Reykjavík Grapevine - 07.01.2011, Side 23

23
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 1 — 2011
</2010 MUSIC>
ENSÍMI – ‘ENSÍMI’ (2002) This bad boy
pretty much set the standard, production-
wise, for Icelandic rock in the... the whatever
you call this decade. Oughties? Noughties?
Something like that. Anyway, it blew all of
its contemporaries out of the water, and also
served as a kind of recap of the ‘90s, high-
lighting Icelandic music’s attitudes in that
far-off decade: it’s vain, cheesy, cocky and
cliché, but man, does it rock. Veering from
sneering, balls-out guitar machismo to in-
dulgent synths and drum patterns, and yet
somehow managing to string it all together,
it perfectly encapsulates a balance between
near-obsessive micromanagement in its
production and crisp, vigorous energy in its
delivery.
BOTNLEDJA – ‘ICELAND NATIONAL
PARK’ (2003) Unfortunately released the
same summer that gave Iceland two of its
most bombastic and self-indulgent rock al-
bums, Maus’s ‘Musick’ and Mínus’s ‘Halldór
Laxness’, Botnleðja’s last shot at the big time
was unassuming, simple and recorded in a
garage for very little (if any) money. This,
coupled with the unspeakably awful mu-
sic video to ‘Brains, Balls And Dolls’ (Why
the fuck did they let Bjaddni Hell make so
many videos? Why, in God’s name?), led to
it quickly being forgotten and dismissed,
and it is always noticeably absent from all
“great Icelandic albums” lists, while all of
Botnleðja’s previous releases (except for the
rehab album, but they always leave those out)
usually manage to make their way to the top
twenty. I find this brutally unfair, as ‘Iceland
National Park’ is a crashing romp of an al-
bum that crackles with energy, enthusiasm
and innovation, as brilliant as it is f lippant
and off-kilter. It is the last album by one of
those rare bands where every member is not
only excellent at what he does, but shines do-
ing it on virtually every track. Never forget!
PORNOPOP – ‘AND THE SLOW SONGS
ABOUT THE DEAD CALM IN YOUR
ARMS’ (2006) Pornopop never quite man-
aged to reach the heights of respect they so
richly deserve, and although it was released
to generally positive reviews, ATSSATDCI-
YA (still a mouthful, even as an acronym) is
hardly a fixture of iPods anywhere. This is,
I suppose, understandable: it’s not a terribly
inviting album, awash in limp-wristed res-
ignation and nihilism, but underneath that
is a core of amazing beauty and romance,
packaged in production so slathered with
carefully crafted reverb and drum patterns
you could use it as steak sauce. Another sadly
forgotten gem.
NÚMER NÚLL – ‘LYKILL AÐ SKÍRLÍFS-
BELTI’ (2008) Gestur Guðnason, Númer
Núll’s front man, once told me that mak-
ing this album so wiped them out that they
didn’t really have the energy or inclination
to do much promotion for it. This does not
change the fact that it is one of the best
guitar-pop albums I’ve ever heard. Gestur is
a music teacher, and you can hear it in his
guitar playing: the album’s lead guitar runs
as a perfect satellite to its rhythm section,
smoothly winding its way through clever,
rambunctious scales without ever breaking
into an outright solo. I bet that last sentence
made the album sound boring, right? Well,
the surprising thing is that the album also
rocks in an awesomely fun way. The songs
are simple, gutsy and inventive without be-
ing pretentious, and the sound is that perfect
combination of lo-fi garage and hi-fi power.
Will they ever make another album? Prob-
ably not, but that’s fine: this one is all they’ll
ever need.
GUSGUS – 24/7 (2009) I didn’t really get
this album when it first came out last year.
I mean, who makes a dance record with six
tracks, all of them really long? And it’s all de-
pressing; you can’t party to this.
Then this summer, I drove to Mývatn
(about 300 miles away) to pick up my girl-
friend, and as she desperately wanted to get
the fuck out of there, we drove back over-
night. It was foggy and dark, I mean really,
really dark. We put this album in the CD
player, and then I got it. This is not a dance
album. This shit is epic. It’s the best thing
they’ve ever put out. It soars delay-drenched
into eternity with its synths and sultry,
ethereal vocals, and even though two of the
songs clip the ten-minute mark, they’re still
too short; you never want them to end. We
listened to it about five or six times on that
drive to Reykjavík.
"And Some Things That
Should Not Have Been
Forgotten Were Lost."
I don't really listen to music, so there
weren't five, or ten, or indeed any Icelan-
dic albums released this year that particu-
larly caught my attention. The last decade
has, however, yielded some important al-
bums, if not for Iceland or the world, but
for me, as this was the decade I had the
sad misfortune to grow up in. This is also
a kind of retrospective, I guess, as I didn't
discover a few of these until long after
they'd been released.
Music | Bob Cluness Music | Sindri Eldon
Five Albums That Shaped
Bob Cluness’ Decade
Sigur Rós – ()
(2002)
The world’s most in-
furiatingly enigmatic
band. But man when
they get it right they
fucking get it right! I chose ‘()’ over
‘Takk’ as nobody in the world seemed
to be making this kind of music at the
time. Not so much ethereal, more oc-
cupying a completely different place in
space and time. Plus for some inexpli-
cable reason, track 4 (or ‘Njósnavélin’)
seems to make me cry every time I lis-
ten to it. Shut up!
Mínus – Jesus Christ
Bobby (2000)
An unyielding mass of
spiteful noise that was
the aural equivalent
of firebombing your
neighbour’s house and killing everyone
due to a dispute over hedge bound-
aries. The thing with JCB was that
at times it was more noise than rock,
thanks to their clever decision to have
Curver produce the album. Still gives
me nightmares involving trolls with dil-
dos.
GusGus – Attention
(2002)
The first GusGus al-
bum I bought was
2007s ‘Forever’ and
that is a great album.
But somehow I just found this did the
same stuff, better, and five years earlier
as well. Sometimes on a Saturday night
if I’m alone and before I go out, I like
to put this on while dancing naked with
a jar of pickles to get me in the mood.
Nothing wrong in that is there?
Singapore Sling -
Life Is Killing My
Rock 'N' Roll (2004)
The group that is re-
sponsible for creating
a whole brand of Ice-
landic death rock with numerous imi-
tators but never bettered to be honest.
Their whole sound can be perfectly en-
capsulated in the track, ‘Guiding Light’
a shimmering vehicle that blazes across
the devils highway wearing shades. Al-
legedly.
Björk – Volta (2007)
The obligatory Björk
entry. I found this al-
bum was her most lis-
tenable she had pro-
duced in a long time.
There is something in there for every-
body from tribal rhythms to avant garde
song structures, melodic pop hooks
to fervent politics. She even made Ti-
mabaland work as a producer for a
change, so it can’t be all bad!
Sigur Rós - Takk
(2007)
Takk received critical
acclaim here, there
and everywhere, went
gold and made every-
one sit up and take notice... again.
FM Belfast - How To
Make Friends
(2008)
An album that has
been known to cause
people to actually run
down the street in their underwear. If
this isn't music with a positive influence
then İ don't know what is.
Emiliana Torrini –
Fisherman’s Woman
(2005)
Fisherman’s Woman
made folk-lovers all
over sit up and take
notice and is just a really sweet album
in general.
Agent Fresco –
Lightbulb Universe
(2008)
Everyone knew the lyr-
ics before the album
was even released. It goes without say-
ing that this was one of the albums of
the new millenium.
Mugison – Mugi-
mama: Is This Mon-
key Music? (2004)
The multi-talented
Mugisson has influ-
ence near and far and
his 2004 album permanently placed him
on the music map.
Music | Bergrún Anna Hallsteinsdóttir
Five Albums That Shaped
Bergrún Anna Hallsteins-
dóttir’s Decade
Bob Cluness’s Favourite Albums Of
2010
1: Apparat Organ Quartet – ‘Pólýfónía’.
After an eight year break these guys just
came out of nowhere and completely
eclipsed every other band in the country,
just for the sport. I mean who else was
going to touch them musically, Retro Stef-
son? Don’t make me laugh!
2: Momentum – Fixation, At Rest:
Of all the metal albums I’ve heard this year,
‘Fixation, At Rest’ had the biggest musical
scope, the most ambition, the most balls to
run with it to the sky. It was the little things
like the use of scratched violins on the
riff on ‘Metamorphose’ that told you they
knew what they’re doing.
3: Various Artists – Hljóðaklettar
‘Dress Up’:
Most of you won’t have heard this (as there
were only 35 copies made!), but if there is
a is a better compilation that shows the
rude health Icelandic electronic music
finds itself in 2010, then I’m not really do-
ing my job properly.
4: Agent Fresco – ‘A Long Time Listen-
ing’:
Agent Fresco managed to break free from
the shackles that ‘Eyes Of A Cloud Catcher’
was in danger of constraining them with by
making an album that was both VERY in-
telligent and at the same time rocked like
the proverbial mother. I also found singer
Arnór Dan’s trousers strangely tight and
alluring. No idea why...
5: Nóra – ‘Er einhver að hlusta?’
While most other pop bands just faffed
around with the idea of creating tunes
(that were frankly as bland and off putting
as week old slátur), Nóra produced music
that was immediate, simple and powerful.
Bergrún Anna Hallsteinsdóttir’s Fa-
vourite Albums Of 2010
1. Orphic Oxtra – Orphic Oxtra
They brought the sound of the Balkans
to Iceland and injected the music scene
with a much-needed dose of difference.
2. Ólafur Arnalds – ‘And they have
escaped the weight of darkness’
Ólafur Arnalds wins at creating classical
music that the kids can appreciate.
3. Retro Stefson – Kimbabwe
Kimbawe brought some much needed
positivity to these dark times.
4. Hjaltalín og Sinfó – Alpanon
The symphony/band combo took Hjal-
talín’s sound to new places with Alpanon.
5. Samúel Jón Samúelsson Big Band
– Helvítis fokking fönk
They made the year that much funkier for
Iceland as a whole.