
later I got the impression that they were
upset by it all, and that made me sad. A
brilliant performer and a rising songwrit-
er, it would have been nice if Eivør had
been able to shine like she is capable of.
* I missed local electro outfit The
Ghost’s set, and I hear it was awesome.
* I tasted ‘skerpikjöt’ (rotten leg of lamb)
for the first—and last—time.
That out of the way, let us focus on
all the positive things to be said about G!
2010:
* Gøta is a fucking gorgeous setting for
a music festival, rain or no rain. I often
found myself looking up and around
when bored by a particular performer
and getting all flabbergasted and warm
inside. This is especially important at a
diverse and ‘liberally booked’ festival
like G!, where some of the bands might
suck. You can stare at the mountains
while they get through with their suck-
ing.
* The camaraderie on display through-
out the event was admirable, heart-
wrenching and comparable only to what
may be found at Ísafjörður’s Aldrei fór
ég suður festival. Little kids, grandpar-
ents, teenagers, tourists and everyone
in between gather to solemnly celebrate
and enjoy a maddeningly diverse, often
eclectic bill of music. This is good.
* The ‘dance’ stage and everything
that went on around there. Memories
of watching extremely intoxicated folks
breakdance around in knee-deep pud-
dles to the advanced beats of DJ Djuna
Barnes at four in the AM will keep me
going a long time.
* Despite several setbacks, Bárujárn
played a stunning set of four songs. The
last one, a lovingly crafted version of
Icelandic classic ‘Brennið þið vitar’ (in
tribute to a recently departed friend)
brought tears to my eyes.
* Faroese thrashmetal band Synarchy
played a super* tight, super exciting set
of death* trash to an ultra-enthusiastic
crowd. Metal lovers would do well by
checking them out (they are sorta like
Severed Crotch, but not really). The far
more famous Swedish thrashers Arch
Enemy also put up a rockin’ show on the
main stage, but I’d still choose me some
Synarchy over them any day.
* Danish folk-punks Afenginn also
brought the party to a great climax, with
their dreadlocked singer man bring-
ing the audience into all sorts of frenzy.
Fans of progressively junky roots music
should give them a listen.
* Down at the beach, the Höyry Sauna
party brought the good vibes (as well as
excellent relief from all the rain) through-
out the festival. These Finnish hippie-
types set up a sauna-tent right by the
sea, where one could sweat out toxins
in the company of naked and drunk lo-
cals, interspersed with dips into the cold
North* Atlantic. They also performed
some pretty weird DJ sets throughout.
If you ever have the chance to hang out
in a sauna on the beach in Gøta while
listening to a drunken, dreadlocked Finn
ramble over techno polka beats, take it.
* The locals. They were so awesome. We
got housed with a local family, and get-
ting a glimpse of Faroese family life was
enlightening and heart-warming. Ev-
ery single person one confronts seems
ready to help you with whatever you
need help with, and concerned if you
are genuinely having a fine time (not all
of them knew I was a journalist, either).
The highpoint of the festival was most
definitely when we got invited for dinner
at a local grandmother’s house, and got
to share food, drink, stories and hugs
with the entire extended family. This is
the sort of happening that can and will
reaffirm your belief in humanity, and it
is a clear reason why you should try and
visit G! some day.
* As a whole, the event proved without
doubt that the Faroes have a diverse,
vibrant and exciting music scene going
on, with a number of established and ex-
cellent musicians operating out of there.
Expect great things in the future.
* Visiting the Faroese incarnation of
Sirkús in Tórshavn was really something,
too. Operated since last year, the pro-
prietors have really managed to capture
the essence of the legendary Icelandic
pub, and no trip to the Faroes is com-
plete without a visit.
This all said, I must infer that if you
get a chance to visit the G! Festival, you
should take it.
- HAUKUR S. MAGNúSSON
ASTRId MOHR
ENTER THE HANGOvER