Reykjavík Grapevine - 24.08.2012, Síða 34

CONCERT
R E V I E W
ERT
R I E W S
34 The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 13 — 2012MuSIC
Electric Sauna Soul
Jimi Tenor is BACK!
Jimi Tenor is the sort of guy I’ve heard about for a long time and been like “yeah, that guy sounds
pretty interesting, I have to check him
out sometime.” But I never do. He is
from Finland and has crafted songs
out of a large spectrum of modern
music, from acid jazz to IDM.
He also is a true “friend of Ice-
land,” as we say ‘round these parts,
having performed in Iceland many
times before, working with Gus Gus
(who covered his track, “Call Of The
Wild,” which became a major hit on
Reykjavík’s dance floors a decade ago)
and Samúel Jón Samúelsson, among
others. And he is currently working
on an album with the Icelandic reg-
gae band Hjálmar.
I had heard that he sometimes
performed with a large band, so I
didn’t know quite what to expect
when I arrived at The Nordic House
for his Reykjavík show. The setup was
a grand piano, a synthesizer and a
table full of gadgets with a spaghetti
bowl of cables and wires. He came to
the stage alone, paler than ale, sport-
ing silky blond hair, a Prince Valiant
haircut and nerdy hipster horn
rimmed glasses.
A Finnish Ron Burgundy
With no introduction, he began fid-
dling and twisting knobs and KAOS
pads producing a heady brew of trippy
ambient dub stylings. The next song
was an upbeat jazzy house cut and
after setting some loops in motion he
headed to the synthesizer and started
singing.
“My mind is an open book to
you,” he crooned like a blue-eyed
soul singer, his voice silky smooth
and tender. It reminded me a bit of
his Norwegian neighbour, Erlend
Øye. At one point in the song he even
picked up a jazz f lute and played an
off-the-wall solo, like a Finnish Ron
Burgundy.
A harmless mad scientist
His whole approach was improvi-
sational, off kilter and playful. Like
the happy kind of mad scientist. He
wandered between the grand piano,
synthesizer, saxophone and his giant
table of electronic gizmos. Sometimes
he sang a line and then immediately
responded to it with a melody on
the f lute or the saxophone. Most of
the songs had vocals but often he
didn’t sing into the mic, just sort of
hummed it half heartily to himself
while he was dancing between the
instruments or fondling his sound
machines.
The lyrics were simple and repeti-
tive, like lines from old soul songs.
He should be way too white and Nor-
dic to be singing lines likes “I gotta
go downtown, to get that money,” but
somehow he made it sound sincere.
A futuristic Frank Sinatra
"Call of the Wild" was a high point
of the show, starting with an off beat
free jazz solo on the grand piano and
morphing into a wonderfully slow
summer jam. In the middle of it he
did a solo on the saxophone that was
half way crossed between muted si-
lences and wild outbursts. His songs
are sort of naïve in vocals and melody
but complex in craft, construction
and arrangement. The last song of
the set sounded like a 22nd century
Frank Sinatra or Tony Bennet. It was
a pure futuristic Las Vegas crooning:
“Beyond the moon, beyond the stars.”
Not all of the parts were amazing,
a couple of songs were sort of aimless
and few others went on a bit too long
but it was never short of interesting. I
will definitely dip my toes into his cat-
alogue in the nearest possible future;
it sounds like a great soundtrack to a
midsummer sauna.
- DAVíð ROACH GuNNARSSON
Norræna Húsið
Sturlugata 517
AUGUST
www.nordice.is
jimi Tenor
The Talk Of The Town
Tony Bennett performs at Harpa
“Everybody loves a winner, so nobody loved me,” croons Tony Bennett from the
stage of Harpa’s Eldborg Hall. “I do,” a
woman who is probably young enough
to be his daughter shouts back. Of
course, that could still make her 60.
Tony Bennett is probably best known
for two things: being very, very old—
old enough to have fought in World
War II, which he did—and hanging
out with the likes of Frank Sinatra,
who called him the best singer in the
business. He might not have attained
the stature of a Frank or a Dino, but he
does have one advantage over them: he
is still alive, and so we get to see him.
Happy birthday, Tony
Despite his age, Tony has the voice of
a man a quarter of his age. He seems
able to hit any note he damn well
pleases. This seems so unreasonable
for a man his age that one almost
suspects him, like Charlie Watts on
his drums, to have a tape playing in
the back.
Speaking of old drummers, Tony is
not even the oldest man on stage. That
accolade goes to drummer Harold
Jones, who was apparently Count
Basie’s favourite stick man and has
since then played with pretty much
everyone, including Duke Ellington,
Sammy Davis Jr. and Frank himself.
The air is thick with living legends,
and the crowd is generous not only
with declarations of love but also with
standing ovations. “Happy birthday,
Tony,” someone shouts, as he had just
turned 86 the prior week.
Getting into the swing of things
Moving on to the music, Tony’s
daughter Antonia sings for roughly
the first 20 minutes before the great
man himself enters. The concert is
supposed to last for 90 minutes, but
the crowd is welcoming and Tony
goes into overtime. With the cheapest
tickets at 9,000 krónur, it all works out
to be around 100 krónur per minute
of Tony.
But that’s math, and we’re supposed
to be talking about music here. Tony
seems to be of the “it don’t mean a
thing if it ain’t got that swing” school,
and most songs are performed in
the same tempo. Old warhorses like
“Boulevard Of Broken Dreams,” which
he introduces as the first song he ever
recorded, and “One For My Baby And
One For The Road” are performed not
as late night wistful ballads but rather
as up-tempo numbers.
A Trip To The Moon
It is in the last half hour or so, when
the band brings the tempo down, that
the set really flies, especially “Fly Me
To The Moon,” performed without
a microphone. A crowd member
attempts to sing along, but is quickly
shushed by performers and attendants
alike.
The fact that the song comes across
says a lot about both Tony’s voice and
Harpa’s acoustics. Even Tony himself,
who has seen them all in the past 60
years, seems impressed by the hall.
The admiration seems mutual. As
the crowd departs and the chattering
starts, the consensus seems to be that
it was money well spent.
- VALuR GuNNARSSON
Harpa - Eldborg
Austurbakki 2 10
AUGUST
Tony Bennett
The best of Icelandic design and
delicious hand made chocolate.
The oldest house in Reykjavík
holds many modern treasures.
Aðalstræti 10
Monday - Friday 9:00 - 20:00
Saturday 10:00 - 17:00
Sunday 12:00 - 17:00 i c e l a n d i c d e s i g n
THE MOST IMPORTANT EVENT
YOU PROBABLY DON’T KNOW ABOUT!
Listen up everybody! The UNM 2012 Music Innovation Music Festival
is right around the corner. You might
never have heard of the UNM Music
Innovation Festival, but don’t you fret—
it’s really cool, and we are here to tell
you all about it.
Firstly, it’s no
wonder that you
might not have
heard about the
festival, as it only
happens in Iceland
every five years.
In 2007, we were
all too busy eating gold-flaked Kobe
steaks off our diamond encrusted iPads
to notice a festival as wonderful and
subtle as UNM, and that is our loss. We
will not let this happen again in 2012:
UNM is a festival of young Nordic
composers that’s been an annual thing
in the Nordic countries since 1946, and
it’ll go on in Reykjavík from August 28
to September 1. The festival features
seven composers from each of the five
participating countries, chosen after
an open-call for compositions. The
composers work with various musicians
throughout the festival, while not
attending lectures and seminars on
music, an integral part of the festivities.
Look forward to EIGHT concerts
over the course of the festival, all
featuring music from HAWT young
Nordic composers, performed by
artists such as Caput, SKARK and the
Southland Chamber Choir in venues
such as Harpa’s Norðurljós, Reykjavík
Art Museum and Kjarvalsstaðir (and
more! Including Skálholt! Go there if
you haven’t!).
The festival’s ‘educational’ bit is
done in conjunction with progressive
local arts collective LornaLAB, featuring
lectures from people like artist Halldór
Arnar Úlfarsson, violin maker Hans
Jóhannsson, composer Klaus Lang, Áki
Ásgeirsson and the one and only Páll
Ívan Pálsson.
Enrich your little world and broaden
your horizons at UNM! Learn more
about the festival, life, the universe and
everything by logging on to www.unm.
is
MORE MELCHIOR?
You probably need more of the band Melchior in your life. Why not go
see them at Halldór Laxness’ house,
Gljúfrasteinn, this coming Sunday
(August 26) at 16:00? Admission is only
1,000 ISK, and if you wind up not liking
the music, you can always go wander
around the Nobel laureate’s old digs.
Compiled by Haukur S. Magnússon
August
WHAT THE EFF IS
GOING ON???
Harpa www.harpa.is