Reykjavík Grapevine - 20.05.2011, Blaðsíða 24

Reykjavík Grapevine - 20.05.2011, Blaðsíða 24
24 The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 6 — 2011 Music | Reviews Steve Sampling’s trip-tastic journey through his magical adventure world of drum patterns, random delay effects, airtight compression and—you guessed it—oodles upon oodles of samples is light, accessible and enjoyable, which isn’t necessarily a good thing, mind you. The album gets a bit too ‘easy listening’ sometimes, with ‘Distorted Contact’ sounding like something you might hear in a vegan coffee shop. But for the most part it remains tacitly elusive, wafting through the air like the cloud of bong smoke it was presum- ably composed to. - SINDRI ELDON Steve Sampling The Optimist stevesampling Could have used a little pessimism, but still pretty damn good Svartidauði have made unpleasantries their business for some time now. But despite a loyal cult following, they’ve hardly been prolific. In times when a large number of black metal bands are trying to not sound black metal, Svartidauði revels in what once pushed people away and certainly did not recruit hipsters in droves. Barbaric and thoughtful at the same time, it’s in the latter that they have subtly elevated themselves above genre standards while remaining true to some of the conventions that made black metal one of the unfriendliest forms of music. The difference is in the layering of discordant chord-tones and simple yet organic drums. All of which compliment one another to create a methodical whole. There’s a tangible love for the craft of black metal but not a forced break- away from it. Self-destruction and mis- anthropy run amok. Either you choose to endure it or get the hell out of the kitchen before you get hurt. - BIRKIR FJALAR VIðARSSON Svartidauði Temple Of Deformation svartidaudi The hard-to-find 2006 recording finally gets a proper release IDTABM reaches far and wide in its attempts to balance playful flute frolics and dark, sombre horns, and Muhly has created a piece that, while ostensi- bly a soundtrack to a visual work, also functions fairly well as a darkly atmo- spheric work in its own right. There are hiccups, of course; while ‘Music For Boys’, ‘Jagged Pulses’ and ‘Fire Down Below’ are as enthralling rhythmically as they are sonically, other tracks, such as the jauntily modern ‘Varied Carols’, fail to go anywhere interesting, and the pretentious quirkiness of ‘Music Under Pressure’ and ‘Salty Dog’ is just plain annoying. Sometimes these extremes can even be found in the confines of the same track, with ‘Storm Centre’ and ‘First Storm’ veering wildly from awesome, brooding minimalism to lacklustre frivolity. All in all, it makes for an enticing listen, if a slightly un- even one, and could easily be Muhly’s most mature work to date. - SINDRI ELDON Nico Muhly I Drink The Air Before Me www.nicomuhly.com You’ll neither laugh nor cry, but you’ll seriously consider doing both Pósthússtræti 13 101 Reykjavík Tel: +354 551 1800 www.gamla.is Geysir Fact #3 Cheap Cars www.geysir.is In some places in Polynesia it was common to play synchronous music in order to terrify the enemy in warfare. The music would indicate how well they were organized. An organised army is efficient and effec- tive. If there is a clear pulse it synchronises with a mas- ter, a top of the hierarchy. The marching band is a group that is to be used in warfare. As any other part of a military it has (or had) a strategic role. In some cases for instance, a mili- tary force would attack a city and the marching band came afterwards. The people of the city, who had perhaps never heard this kind of music before, were terrified. Hearing the loud syn- chronous sound of a marching band would be terrifying and additionally the people of the city would imagine that even more soldiers would follow the marching band and resistance would be futile. Governments like to use festivities, science and art to remind people of their power. One clear example of this was the “space race” in the cold war. In the field of music, any well-trained army of people will remind one of the efficiency and organisation of the so- ciety. That way a symphony orchestra, for instance, has a clear militaristic role. It is a well-trained and efficient army of people that follows one ruler and ex- ecutes very complicated tasks in great detail in perfect timing. Each and every member is aware of the strategic plan and has a chart with a two-dimensional graph or a grid, an action plan, that is very rigid and exact. In a country that has no military, like Iceland, one might wonder what is the strategic task of these kinds of forces. Is it simply to be like everyone else? To have a Nike store because everyone else does? Or is it perhaps a business-oriented goal of giving the signal: “We are a European society and very cultured, disciplined and ef- ficient.” In order to give a clear signal you need to speak a language some- body understands. In order to have a competition the rules must be clear and standardised. In order to enter a world competition you must submit to those rules. That way international conduc- tors and soloists can make their regular special appearances, just like single functional objects can be replaced in a machine. They travel between similar institutions doing their art as well as making sure everything is right in every corner of the world. This way orches- tras all across the world work together, synchronised. Synchronicity Opinion | Music GUðMUNDUR STEINN GUNNARSSON LAURI RANTALA Guðmundur Steinn Gunnarsson is a composer and a member of cool musical organisation S.L.Á.T.U.R. (www.slatur.is)

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