Reykjavík Grapevine - 21.09.2012, Qupperneq 30

30 The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 15 — 2012MUSIC
B O O K I N G S : T E L . : + 3 5 4 5 6 2 2 3 0 0 W W W . L I F E O F W H A L E S . I S
Whale-Watching Tour Duration: 3 hours
The tour includes a stop by Puffin Island 15th May - 20th August
APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEPT OCT NOV-MAR
08:55 08.55 08:55 08:55 08:55
12:55 12:55 12:55 12:55 12:55 12:55 12:55 12:55
16:55 16:55 16:55
ADULTS: 47€ / 7.500 ISK
CHILDREN: 7-15 22€ / 3.500 ISK
CHILDREN: 0-6 FREE

Other Tours
Puffin Island Tours Duration:1-1,5 hours
15th May - 20th August Every day
10:00 | 12:00 | 14:00
ADULTS: 3.800 ISK• CHILDREN: 1.900 ISK • CHILDREN: 0-6 FREE
Sea Angling and Grill Duration: 3 hours
May - September Every day
17:00
ADULTS: 10.500 ISK • CHILDREN: 5.000 ISK • CHILDREN: 0-6 FREE
RIFF US A NEW ONE
RIFF—The Reykjavík International Film Festival—is looking super
interesting this year. Commencing
on September 27, the fest will as
usual screen lots of
nice flicks and offer
novel surprises
(and hopefully none
of the “technical
difficulties” that plagued
last year’s affair). One of the most
interesting things on the horizon is the
scheduled appearance of one-time CAN
singer Damo Suzuki, who’ll perform
music to a screening of Fritz Lang’s
‘Metropolis.’ Wow. Oh and check this
out: he sought out a local drummer
and bassist to perform alongside him
and join “Damo Suzuki’s Network.” The
legend hand-picked none other than
Magnús Trygvason Elíassen (of Moses
Hightower and several thousand other
bands) and Gunnar Jónsson (of 1860
and Coral) for the job. Congrats, guys!
Read more about RIFF and its schedule
all over this issue.
NEW MUSIC ALERT!
As per usual for this time of year there are lots of exciting new
releases around the corner, all the
local artists
working hard to
have something
fresh and clean
to present at
the upcoming
Airwaves festival.
Ojba Rasta’s
self-titled debut is surely among this
year’s more anticipated records, as the
dubsters have been steadily conquering
the hearts and ears of local audiences
all year with hit single upon hit single.
Check out Davíð Roach’s informative
interview with bandleaders Arnljótur
and Teitur, then head to their record
release gig at Faktorý on October 4.

Lovable troubadour conspirator Svavar
Knútur also dropped a new one the
other day, and it’s reportedly a scorcher
(one of his many collaborators is lovely
Czhech singer Marketa Irglová). It’s
called ‘Ölduslóð’ and you can sample it
at www.svavarknutur.com.

Everyone’s favourite noisegirl
is Kira Kira, and her new record
‘Feathermagnetik’ definitely lives up
to her reputation as Reykjavík Noise
Royalty. Her release show is held in
conjunction with
RIFF and sports
visuals from
animator Sara
Gunnarsdóttir,
a backing band
featuring Skúli
Sverrisson and
Pétur Hallgrímsson,
and an opening set from Úlfur. Make
sure to be at Harpa on September 29 at
21:00 to catch the the event.
September
WHAT THE EFF IS
GOING ON???Echoes Of The White Ark
Ojba Rasta gives birth to its first album
I plan to meet up with Oj Barasta
frontrunners Arnljótur and Teitur at
reggae home base Hemmi & Valdi
for an interview. However, when I get
there Teitur isn’t diggin’ the vibe. He
feels it is too noisy and is quite ada-
mant about relocating the interview
to his apartment so he can get into his
element. When we arrive, Teitur has
really slipped into his zone and also
something a bit more comfortable—a
red silk robe, checker trousers and a
cowboy hat.
“Our next album is gonna be a
country record!” he declares, getting
up to light some incense and placing
a Black Uhuru LP on the record player.
BIRTH, UPBRINGING AND
LETTING GO
When the mood had been established
I turn on the recorder and ask how
they felt about the album being re-
leased.
“Like we have given birth to child,”
Arnljótur responds.
“I think it’s more like watching
your kid leave home when it’s grown
up,” Teitur says. “The forming of the
band was the birth and the recording
session was the upbringing and now
our child has been released into the
world and has to stand on its own.”
Arnljótur disagrees. “I’m not on
the same metaphorical page as you.
For me it was like a birth. Period. It
was in my system. Now it’s out.”
The band recorded the album in
spurts over a period of two years with
producer Gnúsi Yones, the singer of
reggae band Amaba Dama and former
rapper/producer of pioneer Icelandic
hip hop group Subterranean. His stu-
dio, History, is located in his garage.
“I sometimes like to call it his
‘White Ark’ to contrast Lee ‘Scratch’
Perry’s ‘Black Ark’” Arnljótur says.
“Gnúsi has this amazing ability to cre-
ate huge and expansive sound in this
tiny garage,” Teitur adds. They both
agree that working with Gnúsi was
very rewarding and it often seemed as
if he was reading their minds.
“If I said ‘you should delete this…’
he was already in motion doing exact-
ly that before I had even finished the
sentence,” Arnljótur tells me.
Bringing the studio to live perfor-
mances
With eleven musicians in the
group the process was quite chaotic
and time-consuming. Up to 90 tracks
were recorded for some songs before
Gnúsi and dub master Hjalli, who
mixed the album, went at the takes
with razor blades. “We want-
ed it to be a proper studio
album. Dub music
was created in the
studio and there
are certain things
you can achieve
on a recorded al-
bum that are not
possible in a live
setting,” Arnljótur
says.
Some bands try to
catch a live feeling on their
albums, but Ojba Rasta takes the
opposite route, bringing a studio feel
to their live shows with a special dub
master. His instrument is the mixer
and his job is to cut out instruments
at certain points and manipulate
sounds, often piling on loads of echo.
“It’s a lot of work, we always have
to show up extra early for the sound
check,” Arnljótur says.
“When you book us, you always
get the full Ojba Rasta experience,”
Teitur adds. He then leaves the room
and comes back with two hard-boiled
eggs. As he breaks the shells and be-
gins eating them Arnljótur asks “You
don’t want salt to go with it?”
“No,” Teitur replies. “I like them
pure.”
A DUB CONVERSATION
Ojba Rasta was formed a little over
three years ago. In the beginning, the
band mostly performed cover songs,
slowly writing more songs, adding
musicians and finally morph-
ing into the eleven-mem-
ber monstrosity that it
is today.
Recently, several
of their instru-
mental pieces
have gained vo-
cals. “For some
reason I stopped
singing when I was
nine years old,” Arn-
ljótur tells me. “Then
just recently I started se-
cretly singing a backing vocal here
and there until I finally found my
voice, which had been muted for 15
years, through Ojba Rasta.”
But are they the next Hjálmar?
“We’re not the next anything,” they
both agree. “Not at all. I don’t look at
it as a competition but rather as a con-
versation,” Arnljótur says. “And we
want to encourage Icelanders who are
making dub or reggae music to step
up and join this conversation.”
- DAVíð ROACH GUNNARSSON
Reggae/dub big band Ojba Rasta released their debut
album last Tuesday and it’s quite phenomenal. Sporting
eight songs, hair-metal guitar solos, rapping, sci-fi syn-
thesizers, Icelandic poems from the 19th century and a
whole lot of echo, it’s one of the most adventurous albums
to come out of Iceland for a long time. The songwriting is
strong, the lyrics stand out and it’s loaded with layers of
sounds without ever feeling cluttered.
INTER
VIEW
“we want to encourage
Icelanders who are mak-
ing dub or reggae music
to step up and join this
conversation„