Reykjavík Grapevine - 13.08.2010, Blaðsíða 49

33
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 12 — 2010
Uh-oh, ironic/unabashed Europop alert!
What we get here is bubbly basslines, lots of
arpeggios and oodles of silly 80s my-first-
303-type factory-settings synth sounds. It’s
not really a question of whether this is a joke
or not but rather how good the songs are.
And, taken on their own merits, the answer
is: not all that amazing. For sure, looks like DJ
Musician is a great lad. There’s a likability to
the artwork shot of Your Favourite DJ, dressed
in an old East Germany footy shirt and holding
up a big beer stein, but that personality’s not
reflected in the music. The whole point of the
Deutsche Elektronika that this propounds to
lovingly lampoon is that it sounds like what
C-3PO grooves to with his queeny robo-
dudes down at Studio-R2D2. But when it
comes down to it, Sehr Gut Cocktail really just
needs a few more tunes amidst the entirely-
authentic, but somewhat meandering, sonic
space. Most of the time, this album sounds
like someone’s broken into a SNES shop and
started playing eighteen different platform
games all at once. Get a couple of Abba/Pet
Shop Boys/Kraftwerk cocktails down yer neck
and have another crack, brother.
—JOE SHOOMAN
Not even ziemlich gut
dJ Musician
Sehr gut cocktail
djmusician
–
When listening to many Icelandic female solo
artists, the one constant running through
them like a dose of salts is their incessant
perkiness. I do like being happy, but at times
it’s like watching a musical version of the
Stepford Housewives.
At least Sóley has the look or someone
who spent her childhood tearing the heads off
dolls, or crawling through your TV set at night
and killing you in your sleep.
Her EP ‘Theatre Island’ is also a suitably
eerie and gothic affair. Perhaps that’s due to
her use of the piano instead of the guitar as
the pivotal instrument. A heavy debt is paid
to the likes of Bat For Lashes and Antony
and the Johnsons for inspiration. But for all
the sullenness, when she decides to show
positivity on tracks like ‘We Will Put Her in
Two Graves’, it feels all the more resonant and
sincere. A solid debut.
—BOB CLUNESS
She’ll steal your soul while you
sleep if you play this CD!
Sóley
Theater Island
ssoolleeyy
Comic | Hugleikur Dagsson
Music | Album Reviews
Divested of the enviro-politic moving
picture of the same name, this ceases to
be a soundtrack and transcends even the
status of an album, because everything
about this collection of feelings, emotions
and resonant creative constructions is pretty
much immaculate. The arrangements and
performances are outstanding as is the
production, with strings to the fore and,
most importantly, strings used properly.
The glissandic nature of Laxness, or the
glockenspiel/accordion counterpoint of
Draumaland, to pick just two examples, are
testimony that here is a piece of work made
by, for, and with a rare blend of deep love
and understanding both of thematic trails
and the human experience. And, of course,
it is testament to life’s beautifully delicate
paradoxical nature that such imperviously
wonderful classicism can be borne from such
a prickly and contentious subject. Taken
simply as a record, this album’s relatively
short-form explorations comprise excerpts
from a wider soundtrack—the music of the
spheres.
—JOE SHOOMAN
An immaculate conception
valgeir Sigurðsson
Draumalandið
valgeirs

Woolens factory store,
located in Vik
Víkurprjón ehf
Phone: 487-1250
www.vikwool.is
Genuine woolen goods,
made in Iceland_______
Also wide selection
of souvenirs
T
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B
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ST
O
F REYKJA
V
ÍK
2010
BEST SEAFOO
D