Reykjavík Grapevine - 08.01.2016, Síða 16

16 The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 1 — 2016
IT’S THE 2015 REYKJAVIK
GRAPEVINE MUSIC AWARDS
GKR burst onto the scene at the
beginning of 2015 with his spitfire
rhymes and a pair of playful videos for
the songs “Ballin” and “Hello.” By the
year’s end, he’d caught the public’s at-
tention with his sincere ode to break-
fast, “Morgunmatur,” one of the best
tracks in a strong, resurgent year for
Icelandic hip hop.
“With “Morgunmatur,” GKR dem-
onstrated that his approach to mu-
sic and life is way different from his
peers’. Everyday swag, total sincerity
and not a hint of posing. No bitches, no
money... just being yourself, waking
up, eating cereal and doing your thing.
It’s a simple celebration, and that’s so
refreshing.”
Where GKR’s newfound success
might lead him is anyone’s guess, but
it’s sure to be a hell of a ride. “GKR ob-
viously has loads of raw talent, cou-
pled with high ambitions and fire in
his belly. I’m really excited about what
2016 has in store for him.”
2015: Fufanu
2014: Samaris
2013: Muck
One of the most interesting things we
learned through our panel discussion
was that one of the most—if not the
single most—successful Icelandic
musician of 2015 is almost entirely
unknown to Icelandic listeners. He
makes techno. He’s called Bjarki. And
in 2015, he totally went bang.
“It’s odd to think that Bjarki barely
got a nod in any local year-end lists,”
our most techno-savvy panellist not-
ed, “as he was responsible for one of
the year’s biggest international dance
music smashes, “I Wanna Go Bang.”
The numbers confirm that it really is a
smash hit—it currently has 800,000
YouTube views and 150,000 Spotify
plays.
The track’s global success is no
wonder. With booming sub-bass
as deep as the Pacific, skittering hi
hats and a robotic voice repeating
endlessly “Sometimes I feel like…I
wanna go BANG,” it could transform
a squeaky-clean choirboy into a he-
donistic Berghain-dweller at the beat
of a bass drum. And overseas at least,
he’s reaping the rewards of his tire-
less work—he probably played 200
sets this year, DJing for huge crowds
all over the world.”
“We’re experiencing a second wave
of Icelandic techno, and Bjarki is at
the forefront,” our techspert noted.
“While he and associates like Exos
and Ilo are very active in social media
in their respective scenes, they don’t
send press releases to Fréttablaðið
every time they play a successful gig
abroad. They simply don’t care about
becoming celebrities in Iceland.
That’s why nobody’s noticed them—
their scene is underground.”.
2014: Asonat - Connection
2013: múm – Smilewound
2012: Skúli Sverrisson and Óskar
Guðjónsson – The Box Tree
THIS IS HOW WE DID IT
As per usual, we called up some
folks who are deeply involved with
Icelandic music and whose opin-
ions we trust pretty well, asking
them to serve on a small commit-
tee that would determine who we
should deck out in shiny medals
and fancy prizes for their music
related activities in the year 2015.
These were the people we called up
this time around: Eldar Ástþórsson
(a veteran concert promoter and
Kraumur Music Fund board mem-
ber), Henný María Frímannsdóttir
(Iceland Airwaves’ PR and Market-
ing Manager), and our very own Óli
Dóri (music journalist, DJ and host
of Iceland’s premier alt. radio show,
Straum).
We arranged two meetings with
these people, which we ceremoni-
ously monitored and recorded for
the purposes of eventually writing
down and publishing their argu-
ments. They had preliminary dis-
cussions at the first meeting, talking
about what they liked in Icelandic
music in 2015 and who they thought
should get an award and why. Then
we exchanged records and songs
and ideas and reconvened a week
later, after everyone had had plenty
of time to think and listen, to deter-
mine the final list of recipients.
All in all, it was around four
hours of feverish and passionate talk-
ing about music. And the results are
here! Read on for our condensation
of the discussion of how they reached
their decision. Feel free to fret and
disagree, you could even write us
a letter telling us why (if it’s not an
asshole letter, we promise to print
it. We could even give you some sort
of prize… imagine that!).!
Artist To Watch:
GKR
By Davíð Roach | Photographs by Magnús Andersen
How often does an event have to be repeated to warrant tradition status? If the
number is four, we present to you the on-going tradition of the Reykjavík Grape-
vine Music Awards! Since its first ever edition, music journalism has always been
one of the cornerstones of The Reykjavík Grapevine media empire and the vi-
brant Icelandic music scene an endless source of inspiration, debate, and drunk-
en dancing among our writers and staff throughout the years.
In light of all this, we want to hand something back to the music community
that in a way spawned us and has given us so much over the years. Those who
give our grey and meaningless existence something resembling a purpose de-
serve to be honoured, even though we, the Grapevine staff don’t have a lot of said
honour in stock.
What we give is our admiration and unbridled celebration, but also moder-
ate prizes and a non-fancy ceremony where awards are handed out and copi-
ous amounts of alchohol will be consumed. Without further ado, feast your eyes
upon The Reykjavík Grapevine’s fourth annual music awards!
Our method is as scientific and peer-reviewed as we could manage. We got
three people we trust better than God and Ghandi together in a room with
pizzas and a large amount of time. It’s like jury duty, everybody has to agree on
the results. Their meeting was put to tape with a recording device and below is
transcribed some of the reasoning for the awards handed out.
You Should Have
Heard This In 2015:
Bjarki
– I Wanna Go Bang
Artist to Watch
You Should Have Heard This