Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.06.2015, Blaðsíða 16

16
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 7 — 2015
Despite his chosen setup, Logi has
respect for those who invest their energy
in traditional DJ techniques. “I went
to see Introbeats one time at his studio,
to record some bass on a track,” he re-
members. “He was going downtown to
DJ, and he took the decks there in flight
cases. It was a lot to move around—it took
three guys. He was so dedicated to how
he was going to play. He didn’t have to
bring all that stuff, but he was going to do
it just the way he wanted.”
Sunna Ben is another young DJ who
cut her teeth playing at Prikið. “Prikið
on a busy night is just insane,” she says.
“It’s one of my very favourite things to do,
playing out hip-hop and R&B on those
nights. I also play there with my partner
in crime Þura Stína, under our joint DJ
name SunSura. Those nights are always
awesome.”
The digital setup was a natural fit
for Sunna. “I just Googled what was the
best DJ software,” she says. “The inter-
net told me Traktor, so I set out to learn
how to operate that. Later on I got my
tiny Numark Mixtrack Pro 2 controller,
and that’s all I use to this day. It’s very
compact and light, and does everything I
need it to do. I love being able to throw it
into a tote bag and head off to play a gig,
easy breezy.”
Spreading the love
Two of the newest kids on the block are
DJ duo Anna Ásthildur and Kría Daníels-
dóttir, known as DJ Myth & Lazybones,
respectively.
“I had this controller I’d bought in
the States,” says Kría. “But I was shy and
too lazy to do something with it. That’s
where the name came from. Then Anna
said, ‘Let’s just book a gig.’ Sometimes
you just need the pressure. So she booked
us something, and I was like: ‘Shit! Okay,
let’s do this!’”
Their first slot was at the newly
opened Palóma bar. “It didn’t have a
crowd yet really,” Anna recalls. “We
played some really empty Thursday
nights, but it was good to have time to feel
out how everything worked. Then we
started doing these nights called Rafnæs,
with guest DJs from different bands like
Curver from Ghostigital or DJ flugvel og
geimskip, and it just took off.”
Anna and Kría have a shared taste
in deep house and mellow electronica.
“We’ve been holding back our dance set,”
laughs Kria, “because we kinda don’t
feel like people are ready for it!” But they
pumped it up for the final night of Har-
lem bar’s existence—a potentially quiet
Wednesday that became a rowdy fare-
well party. “Björk was there, she came
over and asked us to turn it up,” says
Anna. “That was the first time we were
like, 'Wow, people are actually really lik-
ing this!'”
The two started playing partially be-
cause of their frustration with the city’s
existing nightlife. “There was nowhere
that had both good music and a vibe that
we liked,” says Anna. “We would go to
Dolly, which has great music a lot of time,
but everyone would be banging into each
other... sometimes you just can’t dance
there. There’s no love! Instead of cold-
ness and harshness, we wanted to bring
more warmth and softness into the elec-
tronic sound.” Kría nods in agreement,
adding: “I feel like we’re emitting a deep
care in the music we play.”
The godfather
One of the town’s most established DJs is
Árni Einar Birgisson, aka Alfons X. Árni
is also the booker of Kaffibarinn’s week-
round DJ schedule. “My first bar gig was
in the summer of ‘92, in the place that
was the precursor of Sirkus,” Árni says.
“It was owned by the guy that eventually
started Kaffibarinn. Sigga Boston was
working the bar. It was kind of a forma-
tive place for the downtown scene as it
is today. Then around the year 2000, a
bar and club called Thomsen appeared.
It was amongst the first places to pay the
DJs. I went suddenly from not really get-
ting paid, to making good money. It be-
came a full-time job.”
Árni mostly plays house, but he’s no
purist. “If you can mix a 140bpm dub of
a 30-year-old Talking Heads track into a
house set, then it’s house music,” he says.
“I don’t like it when people play 40 tracks
from 2014 or 2015 at all. I like the texture
you get from mixing it up. In 2002, I was
playing straight-up house, but in 2004,
indie and dance were clashing togeth-
er—stuff like The Rapture and Hot Chip.
That was a big year for music. The Rap-
ture played Airwaves around that time—
they were queuing for Sirkus, and ‘House
of Jealous Lovers’ was playing inside, and
they still couldn’t get in...”
Even before the boom, Árni remem-
bers Kaffibarinn having a high profile
amongst tourists. “In my first years here,
people were reading about Kaffibarinn
in magazines,” he says. “There’d be these
groups of 17-year-old Germans who real-
ly had no place here. We’d start by playing
a half hour of really aggressive hip-hop,
and call it 'clearing out the Gore-Tex.'”
Over the years, Árni has realised that
having a broad range is a useful trait for a
DJ. “There’s a certain skill in DJing for a
sitting crowd,” says Árni. “I think it can
be immensely satisfying. You need to
spend a lot of time listening to music for
that. You need to play out something dif-
ferent.”
Keeping on
Margeir Steinar Ingólfsson is Iceland’s
best-known DJ. Whether crowd-surfing
over the Blue Lagoon, performing with
the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, or
playing show-stopping locations like the
summit of Mt. Esja or the Eiffel Tower,
Margeir is someone who seems able to
continually produce moments of magic.
“I have been fortunate enough to be
able to travel around and do what I love,”
says Margeir, skyping in from an island in
Thailand. “I mean... when I got my first
DJ job at 16, my mother said “you will
never earn any money from this.” And
maybe I agreed with her. But I didn't care
—this was something I wanted to do.”
Margeir started in the early 90s,
when he answered an ad for a DJ in Ho-
tel Borg, honing his craft over the next
two years as their resident DJ. “My love
was always for electronic music,” he says,
“but the people weren't ready! So I guess
I considered my role to be a kind of a men-
tor to the people on the dance floor. And
basically, I still think I am in that role.
I was always trying to push electronic
music to the people. Sometimes the pro-
moters weren't happy, so I tried to use
my charming smile to convince them it
was the next big thing,” he laughs. “And,
well... I guess it was.”
Still very much at the top of his game,
Margeir remains humble. “I guess I have
always been very ambitious,” he says,
“and I just don't have a stopper. I always
try to go to the next level. It doesn't al-
ways succeed. But, I’m planning parties
this summer in some crazy locations...”
Also a dedicated follower of yoga
and meditation, Margeir has also been
playing some small events at Dansverk-
stæðið. “The shows don't have to be big to
be special,” he says. ”I’ve been playing for
the yoga crowd, when 40-50 people come
and do yoga, then dance like crazy, and
finish with some meditation. Conscious
clubbing! It's the next big thing!”
So after over twenty years manning
the decks, Margeir still bears a deep love
for DJing, and an urge to try out new
things. “Really, I'm just happy if I can
make people dance,” he finishes, “and
I’m even happier if I can join them.”
3 4
53
76
8 9
The DJs
1 DJ Yamaho, aka Natalie G
Gunnarsdóttir
2 Introbeats, aka Addi
3 DJ Katla, aka
Katla Ásgeirsdóttir
4 Óli Dóri
5 DJ Myth & Lazybones, aka
Anna Ásthildur &
Kría Daníelsdóttir
6 Alfons X, aka Árni Einar
Birgisson
7 DJ Margeir, aka
Margeir Steinar Ingólfsson
8 DJ Sunna Ben
9 Logi Pedro
“It’s hard work! You’re
making this noise,
relentlessly, for five, six,
seven hours straight.
You always have to be
on your toes. When
I’m playing, I have fun,
sure—but I’m constantly
working. People don’t
see that.” - DJ Katla