Reykjavík Grapevine - 13.08.2010, Blaðsíða 36

20
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 12 — 2010
dr. Gunni’s History Of Icelandic Rock | Part 22
The Icelandic rock movement associated with the
‘Rokk í Reykjavík’ documentary got yet another kick
in the groin when the radio show Áfangar ("Phases")
was forcefully discontinued in the spring of 1983.
The show had been on the air since 1975, feeding
Icelanders cool new underground sounds not played
anywhere else. To finish fashionably, the radio per-
sonalities—Ásmundur Jónsson (of Gramm records)
and Guðni Rúnar (of Þeyr's Eskvímó Records)—de-
cided to do the last show with live music. They asked
various artists to play, including Megas and Bubbi,
and picked what they considered to be the crème
de la crème of the scene to form a new band for the
occasion. This is how Einar Örn from Purrkur Pillnikk,
Björk from Tappi Tíkarrass, Guðlaugur Óttarsson and
Sigtryggur Baldursson from Þeyr, Einar Melax from
Fan Houtens Kókó and Birgir Mogensen from Spilafí-
fl got to perform together. The group performed as
Gott kvöld ("Good Evening"), but would later use the
name Kukl ("Mumbo Jumbo"), after a suggestion
from Björk.
THE CRASS CONNECTION
Even though their old bands had played together
on various occasions, the Kukl people did not know
each other much. They were quick to befriend one
another, though, and rapidly interfusing musically.
They decided to continue as a band after the radio
performance. Soon after, Kukl recorded two songs
at a small studio in Selfoss owned by Ólafur "Labbi".
He had played with rock band Mánar in the ‘60s and
‘70s but in the early ‘80s he ran the country-dance
group Kaktus. Björk had sang cover songs with this
band at various country balls along with her more
new wave-ish leanings with Tappi Tíkarrass, so Kukl
got the studio time for cheap. Gramm released the
two songs as a 7" single in the autumn of 1983—the
A side being the cheerful "Söngull".
In September 1983, Kukl performed their first big
concert in Laugardalshöll at a grand festival called
‘We Demand a Future!’ The headline act was Crass,
an English anarcho punk group whose records
Gramm had imported and sold for some time. Einar
Örn was studying media in London at the time and
he strengthened the connections with the Crass
people and often visited the band at their country-
side commune.
A GROUP OF SOLOISTS
Crass Records had released all kinds of anarchist
punk records—with various forms of Margaret
Thatcher dissing—and now offered Kukl a record
deal, even though Kukl had no lyrics about how rot-
ten Thatcher was. The first Kukl LP was called ‘The
Eye’ and came out in 1984. Now the "Kukl sound"
was fully shaped. The bass and drum enlaced in
complex rhythms, the keyboard and guitar floated
on top or nipped at the beat, and Einar Örn and Björk
entered the experimental fray by talking, singing,
grunting, croaking and blowing horns and whistles.
"We are all big soloists and our sound man tells us
that we are very hard to mix," Björk said apologeti-
cally in an interview at the time. Melodies could be
heard through the intriguing racket. This was art—
"difficult music"—and Kukl was only liked by the most
broadminded in Iceland.
The Icelandic demand for such cutting edge
stuff was very limited so with contacts not only to
the Crass people, but also to Killing Joke and Psychic
TV (who had played in Iceland in 1983), Kukl set out
to tour Europe as much as possible. Kukl's circle of
friends also included the band Flux of Pink Indians,
which released music on Crass too. Kukl and Flux
played all over Britain together, including a tour to
support mine workers. Flux's bassist Derek Birkett
would later form the One Little Indian record label
that released The Sugarcubes, and later Björk's solo
music.
EvERyTHING THAT COULd HAPPEN HAP-
PENEd
Kukl's tours were no luxury sojourns. They hung to-
gether in a van, slept together in one room and ate
stews at squats that often were their venues. "We
lived on hand outs. I remember one tour where I only
got bread and Camembert cheese to eat. When we
finished in Amsterdam I was so sick that my life was
in danger," said Einar Örn in 2000 and might be exag-
gerating. In an interview in 1986 Björk said: "It's very
tiring to sit so long in a car. Kukl's first tour lasted
for two months and everything happened that could
possibly happen. All kinds of love affairs formed, ev-
erybody got fired, etc."
Some times were sweeter. Kukl played a great gig
in Paris that was later released on a cassette entitled
14.9.84 after the date, and Kukl were the first Ice-
landic band to play the Roskilde festival in Denmark.
In the beginning of 1986, Kukl's second album was
released. Entitled ‘Holidays In Europe (The Naughty
Nought)’, it was so heavy and difficult that it made
‘The Eye’ almost sound like an ABBA record in com-
parison.
A PROvOKING BELLy
In Iceland, Kukl's activity was limited to Einar's vaca-
tions from his media studies in London. Kukl was one
of the "big numbers" at the infamous Viðey Island
festival of 1984, where only thirteen paying guests
showed up. Einar played in a t-shirt, a football cleat
and nothing else, after his pyjama trousers dropped
down. He had gotten the trousers on loan after he
fell in the sea.
Kukl and (Icelandic legend) Megas teamed up for
a concert in 1985, but Kukl's most infamous Icelan-
dic appearance was on TV, where the band played a
thirty-minute set. Not only did the abstruse music get
on people nerves—the band had a sexy female model
on stage pretending to be a hen—but most provoking
was Björk's big pregnant belly that stood out, nude
and defiant.
It was all over for Kukl in early ‘86. Difficulties in
communication between members had sometimes
ended in fistfights and musically there was not much
to prove—the creative tank was empty. Four Kukl
members would soon form The Sugarcubes, playing
altogether different and more frivolous music.
By Dr. Gunni, based on his 2000 book Eru ekki allir í stuði?
(Rock in Iceland).
The Rise And Fall Of Kukl
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R E STAU R A N T
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‘Dress Up’ is a two-hour compilation from new
boutique label Hljóðaklettar meant to commemorate
the day of Iceland’s independence from evil Danish
furniture designers. Containing music from the
leading lights of Iceland’s ambient/electronic/
industrial scenes, ‘Dress Up’ also comes with a furry
wallet cover for your tape, as well as a Hnakki-style
tracksuit jacket, so you may wallow in your nihilist
feelings in style.
Starting Side A, you can feel the celluloid
influence of horror and sci-fi as Pétur Eyvindsson
and Evil Madness work their slow throbbing ‘80s
synths, evoking John Harrison’s soundtrack to ‘Day
of the Dead.’ Things take a decided turn for the
nasty as BJ Nielsen & Stilluppsteypa’s hollowed out
ambient storm ‘Big Shadow Montana’ gives way
to harsher industrial sounds (and a man crying for
five minutes). For example, Dino Felipe’s ‘Exterio’ is
REAL industrial music, using machinery to create a
sound akin to illegal experiments on human flesh,
Tetsuo style.
Side B is changes the mood as the music
becomes more electronic and beat driven.
Beginning with ‘JarreSchulze,’ BJ Nielsen’s ode
to Kraftwerk, there is the crunched, manipulated
feedback of Rúnar Magnússon's ‘Freeze No Extra’,
morphing into the dystopian disco of Hunk of a
Man's ‘Captain of Love’. You’re brought down with
more harrowing dark ambient from Sigtryggur
Berg Sigmarsson and Jóhann Jóhannsson, before
DJ Musician gives everything a final kick up the
backside in the end credits.
I would heartily recommend you try and secure
a copy of this release if you can (the run is limited
to only 35). The numerous styles of electronic
processing and noise ensure that if you have any
interest in digital music, then there is definitely
something here for you.
—BOB CLUNESS
Pain and pleasure in
equal measures
various Artists
Dress Up
www.hljodaklettar.com
Music | Album Reviews
Oh my god, yes!
Bárujárn
Bárujárn (EP)
hrukkublikk
This EP is incredibly frustrating. Not because of the
songs—they are instant hip-shaking, gothabilly surf
hits. Not because of the musicians—the instruments
are sharp, dynamic and played with true soul. Not
even the production—it’s drenched with distortion
and reverb all the way through, like a fresh salad
with delicious dressing. What is maddening here is
that it’s only three short songs by one of the most
promising bands in town, and some of us have been
waiting a long time for them to record! I beg of you,
Bárujárn, please give us more of this.
—REBECCA LOUdER
1. Kukl in 1984: From left: Sigtryggur, Birgir,
Guðlaugur, Björk, Einar örn, Einar Melax.
2. Björk on the cover of vera magazine, early
1986.