Reykjavík Grapevine - 09.01.2015, Qupperneq 25

25
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 1 — 2015
The Panel
Anna Ásthildur is one of the
newer arrivals to the local music
scene. She brings a fresh perspec-
tive on what's happening, gleaned
via her varied work with Icelandic
Music Export, the You Are In Con-
trol conference and the Icelandic
Music Awards. She's also part of
a downtown DJ duo called Myth
& Lazybones, and is an active en-
thusiast of electronic music. That
Anna, she’s so great!
Óli Dóri is a well-known advocate
of new and exciting music—Ice-
landic and international—via his
long-running radio show Straumur
(tune in to X-ið 977 Monday nights
at eleven pm) and through his
website, Straum.is. He can regu-
larly been found playing records
at downtown’s top bars and clubs,
and writes a monthly new music
column for the Grapevine. Óli has
top-notch taste, and follows the lo-
cal scene with eagle eyes. We love
that guy!
The third man is none other than
local music legend Egill Tómas-
son. He's the longest-serving mem-
ber of the Iceland Airwaves team
(involved in the festival’s produc-
tion since the beginning, pretty
much), and has as such amassed a
truly in-depth knowledge of Ice-
land's music scene. Every year,
Egill closely observes the hundreds
of homegrown applicants the festi-
val receives, attending gigs, listen-
ing through demos and dealing di-
rectly with most of the bands. Few
people know more about Icelandic
music than Egill, so it is an honour
and a privilege to have him on our
There was never any doubt
as to the song of 2014. The
results were fixed from the
get go. Our prestigious panel
barely bothered discussing
the category, let alone argu-
ing their choice. The debate
went like this (we have it on
tape): “So, song of the year...
‘París Norðursins’, right?”
“Right.”
“That’s alright then.
What’s up next?”
After we thoroughly pes-
tered them to give us some-
thing to write about in this
category, a panel member fi-
nally remarked:
“’París Norðursins’ is a
just about as perfect as a pop
song can get. The melody,
the beat, the lyrics, the at-
mosphere and the attitude
all wonderfully complement
one another, coming together
to form a perfect harmony of
pure pop bliss that the world’s
most celebrated songwriters
would be thrilled to accom-
plish. With ‘París Norður-
sins’, Svavar Pétur and his
cohorts have earned a perma-
nent placement in Iceland’s
pop history. It is most cer-
tainly the song of 2014.”
The Prince Speaks
We called up Svavar and asked what advice
he would give to today’s loser teenagers who
harboured hopes to become Band Of The
Year 2030.
This is what he told us:
“It took me a while to accept the fact that I
had absolutely no shot at athletic glory, and
I would never be crowned Mr. Iceland in a
beauty pageant. But, when I did, there were
no obstructions. It was just me and the gui-
tar.
But, armed with a guitar you can go any-
where. One doesn’t need to be the world’s
greatest guitarist. Being the world’s worst
guitarist is also an advantage. And you don’t
need to know how to read music and you
don’t need to be good at math. You don’t re-
ally need to be good at anything. You can be
both ugly and stupid.
But you can never be lazy, because that will
result in absolutely nothing.
What’s important is this: you need to believe
in yourself, and do what you want. Don’t get
stuck doing what others want to do. Music
isn’t something you want to do. Music is
something you need to do. And this is true of
all creation. It has to happen, and while it’s
happening, other things just need to wait.
Song Of The Year 2014
Prins Póló — París Norðursins
Those who have closely followed the devel-
opment of Reykjavík’s music scene over the
past decade or so have undoubtedly derived
much joy from watching Prins Póló grow
from strength to strength in recent years.
Prins Póló is the solo venture of one Sva-
var Pétur Eysteinsson (joined on stage by
his wife Berglind and their friends Kristján
Freyr and Benni Hemm Hemm), who made
his first appearance on Reykjavík’s stages in
the early noughties playing with twee quirk-
sters Rúnk (“Masturbation”) and quickly
made a name for himself as a unique, fiercely
independent and perennially DIY-minded
artist. Throughout the decade, he further
cemented his reputation through his work
with indie rock outfit Skakkamange (where
he is also joined by his wife), before making a
name for himself as a hyper-creative cultural
instigator-slash-entrepreneur, founding and
running an independent book/music/art/de-
sign store and called Havarí, which doubled
as a cultural hub and meeting spot for Reyk-
javík’s artists and musicians in the decade’s
latter half.
A graphic designer by trade, Svavar fur-
ther made a mark on Icelandic underground
culture by creating book jackets, album cov-
ers and posters for his contemporaries, hon-
ing his uniquely original, ever-evolving aes-
thetic while actively supporting local artists.
Despite many successes and impressive
projects, Svavar seemed destined to forever
remain in the underground, an artist’s art-
ist, influencing popular culture from the
sidelines as his uncompromising attitude en-
sured he would never appeal to the masses.
As the years have passed, Svavar’s aes-
thetic remains just as eccentric, his stance
just as compromising. But something weird
has been happening lately. Svavar Pétur’s
various projects (the latest one is a line of
vegan sausages) have been gaining fans in
the unlikeliest of places, and chief among
those is Prins Póló.
The Prince’s rise to glory has been a slow
and steady build-up that no one really saw
coming. It finally reached a tipping point
during the summer of 2014, when the band
exploded all over Iceland’s airwaves via top
pop hit “París Norðursins,” which was em-
braced equally by every facet of Icelandic
society, from ‘modern rock’ radio to com-
mercial MOR stations to vapid tabloids and
TV stations.
All of the sudden, Prins Póló is every-
where, beloved, revered and celebrated. The
band of 2014, without doubt or question. And
the best part is: aside from a natural, gradual
evolution, his approach and aesthetic have
remained the same throughout, as dedicated
to the DIY spirit, as supportive of the under-
dog, as inclusive and welcoming as ever be-
fore.
Everyone loves an underdog proposition,
and it's with a lot of pride that we crown
Prins Polo The Band Of 2014.
Band Of The Year 2014
Prins Póló
As our team of experts
quickly discerned, 2014
was, in fact, a pretty
damn good year for Ice-
landic music. We had es-
teemed veterans like Ben
Frost, GusGus and FM
Belfast dropping major
releases, while newcom-
ers such as Börn, Pink
Street Boys and Óbó hit
hard with some unbe-
lievably accomplished
débuts.
After much debate and
discussion, our team
reached the conclusion
that 2014 best goddamn
album was the work of
a bright young whipper-
snapper who just a short
while ago crashed onto
the scene and started
making waves. We are of
course talking about M-
Band, the musical outlet
of one Hörður Már Bjar-
nason, whose stunning
début album ‘Haust’
(“Fall”) absolutely capti-
vated anyone who came
across it.
Quoth the panel: “At the
start of 2014, Hörður had
already proved beyond
doubt that he is one of
the most talented musi-
cians of his generation—
not only through his solo
work as M-Band, but also
as member of bands like
Nolo, Retrobot, and next-
big-thing Tonik.”
“Expectations were
high, but Hörður really
came into his own with
M-Band in 2014. After a
couple of years of devel-
opment, ‘Haust’ turned
out to be a beautiful
and fully-formed work
that incorporates both
structure and sponta-
neity—from pounding
4x4 rhythms to sim-
mering, poetic ballads
and squalls of electronic
noise, ‘Haust’ is a won-
derful debut led by pow-
erful creative instincts.
An instant classic.”
Album Of 2014
M-Band—Haust
A s a t h a n k M - B a n d f o r m a k i n g A L BU M
OF T H E Y E A R , we t e a m e d u p F l y b u s f o r
ye a r t ic ke t f r o m a n d to t h e a i r p o r t .
A s a t h a n k P r i n s Póló of b ei ng BA N D
OF T H E Y E A R we t ea me d up w it h
ou r t h re e -t i me b e s t g o dd a m n re s-
t au r a nt SNA PS f or a i nv it e t o a lu x u-
r iou s d i n ner pa r t y at t he re s t au r a nt .