Reykjavík Grapevine - 02.12.2011, Blaðsíða 27

27
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 18 — 2011
Taste the freshness
of a farmer’s market
Housed in one of the city’s oldest buildings, Fish
Market uses ingredients sourced directly from
the nation’s best farms, lakes, and sea to create
unforgettable Icelandic dishes with a modern twist.
AÐALSTRÆTI 12 | +354 578 8877 | FISHMARKET.IS
2008
GO LIST
OPEN FOR LUNCH WEEKDAYS 11:30 - 14:00
OPEN EVERY EVENING 18:00 - 23:30
Suðurgata 41 · 101 Reykjavík · Tel. +354 530-2200 · www.natmus.is
The country’s largest
museum of cultural
history featuring a
permanent exhibition on
Iceland’s extraordinary
history from settlement
to present day.
Opening hours:
Summer
(May 1st – September 15th)
Daily 10–17
Winter
(September 16th – April 30th)
Daily except Mondays 11–17
National Museum of Iceland
artist had achieved global superstar-
dom, and the bands that came to Ice-
land were mostly heavy metal bands
past their prime, which had at this point
not yet discovered that they could have
profitable second acts in Eastern Eu-
rope. The years’ concert highlight was
held in Hafnarfjörður and included
Slaughter, The Quireboys and head-
liners Poison. The headliners never
showed up, but the Quireboys briefly
became world famous in Iceland. The
Sugarcubes had started to break Ice-
land’s musical isolation in the late ‘80s
and in 1991 had their last hit with ‘Hit.’
They would release an album, support
U2 and break up in the next year, but it
was Björk’s solo debut that finally put
Iceland on the musical map a couple
of years later.
Domestically, the big five were
Bubbi, Todmobile, Nýdönsk, Sálin hans
Jóns míns and Síðan skein sól. The last
two, affectionately dubbed “Sálin” and
“Sólin,” vied with each other for su-
premacy on the countryside ball circuit
with their catchy pop hooks, the only
way to make a real living out of playing
music in Iceland. They succeeded so
well that stories of members arriving at
concerts in private helicopters started
to circulate, but the local music market
did not support such extravagance in
the long run.
ART-ROCK ANd THE KING OF
ROCK
More musically innovative were the
bands Todmobile and Nýdönsk. Tod-
mobile released their third album, the
ambitiously titled ‘Ópera,’ which con-
tinued honing their own sound with
the prominent use of cello and singer
Andrea’s distinctive vocal. The lyrics,
however, always seemed like a more
of an afterthought to bandleader and
superproducer Þorvaldur Bjarni.
Also making their third album,
as well as an EP, were art-rockers
Nýdönsk. ‘Kirsuber’ was one of sum-
mer’s most appealing songs and the
same could be said of ‘Alelda’ during
the Christmas season. The video to the
haunting ‘Landslag skýjanna,’ about a
mad scientist learning to fly in black
and white, remains one of the most
innovative in Icelandic pop. Nýdönsk
would go on to sell more records in the
next year, but ‘Deluxe’ was probably
their last truly vintage album.
The big five got together at 1992’s
Bíórokk, with Bubbi as the only solo
performer. At this point, he was still
indisputably the king of Icelandic rock
and when he entered the stage with
just acoustic guitar in hand, the crowd
sang his signature song to him. Bubbi
started 1991 at the top of the charts,
having had both the best-selling al-
bum and book of the previous year. By
summer, he resurrected the career of
“Icelandic Beatle” Rúnar Júlíusson and
together they recorded some of the last
great rock songs of Bubbi’s career for
the album GCD.
dEATH IN THE UNdERGROUNd
If this was the music that people were
buying, then in the underground
strange things were taking place. At
the annual battle of the bands, Músík-
tilraunir, most of the bands for some
reason seemed to be playing variations
of death metal, with Infusoria (later So-
roricide) winning the studio time on of-
fer and making their debut album as a
result, which remains a fine testament
to the short lived early Icelandic death
metal scene.
While death metal bands disbanded
and practitioners formed grunge bands
once the full impact of Nirvana became
clear, in quite different basements, an-
other revolution was brewing. The Ice-
landic punk scene reached its zenith
around five years after its predeces-
sor in London, but in the early ‘90s the
electronica scene in Iceland seemed to
be never more than five weeks behind
its sources of inspiration. The world
had grown that much smaller in course
of a decade.
‘EVERybOdy dANCE NOW’
In the early ‘90s, while grungers, head-
bangers and later Britpoppers did
their best to emulate their ‘60s and
‘70s heroes, the electronica scene
seemed to be creating something en-
tirely new. In a sense, it was to the ‘90s
what rock’n’roll itself had been to the
‘60s. And just like in the late ‘60s, ev-
ery month seemed to bring out a new
subgenre such as acid rock, folk rock,
country rock, one now had a hard time
keeping up with even the names of var-
ious styles, be it techno, drum’n’bass,
trip-hop or jungle. This would all come
to light some years in the future, even
as the seeds were being sown in the
underground raves of 1991.
Electronica made its way over here
quickly, but hip-hop in Iceland lagged
behind the times. Rap revitalised popu-
lar music here at the same time it was
becoming institutionalized everywhere
else during the later ‘90s. In 1991, the
‘90s were just beginning. Arguably,
they would never again sound this
good.