Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.04.2013, Síða 24

The Winner Takes It All
Iceland’s unsigned bands duke it out in a battle to the death, metaphorically speaking of course...
By Bob Cluness & Birkir Fjalar Viðarsson
FOR COLOURBLIND PEOPLE
The first band up was a five-piece from Akureyri
featuring a mix of clanging guitars and plastic
synths. Birkir noted that that there were moments
in their music that resembled a diet Jimmy Eat
World whereas I felt like they came across like
Biffy Clyro with Granddaddy keyboard sounds.
But the end result was oddly flat. The songs re-
ally didn’t connect with us, which was a shame
because their singer was emoting and thrashing
for all his worth, along with his high-end transat-
lantic vocals.
CEASETONE
The second act was a guy on a guitar whose play-
ing was all about “the craft.” He showed tremen-
dous skill as his hands moved furiously up and
down the frets, pinging off tricksy harmonic notes
willy-nilly, but his lyrics were rather bland with
lots of words to communicate vague platitudes.
It also didn’t help his performance that any mo-
mentum he built was scuppered when his laptop
failed on him at the beginning of his final number.
But he did recover well in the end as he played his
impersonation of Pétur Ben doing a Ratatat cover.
GLUNDROÐI
We recognised this band almost immediately
from last year’s finals. Ditching their Mumford
waistcoats from 2012, they were dressed in suit
jackets and bow ties. They also had a new secret
weapon—a harp! Their sound though was still the
same, a mix of country ho-ho-ho Americana with
some rocked up folk sounds. Their final song end-
ed with a tightly arranged sound that was all the
rage in folk clubs in Scotland 15 years ago. These
guys would be popular on the folk festival circuit
in Europe.
SKERÐING
Just when Birkir started complaining about the
lack of energy from the bands, on came the de-
lights of Akranes, the punk band Skerðing! Al-
though it was obvious that they weren’t going to
win the title, their rather snotty, loose, rough pop
punk sound with song titles like “Downtrodden,
Lonesome, Bohemian, Lo-Fi, Teenage, Existential-
ist Blues,” (catchy!) was a good response to the
over earnest seriousness we’d experienced so far.
They elicited a good response from the crowd and
rightly so.
ARAGRÚI
We yawned as what seemed to be another face-
less krútt pop-looking band took the stage. But
then the singer started singing and man she was
powerful, almost reaching Florence Welch levels
of foghorn, but with one difference—she could
actually sing in tune! Their sound was also inter-
esting, perhaps going for a take on the grungy
acoustic sounds of Blind Melon and Edie Brickell &
New Bohemians. All in all it was well put together
and rather entertaining.
YELLOW VOID
White Signal may not have reached the final this
time, but the teeny-bop preppy quotient was there
in the form of Yellow Void. It has to be said they
were the youngest band in the finals, but every-
thing about their songs and the performance re-
ally wasn’t doing it for us. It all seemed disjointed
as if the 15-odd band members had been thrown
together by some zealous youth centre workers.
They certainly did their best though with one of
the keyboardists bopping along and getting the
audience into another clap-along.
KALEO
“All the way down from the delta swamp and rock-
ing it to you hard. We’re BLUESHAMMER!” Okay,
Kaleo didn’t introduce themselves like that, but
they may as well have. They were pure retro blues
boogie daddy rock, right down to the “Hurrrr
Yeahhhh!” and “I won’t work for THE MAN!” vo-
cals. With this music, it’s a fine line getting the pri-
macy right, and it was there in fleeting moments,
especially with the guitarist thrashing around.
But these guys were more Black Keys than The
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. The crowd was re-
ally into it though and broke out into the first un-
prompted clap-along of the night.
KJURR
They set up to a slightly awkward silence (one
of many during the night), but once they got go-
ing, their music piqued our interest. The singer/
guitarist was throwing some unorthodox play-
ing shapes allied with a very strong bouncy bass/
pounding drum combo. The only downside was
that the vocals weren’t up to much—they were
more mumbled/breathed than sung. Their last
song, with cold electronic beats that resembled
The XX, sounded great until they ruined it half-
way through by completely changing to a boogie
funk tempo, which caused the singer to tear off his
t-shirt and race through the crowd with a mega-
phone. Nice boxer shorts though.
VÖK
A duo from Hafnarfjörður, these guys went further
down the electronic rabbit hole of The XX and Sa-
maris. And like Samaris, they too had an instru-
ment with a limited range as a cornerstone of their
sound (in this case the saxophone). But these guys
were good. Very good. Some entrancing melodic
lines and hooks with a real sense of presence,
which was down to the vocals of the singer. She
seems to have really picked up on the inflections
of The Knife/ Fever Ray singer Karin Dreijer Ander-
sson. We could see these guys being really popu-
lar with the moody electronics crowd.
IN THE COMPANY OF MEN
We’ve seen these guys around a bit outside of
Músiktilraunir, reviewing them at last year’s Eist-
naflug festival for example. Unlike the other acts,
they had a frontman that could fill time like a pro
when there was a delay in setting up the drums at
the start. And they looked and acted more fucked
up and obnoxious (in the best possible way) than
before, running and jumping around like monkeys
dosed on purple drank. They even had a lovely
one-man mosh pit at the end. The songs? Weeeell,
they weren’t really songs to be honest. Overly flip-
pant versions of The Dillinger Escape Plan that
sounded like a trebly mess. Still, they were incred-
ibly entertaining to watch. They will be Dr Spock
v2.0 in the future.
HIDE YOUR KIDS
It had been a long night, but thankfully the last
band was a good listen overall. The singer’s dis-
tinctive style intrigued Birkir especially. He had an
unusual breathy register that hinted at the likes of
Brian Molko and Ben Gibbard. The music was the
usual synth-driven pop with some tight rhythms
and nu-trance moments. Like many other bands
they did this weird thing of starting a song in one
style before changing direction in a jarring and
abrupt fashion. In this case they started a song
off like Rush, before going into lounge room funk
style. Competent and well put together.
As we waited for the winners to be announced,
Birkir and I discussed who we thought they should
be and we actually agreed on the same final three,
Aragrúi, Kjurr and Vök, albeit in different posi-
tions. And shock horror, the judges went in a simi-
lar direction as well!
AND THE WINNERS WERE...
3: ARAGRÚI
2: IN THE COMPANY OF MEN
1: VÖK
MusicMúsiktilraunir took place on March 23. See www.musiktilraunir.is for more. 24The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 4 — 2013
It’s that time of the year again! Since 1982, the annual Músiktilraunir (Iceland Music Ex-
periments) competition has been waged to find the best in new, unsigned music from
Iceland. The contest has had a decent pedigree with bands like Maus, Mínus, Mammút,
Agent Fresco, and Of Monsters And Men bagging the top prize. This year the rewards
for the winning act included 250,000 ISK from music label and event sponsor Sena, stu-
dio time at Sigur Rós’ studio, Sundlaugin, and spots in music festivals, such as Iceland
Airwaves and Stage Europe Network.
So with some anticipation we decamped to the Cultural Box House of Doom (aka
Harpa’s Silfurberg Hall) to check out the finalists.
“They
were pure
retro blues boo-
gie daddy rock, right
down to the ‘Hurrrr
Yeahhhh!’ and ‘I won’t
work for THE MAN!’
vocals.”
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