Reykjavík Grapevine - 21.06.2013, Síða 38

38
Parties Of
Tomorrow And
Yesterday
Keflavík is the birthplace of the Ice-
landic rock-scene with bands like
Hljómar sprouting up there in the
late ‘60s. Unfortunately, the Keflavík
Music Festival held June 5–9 was a
disastrous event plagued by disor-
ganisation that resulted in a lot of
cancellations by big artists, domes-
tic and international. Local Viking-
metal band Skálmöld reported that
they played for an empty tent with
no lighting. Other bands reported
at times that there was no security
present, let alone staff to man the
bars. A lot of the bands had appar-
ently been promised advanced pay-
ment that did not arrive and were
unable to reach the organisers who
seemed to go into hiding mode as
soon as shit hit the fan.
We recommend people give Ke-
flavík another chance though, as we
expect great things from the first
Icelandic edition of the All Tomor-
row’s Parties festival on June 28–29.
It is being held at the former US na-
val base and the main venue is an
old airplane hangar and the other is
“The Officer’s Club,” a beautiful old
ballroom. Exceptional foreign bands
such as Nick Cave, The Fall and Thee
Oh Sees are coming over and the
cream of the Icelandic crop will also
be performing, including bands like
múm, Ham, Apparat Organ Quartet
and Dead Skeletons, which don’t play
live shows very often.
In other concert news we recently
attended a couple of excellent ones.
Sing Fan’s release concert at Iðnó
on June 12 was a prime example of
why he is one of our most success-
ful musical exports at the moment.
Sindri and his minimal backing band
recreated the beautiful and expertly
produced songs of his ‘Flowers’ al-
bum with grace and clarity. After the
encore he performed two numbers
alone on the piano, proving that his
songs are strong enough even with-
out the outstanding arrangements.
We also saw one of Reykjavík’s
newest bands, Grísalappalísa, for the
first time in Vitagarður outside of the
Kex Hostel on the 16th. Their grooves
leaned heavily on punk funk new
wave mixed with motorik krautrock
and their performance was tighter
than a pair of wet skinny jeans. The
two vocalists do not sing as much as
perform spoken word poetry, full of
abstract and hilariously absurd lyr-
ics that seem quite indebted to the
musician turned city councillor Einar
Örn Benediksson (of Sugarcubes and
Ghostigital fame). Their full-length al-
bum is dropping this month and we
can’t wait to get our hands on it.
And we can’t close the column
without talking about the new Sigur
Rós album, ‘Kveikur,’ which came
out on June 17, Iceland’s National
Day. We think it’s better than their
last one, ‘Valtari,’ which sounded a
bit too much like a whale watching
soundtrack for our taste. Gone is the
meandering ambience, which has
been replaced by sharp song writing
and edge with a lot of rock out mo-
ments. The song “Rafstraumur” re-
ally has our hearts pumping.
Útidúr
Valgeir Sigurðsson
Oyama
Detour
2013
www.utidur.com
Útidúr are much improved on this
carefree mini-LP
Architecture Of Loss
2012
www.valgeir.net
Music that longs for something to
hold onto
I Wanna
2013
www.facebook.com/oyamaband
Awakens dormant memory circuits,
but leaves you expecting more
Útidúr were called the 'Beirut of
Iceland' in their early days, and not
without reason. There is more than
a bit of Zach Condon in lead vocal-
ist Gunnar Örn's deep-throated
delivery and their debut was full of
faintly Balkan-sounding indie-pop.
On their new record, their approach
is more playful and the influences
more scattered.
On ‘Architecture of Loss,’ Valgeir
Sigurðsson pares down musical
selections originally written for
Stephen Petronio’s ballet of the same
name. The resulting album is a dark,
brooding soundtrack somewhere
between chamber music and ambi-
ent noise. Parts of the album envel-
op the listener in a wash of nearly
sub-audible tones, bitter metallic
percussive effects, and high, glitch-
y electronic rustlings. Other tracks
are glacial and ghostly. ‘Architecture
Of Loss’ is an album of tiny, careful
movements between long periods of
stillness, on the edge of existence.
One of the most successful
tracks on the album is “Between
Monuments.” After floating on a
subtly changing landscape featur-
Big things are expected of neo-
shogazers Oyama in 2013 and
their debut EP, ‘I Wanna,’ is their
first proper mission statement. It
certainly wears its influences on
its sleeve with unabashed pride,
namely indie rock circa 1989–94.
Think L**h’s ‘Spooky’ or pre-
’Loveless’ My Bloody Valentine and
A
lb
um
Review
s
What does this mean? Well,
Caribbean vibes mingle with piano
punk freak-outs on "Bumblebee."
Opener "Grasping for Air" is like a
great lost upbeat Cardigans track
with Beirut-like strings and brass.
"Vultures" is a beautiful bouncy
single with psychedelic woodwind
breakdowns and ear-infecting
Wurlitzer hooks. And instrumental
closer "Harmonikk" is based around
soaring synth pads playing '90s
progressions and broken beats. In
other words, this music is brimming
with ideas and every new rotation
brings fresh details to light.
The addition of electronics really
suits the band and tracks like "Aero-
plane" benefit from the overall
sharper focus on groove and dance-
inducing rhythms. In the record's
quieter moments, Gunnar's bari-
tone is complemented by wispy but
charming female vocals courtesy
of Sólveig Anna Aradóttir; these
moments are well appreciated.
Some of these songs might come
off as a bit too comfy or cutesy for
certain listeners, but all I hear is an
exceptionally entertaining and well-
executed recording. - Atli Bollason
you get the idea.
‘I Wanna’ makes you feel some-
thing that is both reassuring and dis-
tinctly familiar. Those soft, gender-
unspecific vocals, the chiming, open
chord progressions, and chugging
riffs containing that slightly atonal,
off centre note. Only “Everything
Some Of The Time,” with its direct,
poppy hooks, doesn’t adhere to a
particular time or style. It should
bring middle-aged men who were
weaned on such music to tears of
nostalgic rapture.
And naturally it does... to a point.
Songs like “Wasted (Dinosaur)”
definitely rollick along in high gear,
but in mastering sounds that have
been around the block numerous
times, it does feel at times a tad
safe and happy within the boundar-
ies Oyama have defined for itself.
Which is okaaaay, but not much is
being stretched sonically here. It
really shows on the final track, “The
Garden,” with its mid-song fuzzout/
breakdown that, instead of pushing
it ‘til the wheels fall off, just seems
to chug along sullenly. It also doesn't
help that the lyrics seem to have
been cobbled together as a mere
afterthought. - Bob Cluness
ing violist Nadia Sirota, the piece
finally erupts into a beat-driven
conclusion. “World Without Ground”
and “Reverse Erased” feature Nico
Muhly and Nadia quite nicely, with
shape-shifting textures and off-kilter
rhythms. The ultra-close mic record-
ings make it seem like the players are
in the room with me, trying not to
breathe or the piece might crumble.
Less successful tracks, however, feel
like a jam session powered by winter
sadness. After minutes of single-
note playing in “The Crumbling,” the
piano gets to play two notes at the
same time—how liberating.
Releasing an album that’s just
for listening and creating music for
a ballet are two different things. A
ballet’s music is usually written to
complement the dancers on stage.
Without ballet, we wouldn’t have
Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring” or even
Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker” for that
matter. But when you take away the
dance, the music by itself has to hold
up on its own. Some “Architecture”
tracks seem like they’re missing that
extra visual piece of the puzzle that
completes them. Others, like the final
track, seem unnecessarily short.
Valgeir Sigurðsson’s latest release
opens with hardly a note and ends on
a seemingly unfinished chord. But
for a ballet and a very personal work
called ‘Architecture Of Loss,’ these
sounds are may be very appropri-
ate bookends. They encapsulate an
album that makes me aware of the
transience of life, and all the little
gestures, the tiny emotions, that
never quite got expressed.
- Nathan Hall
Music
By Óli Dóri & Davíð Roach
Straum.is has been active since last summer,
with writers Óli Dóri and Davið Roach docu-
menting the local music scene and helping peo-
ple discover the best new music. It is associated
with the radio show Straumur on X977, which
airs every Monday evening at 23:00.
The Reykjavík Grapevine