Reykjavík Grapevine - 31.07.2015, Qupperneq 2

2
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 1 — 2011
“We Will Live For Ages” is Hjaltalín’s first
official release—their first new song—since
the band unexpectedly leapt from middling
indie mediocrity right into the stratosphere
back in late 2012, shattering our collective
selves into an ecstatically melancholic heap
of shards with their altogether surprising,
genuinely majestic Magnum Opus, ‘Enter
IV’.
‘Enter IV’ is an ambitious, cohesive and
brave work of art, a solemn meditation on
some dead serious, deeply personal (yet
oddly universal) topics. While it at times
betrays hints of blue-eyed optimism, ‘En-
ter IV’ is ultimately a great big downer of
a record, one that revels in despair, dark
thoughts and difficult decisions. Records
like that are necessary and important—just
ask The Cure’s ‘Disintegration’—and should
be celebrated. Naming it Reykjavík Grape-
vine’s Album Of The Year 2012 was an easy
and obvious decision.
So, yeah. We had some high expecta-
tions. And guess what: “We Will Live For
Ages” does a damn fine job of meeting
them.
At first listen, the new tune feels care-
free and breezy, an ideal soundtrack to
lounging through a lazy summer. Driven
by Hjaltalín’s tight rhythm section, it starts
off in a stripped-down, nonchalant man-
ner, slowly adding layers of arrangement
that eventually explode in a joyful baroque
crescendo, complete with gospel choir. In-
deed, “We Will Live For Ages” is markedly
more hopeful than anything off ‘Enter IV’,
a sincerely joyful declaration of newfound
independence and faith.
It’s a good tune, is what it is.
Download it at www.grapevine.is
2 The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 11 — 2015
Hafnarstræti 15, 101 Reykjavík
www.grapevine.is
grapevine@grapevine.is
Published by Fröken ehf.
www.froken.is
Member of the Icelandic Travel Industry Association
www.saf.is
Printed by Landsprent ehf. in 25.000 copies.
Editor In Chief:
Haukur S Magnússon / haukur@grapevine.is
Editor:
Anna Andersen / anna@grapevine.is
Journalist & Travel editor:
John Rogers / john@grapevine.is
Journalist & Listings editor
Gabríel Benjamin / gabriel@grapevine.is
Food Editor:
Ragnar Egilsson / ragnar@grapevine.is
Editorial:
+354 540 3600 / editor@grapevine.is
Advertising:
+354 540 3605 / ads@grapevine.is
+354 40 3610
Publisher:
Hilmar Steinn Grétarsson / hilmar@grapevine.is
+354 540 3601 / publisher@grapevine.is
Contributing Writers:
Alex Baumhardt
A.M. Finnsson
Davíð Roach
Eli Petzold
Elliot Brandsma
Guðrún Jónsdóttir
Joe Shooman
Kári Tulinius
Óli Dóri
Paul DeMerritt
Paul Fontaine
Valur Gunnarsson
Xárene Eskandar
Editorial Interns:
Ciarán Daly / ciaran@grapevine.is
Hannah Jane Cohen / hannah@grapevine.is
Katie Steen / katie@grapevine.is
Sam Wright Fairbanks / sam@grapevine.is
Art Director:
Hörður Kristbjörnsson / hordur@dodlur.is
Layout:
Hrefna Sigurðardóttir
Photographers:
Art Bicnick
Baldur Kristjánsson
Hörður Sveinsson
Alisa Kalyanova
Sales Director:
Aðalsteinn Jörundsson / adalsteinn@grapevine.is
Helgi Þór Harðarson / helgi@grapevine.is
Óskar Freyr Pétursson / oskar@grapevine.is
Distribution manager:
distribution@grapevine.is
Proofreader:
Mark Asch
releases:
listings@grapevine.is
Submissions inquiries:
editor@grapevine.is
Subscription inquiries:
+354 540 3605 / subscribe@grapevine.is
General inquiries:
grapevine@grapevine.is
Founders:
Hilmar Steinn Grétarsson,
Hörður Kristbjörnsson,
Jón Trausti Sigurðarson,
Oddur Óskar Kjartansson,
Valur Gunnarsson
The Reykjavík Grapevine is published 18 times a year by Fröken
ltd. Monthly from November through April, and fortnightly
from May til October. Nothing in this magazine may be repro-
duced in whole or in part without the written permission of
the publishers. The Reykjavík Grapevine is distributed around
Reykjavík, Akureyri, Egilsstaðir, Seyðisfjörður, Borgarnes,
Keflavík, Ísafjörður and at key locations along road #1, and all
major tourist attractions and tourist information centres in the
country.
You may not like it, but at least it's not sponsored (no articles
in the Reykjavík Grapevine are pay-for articles. The opinions
expressed are the writers’ own, not the advertisers’).
On the cover:
Hásteinsvöllur, Westman Islands
Photo by Baldur Kristjáns
www.baldurkristjans.is
Poop Ahoy!
Dear Grapevine readers and contributors who
haven’t already heard,
After nearly six years at this magazine, I’ve
decided to vacate my position as editor. It’s been
great, it really has. But, in case you haven’t no-
ticed, the tourism industry is booming and I’m not
going to be the only Icelander who doesn’t try to
cash in on it. In just about three week’s time, after
clearing out my desk and saying goodbye to all of
the lovely people I currently work with, I will be
dedicating all of my time and energy to starting
a company that I’m going to call Anna’s Pooper
Scooper Squad.
In case you’ve somehow missed it, we Iceland-
ers are now receiving more than a million tourists
per year. And they are—quite literally—shitting
all over the place. I am not kidding, this is not a
joke! You can barely open a newspaper these days
without reading about yet another tourist taking a
dump somewhere he or she shouldn’t have. They
defecate near the graves of famous poets. They
evacuate themselves on sidewalks. They empty
their septic tanks in parking spaces designated
for handicapped people. It’s getting out of control.
And just think about all of the incidents that have
gone unreported! There must be poop all over the
place!
So here’s what I’m going to doo: I’m going to
develop an app that the government will force
tourists to download upon entering the country. It
will be an intuitive, user-friendly app with state
of the art geotagging technology. Tourists will
be able to use the app to mark the exact location
of their latest pooping session. Upon receiving a
“PoopAhoy™!” alert, a government contracted
fleet of Anna’s Pooper Scooper Squad vans will be
deployed from one of several locations to go scoop
up the mess.
After a few years, when enough fecal data has
been collected via the Scooper Squad’s interactive
PoopPlotter™ map, my hope is that the govern-
ment will be able to determine whether we actu-
ally need more public toilets, or if our tourists are
just relieving themselves with reckless abandon,
as one government minister recently suggested.
(In that case, my Scooper Squad will be ready to
unveil a series of informative PSAs, tentatively
titled, “Don’t Shit Where We Eat.”)
Furthermore, although I’ve yet to properly
pitch the idea to him, I’m fairly certain that Ice-
land’s chief geneticist Kári Stefánsson would
be delighted to donate a portion of his salary to
the study of this poop epidemic. To that end, my
company will actually deliver all poop collected
to deCODE Genetics, where it will be thoroughly
analyzed and catalogued in a yet-to-be-developed
database, which will enable our government to
track the genetic makeup and genealogical his-
tory of all tourists visiting our fair island. The
government will then be able to determine which
nationalities are Iceland’s biggest outdoor poop-
ers, and put less effort into luring those people to
our country.
See you next issue!
Anna’s second to last editorial TRACK OF
THE ISSUE

A RARE,
ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME
OPPORTUNITY
Visit the largest man-made ice caves
and tunnel in Europe
You can choose from various
tours and book online at
www.intotheglacier.is
Hjaltalín
We Will Live For Ages
Download the FREE tracks at www.grapevine.is