Reykjavík Grapevine - 03.07.2015, Blaðsíða 28

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The tiny shop is run mostly by one man,
Reynir Berg Þorvaldsson, along with
a co-worker. He opened the store last
October, saying it was just an old dream
he had. As an avid vinyl collector since
he was a teenager and having previ-
ously worked at Lucky Records, his
decision to open his own place seemed
natural, albeit a little impulsive. “Vinyl’s
my passion and my number one hobby,
and any time I have a free minute, I
just go online and read about records
or buy a record or listen to records,”
Reynir said. “It’s what I wanted to do,
so I just had this momentary insanity
where I just quit my job [as an opera-
tional manager] and decided to open a
record shop.”
Though the shop has only been
open for nine months, business has
been going smoothly. “I’m not rich, but I
mean, it’s working. That’s all I’m asking
for,” Reynir shrugged. “And everybody’s
super, super positive. People are like,
‘I’m so happy this is not a puffin shop.’”
Reynir even hosted an outdoor concert
a few weeks ago with Reykjavík’s own
space cadet dj. flugvél og geimskip,
which attracted quite a crowd. “Too
many people showed up, actually,” he
laughed. Though the neighbors may
not like it, he plans to have more shows
in the future.
Given the wide array of options for
listening to music to-
day (we may even be
in the midst of a small
cassette renaissance),
Reynir seemed ada-
mant in his beliefs that
vinyl will always come
out on top, despite
whatever trends come
and go. “You know the
Levi’s slogan? ‘Qual-
ity never goes out of
style.’ It’s kind of like
that,” he said. “Be-
sides the factor that it’s
something collectable and big in your
hands and so beautiful and the act of
playing it and all that, the main reason
is that it sounds better.” Reynir does,
however, include other music products
in his shop, like CDs and cassettes,
along with t-shirts, tote bags, books,
and (soon!) a few mugs.
Reykjavík Record Shop started
mainly with Reynir’s own collection of
old records, but now includes some-
where between 2,000 to 3,000 records
from a wide spread of genres and coun-
tries. Right now, the balance is some-
where around 60% used records, and
40% new releases, but Reynir antici-
pates that it will be around 50/50 soon
as he’s always getting new stuff into the
shop. He cites his curiosity and desire
to satisfy the custom-
ers as a reason why
Reykjavík has taken so
kindly to his little shop.
“I always try to listen to
the customers. Every
day I get some advice,”
he explained. “I try to
hang out on the inter-
net, read what records
are coming out, what’s
good, listen to it, see
what people are saying
about the records, what
they’re buying in other
countries… I try to keep on my toes.”
And he’s a clever buyer, too—with
the recent Secret Solstice festival,
Reynir made sure to stock up on art-
ists that were playing, like Wu-Tang
Clan and FKA Twigs, and sure enough,
that’s what sold. “There’s always some-
one who comes after the festival, like,
‘Wow, I really liked this band,’ and buys
a record,” he said, “or wants to warm
up and listen to something before the
concert.” And with the upcoming All
Tomorrow’s Parties festival, Reynir’s
been ordering records by some of the
headliners, like Godspeed You! Black
Emperor and Public Enemy.
Still, Reynir says Icelandic indie re-
cords are what tend to sell best, and
Icelandic artists in general, as that’s
what a lot of foreigners look for when
visiting. “I get a lot of questions like, ‘Do
you have any Icelandic funk? Icelandic
punk?’” he said. “People have a specific
genre in mind, and they want the Ice-
landic version of it.”
Though Reynir tries to please his
store browsers, he has plenty of re-
cords that may be delightfully unknown
to window-browsers. Scanning the
walls of the shop, I saw plenty of famil-
iar sights (including the catalogue of
the French band Air—nice one, Reynir!),
but I was almost dizzy by all the albums
I didn’t know, with their sharp designs
and fuzzy psychedelic covers that
begged to be discovered (that is, if I
actually owned a record player).
And while much of his collection
is Icelandic and Western-centric, his
records extend all over the world, in-
cluding a substantial number of albums
from Africa, Asia, France, Brazil, and
Jamaica. “I mean, it’s just all over,” he
said. “If it’s good music, I buy it.” And so
far, that strategy seems to be working
well for Reynir.
Words Katie Steen
Photos Katie Steen
Right near Kaldi Bar sits the sleek and discreet Reykjavík Re-
cord Shop, a newcomer to the city that has swiped the title
of Best Record Store in Reykjavík this year. The shop, easy to
miss when walking down the street, feels understated, even
humble. It’s a beautiful day outside when I visit, so the down-
town area is buzzing with day drinkers and tourists hyped up
on 24-hour sun, but when I walk into the shop, a cosy space
with grey walls decorated simply by colourful records and
jazz spinning softly, there’s immediately an air of calm.
Vinyl Dreams
Lead To Lots Of
Local Love
“I get a lot of ques-
tions like, ‘Do you
have any Icelandic
funk? Icelandic
punk?’” he said.
“People have a spe-
cific genre in mind,
and they want the
Icelandic version of it.”
28 The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 9— 2015MUSIC