Reykjavík Grapevine - 08.01.2016, Síða 2

2
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 1 — 2016 2
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 1 — 2016
Hafnarstræti 15, 101 Reykjavík
www.grapevine.is
grapevine@grapevine.is
Published by Fröken ehf.
www.froken.is
Member of the Icelandic Travel Industry As-
sociation
www.saf.is
Printed by Landsprent ehf. in 25,000 copies.
Editor In Chief:
Haukur S Magnússon / haukur@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:
Davíð Roach
Ragnar Kjartansson
Ragnar Egilsson
Krummi Björgvinsson
Paul Fontaine
Sveinn Birkir
Björnsson
Óttarr Proppé
Hannah Jane Cohen
Cameron Cook
Snæbjörn Ragnarsson
Valur Brynjar
Antonsson
Heiða Eiríksdóttir
Axel Björnsson
Óskar Logi Ágústsson
York Underwood
Gyða Hrund
Þorvaldsdóttir
Eydís Blöndal
Dr. Gunni
Laura Studarus
Grayson Del Faro
Óli Dóri
Ciarán Daly
Editorial Interns:
Hadrien Chalard / hadrien@grapevine.is
Hrefna B. Gylfadóttir / hrefnab@grapevine.is
Rebecca Conway / rebecca@grapevine.is
Art Director:
Sveinbjörn Pálsson
Contributing Photographers:
Magnús Andersen
Art Bicnick
Axel Sig
Hörður Sveinsson
Sales Director:
Aðalsteinn Jörundsson /
adalsteinn@grapevine.is
Helgi Þór Harðarson /
helgi@grapevine.is
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Proofreader:
Mark Asch
releases:
listings@grapevine.is
Submission inquiries:
editor@grapevine.is
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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
reproduced in whole or in part without the writ-
ten 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:
Anton Kaldal - Tonik
Recipient of the Best
Album prize.
Photographer:
Magnús Andersen -
magnusandersen
.co.uk
Stylist: Sigrún Ásta
Jörgensen
Stylist: Jóhanna
Ásgeirsdóttir
Clothes: Kron by
KronKron & Selected
Men
info@adventures.is | +354 562-7000
www.adventures.is
Your adventure operator
in Iceland since 1983
Seeing as we’re spending much of this
January issue celebrating Iceland’s 2015
in music—a vintage year, by any stan-
dards—we thought it fitting that our
Track Of The Issue should be, in fact,
our Track Of The Year.
The fact that Vaginaboys’ quietly
astounding torch-song “Elskan Af Því
Bara” (“Baby, Just Because”, in English)
sat lonely and unlistened to on YouTube
for almost a year before it went suddenly
viral is oddly fitting. It’s a particularly
virulent earworm of a track, combin-
ing a languid rhythm and sparse synth
arrangement with an affecting, pitch-
shifted, delay-swathed, vocodered lead
vocal to create a sense of mournful, dis-
connected melancholy.
And forget the language barrier. It’s
a testament to the quality of the song
that the emotions are transmitted to the
listener whether they can understand
Icelandic or not, as proven by the posi-
tive reaction of the international press to
Vaginaboys’ Airwaves appearances.
The track also has impressive cross-
genre appeal. As Grapevine music critic
Davið Roach presciently noted back in
December: “No one had a clue who they
were, but everyone fell in love all the
same... their unique brand of ice-cold,
sexy, 808 auto-tuned R’n’B resonated in
hip-hop and indie circles alike.”
Track of the issue, and track of the
year—good job, Vaginaboys! We’re glad
we put you on the cover! Twice! Happy
2016!
REALITY’S DARK CHAOS
AND ME: A LOVE STORY
An editorial by Haukur S. Magnússon
Growing up in an isolated fishing vil-
lage (Ísafjörður, pop. 2,500) on Iceland’s
northwest corner—at the edge of the
Arctic Circle—I developed an immense
curiosity about the world beyond my
fjord and family as soon as I became
aware of its existence. Deeply invested
in learning everything I could about
this world and its workings, yet frus-
tratingly unable to experience any of it
firsthand, I greedily and
indiscriminately imbibed
every potential source of
information within reach,
seeking glimpses and hints
of what lay in store beyond
the looming mountains that
framed my reality.
Early investigations in-
volved picture books and
television—the recent ad-
vent of VCRs ensured there
was always something to watch, or re-
watch. It’s hard to say what, if anything,
I learned through these initial efforts;
however my excessive TV regime re-
sulted in me being able to speak a second
language, English, by the time I turned
five. This might explain why I sound like
a cartoon character in English.
In first grade, patient adults taught
me and others how to read. What
good fortune, what a gift. My curiosity
reached a boiling point once I fully fath-
omed that learning to read had granted
me access to a whole new world of infor-
mation. Subsequently, I would spend en-
tire days at the library, carefully inspect-
ing its seemingly infinite collection of
books spanning every conceivable topic.
Based on my investigations, some care-
ful consideration and a lot of guesswork,
I surmised that the combined knowl-
edge contained in all the library’s books
was conclusive and all-encompassing,
in the broadest sense. As far as I was
concerned, those books represented the
totality of collected human knowledge of
and ideas about the world. By systemati-
cally reading all of them, I would thus be
able to conceptualize a fairly comprehen-
sive idea of the whole world without ever
leaving Ísafjörður, I reasoned—thereby
sating my growling curiosity.
Being a kid is busy work. There are
many distractions, and there is much
to explore and investigate, even within
the confines of a narrow fjord on the
edge of nowhere. My interest in the
outside world remained strong, but I
soon forgot my plan to read everything
in the library. Biking around town with
my friends was also important—as was
searching for treasure and breaking car
windows down at the dumps. I also liked
doing my homework, since it pleased my
grandmother, and standing around on
the harbour to see the boats come in,
and watching TV. And reading books.
Just not all of them.
I decided to try newspapers and
magazines, thinking they might of-
fer a different type of information about
everything. I read them all. A few were
published by political parties—the conser-
vative one, the socialist one, the centrist
one—then there was the tabloid, and some
weeklies and glossies. I instantly liked all
of them, even though a few were mostly
boring, and others had zero stories that in-
terested me. Here’s why: each of them felt
like its own, unique universe, each repre-
sented a certain worldview or philosophy
or mode of thought. The words and images
they brought felt secondary to the unique
character that accompanied each of them,
a great source of the sort of information
you can’t well convey with words. The
different characters didn’t have a specific
placement or indicator. I would glimpse
him in certain words or letters, in images,
in the way the stories were arranged, and
sometimes creeping on the margins.
I was surprised to find that the act
of reading a newspaper or a magazine
felt almost categorically different from
reading anything else I had come across.
They demanded a different kind of at-
tention, and yielded a different sort of
reward. I wondered why, or at least to
what end. Then, I sort of understood.
Their central purpose was not to in-
form or educate or mediate, regardless
of their makers’ intent. They formed the
basis of a club, a shared idea of an intan-
gible space for socializing and engaging
with others of a similar mind. A nod to
the tribes and clans of our forefathers,
or maybe a giant country club of the
mind. They helped us position ourselves
and provided a vague sense
of family or community. No
wonder they started being
a thing around the time of
the Industrial Revolution—
we look to them to replace
whatever we lost when our
traditional communities dis-
solved and we all became in-
dividuals.
Necessarily disposable and
impermanent in nature, The
Newspaper’s aim is to evoke in its read-
ers a sense of active participation in
the world, granting them a stake in the
events and movements they deem sig-
nificant, while forging a comprehensible
narrative out of reality’s dark chaos.
This promotes a sense of belonging and
comfort for The Readers, who share a
temporary community centered around
the world as outlined by The Newspa-
per, in accordance with the readers’ con-
scious, or subconscious, wishes.
I was fascinated, enamored. Providing
a space, granting a stake, forging a narra-
tive—building community!—for those of
us who felt the lacking, and sought them
out. What noble goals! What a fun project!
So I kept reading, and wondering.
--
The Reykjavík Grapevine’s first issue of
2016 is as usual dedicated to pondering
the year we just left behind. As usual,
we’re hoping that that accounting for
where we’re coming from might help us
discern where we are, which might in
turn give us an idea of where we’re head-
ed. Perhaps you’ll find some sort of nar-
rative in here that helps you make sense
of all that dark chaos. Perhaps some of
the music that we’re lauding will pro-
vide solace or new ideas. If nothing else,
it should be good for a chuckle or two.
PS: Thanks to Kwaku at 1919 Hotel! <3
TRACK
OF 2015!
Vaginaboys
“Elskan af því bara”
Download it FREE at grapevine.is
A special thanks!
We'd like to say a special thanks to the
companies that supplied our Reykjavik
Grapevine Music Awards winner with
their lovely prizes. The prizes are:
One winner gets a free night of luxury
at Hótel Búðir, chilling in the country-
side. Thanks to Reykjavik Excursions, a
lucky artist gets a tour-friendly one-year
Flybus ticket for getting to and from Ke-
flavik Airport. We teamed up with Sushi
Samba, who’ve invited one of the bands
to have a luxurious dinner party for six.
One of the bands will recieve a print run
of 50 band T-shirts, courtesy of Dogma.
A lucky winner will recieve a free year of
bass / guitar strings from musicians' ha-
ven Tónastöðin. Another will get a vinyl-
junkie’s dream: a 10,000 ISK gift-voucher
to spend in Reykjavík Records. Finally,
we’ve teamed up with the Grapevine-
award-winning restaurant Snaps, who’ll
host a luxurious dinner for one of the
bands.
This will hopefully serve as encour-
agement for future generations of musi-
cians to release music and perform con-
certs, and possibly get free stuff in return.
Who knows.