Reykjavík Grapevine - 29.08.2014, Qupperneq 35

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35The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 13 — 2014 MUSIC
Just as it appeared that Iceland
Airwaves’ giant lineup couldn’t
get any more packed with big name
international acts (see: The Flaming
Lips, Caribou, Future Islands), the
festival pulls a final Scandinavian
ace from its sleeve. Yup, local music
fanatics’ jaws collectively dropped
when a long coveted Airwaves
performance by sibling duo The Knife
was announced earlier this month.
Add to this the fact that the Swedish
electro institution announced that
very day that they would be calling it
quits after the current tour, of which
the Airwaves date will be the last, and
you’ve got a music nerd meltdown
on your hands. The Knife have been
a massive force at the forefront of
electronic music for the past decade,
crafting earwarming pop hits like
“Heartbeats” and “Pass This On,”
while also pushing the boundaries
of the art form with their restless
experimentation. Word to the wise: be
sure to get your tickets ASAP, since an
event of this calibre is sure to speed
up sales to the festival, which usually
sells out by early September.
In the meantime, there’s plenty
going on in Reykjavík. Over the past
two weeks, we’ve been fortunate
enough to catch a couple of equally
great, yet altogether different
concerts...
First off, the word “legendary”
doesn’t do Neutral Milk Hotel’s
status in the indie music world proper
justice. While the band notoriously
disbanded only a year after the 1998
release of their groundbreaking opus
‘In The Aeroplane Over The Sea,’ they
managed to thoroughly influence
most of the quintessential indie
bands of the noughties, most notably
Arcade Fire, The Decemberists and
Beirut. After a surprise reunion last
year, the band has been touring the
world, playing to old fans along with a
generation that never had the chance
to witness them in concert. On
August 20, they brought the show to
Harpa, and yours truly were of course
present. Despite sporting a raggedy,
Robinson Crusoe-influenced look,
bandleader Jeff Magnum promptly
demonstrated that his voice had lost
none of the angst-ridden tension and
adolescent sincerity that so many of
us can’t resist. The rest of the band
played various brass instruments,
saws and exotic harps, looking like
they were having the time of their
lives. And so were we.
---
Right on the other end of the musical
spectrum, Justin Timerlake’s
stadium show in Kópavogur was
a spectacle of pure bravado and
showmanship. JT danced and sang
with gusto, like he’d been training for
his whole life, and the overall show
came off as a really classy Las Vegas
affair (with an artistic twist). This was
definitely implied by the star himself,
who chose to take the stage as Frank
Sinatra’s version of “My Way” blared
through the giant soundsystem.
Leading up to the show, and in its
aftermath, Iceland went through a
bout of JT fever.
A crowd of over 15,000 ecstatic
JT fans (including Iceland’s Minister of
Finance Bjarni Benediktsson) packed
the Sunday night show, causing traffic
jams all over Kópavogur. Despite these
impressive numbers, the show was far
from being Iceland’s biggest concert
of all time (as some reports claimed).
That honour goes to Metallica, who
played to 18,000 screaming fans in
Egilshöll back in 2004.
---
As for recorded music, we’ve kept
the forthcoming sophomore album
from electro-pop band Asonat on
repeat over the last few weeks. The
album is called ‘Connection’ and will
be available on September 30. On it,
the duo of Jónas Þór Guðmundsson
(aka Ruxpin) and Fannar Ásgrímsson
of Plastik Joy fame welcome a third
member to the outfit, a French singer
called Oléna Simon. ‘Connection’
opens with the alluring “Quiet
Storm” and does not miss a beat
from there. Highlights include the
dreamy “Rather Interesting” and the
album’s final song, “This Is The End,”
in which Oléna beautifully sings in her
native language, backed by a slew of
expressive synths—the perfect ending
to what will surely stand out as one of
2014’s top Icelandic releases.
Straumur has been active since last
summer, with writers Óli Dóri and Davíð
Roach documenting the local music
scene and helping people discover
new music at straum.is. It is associated
with the radio show Straumur on X977,
which airs every Monday evening at
23:00.
www.straum.isStraumur radio show airs
Mondays on X977 at 23:00
Straumur
The Knife, Neutral
Timberlake And The
French Connection