Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.02.2016, Síða 50

Dot Dot Dot
NEWS & MISCALENNY
POS PUA MIA
Something to keep in mind regarding
the power of public protest: Daryush
Valizadeh, also known as Roosh V. He
was supposed to be hosting public
“neo-masculinist” meetings around
the world this weekend, including
a public meeting here in Iceland, in
front of Hallgrímskirkja. Just so we’re
clear here, we’re not talking about a
“pick-up artist” who teaches lonely
neckbeards about negging and other
tedious mind games in an effort to get
laid. No, Roosh has straight-up admit-
ted to rape, publicly recounting how his
encounter with one woman during his
last visit here “would have been rape”
in the US, “since she legally couldn’t
give her consent” on account of how
drunk she was. That’s the kind of POS
we’re talking about here. Well, news of
his public meetings spread, and a pro-
test was organised to meet and greet
Roosh’s would-be minions, both here
and around the world. The result? He
canceled the meetings, specifically cit-
ing the protests as the main reason. No
cops, no immigration authorities, no
politicians needed to be involved—just
good ol’ fashioned organising was all it
took to shut it down. Feel good about
yourself, Iceland: you’ve joined the
ranks of other countries that have sent
this asshole packing. Hooray! PF
Listen To Your
Tour Guides
As this is being written, so is yet anoth-
er news story about tourists who almost
got themselves killed. Not because they
were taken by surprise by foul weather,
or because a glacier they were walking
on suddenly cracked open and almost
swallowed them whole. These were
tourists who were warned, by their tour
guides, to avoid wading into the waters
at the notorious Reynisfjara beach—
but went in anyway, and were almost
washed out to sea. This isn’t the first
time this has happened there, either.
Folks, people actually drown in these
waters. Wherever your tour guide takes
you, please assume they know what
they’re talking about when they caution
you against going into the water, up the
hills, or across that mountain path. The
expense of having to rescue tourists for
their carelessness is one thing; that’s
nothing compared to the pain you’ll
cause loved ones by dying, and the
legacy you’ll leave behind for dying like
an idiot. Don’t die like an idiot. Listen to
your tour guides. PF
Tourist-Friendly
Restaurant Opens
In Tourist-Friendly
Location
At the exact point where thousands of
tourists board Reykjavík’s many whale
watching ships, the men behind Joe &
The Juice homage Lemon have opened
Verbúð 11 Lobster & Stuff. Close to
tourist darlings and legendary lobster
soup maker The Sea Baron, Verbúð 11
Lobster & Stuff is not only going to fea-
ture lobster soup but many other varia-
tions of the large marine crustaceans.
And stuff, of course. The location has
not been kind to restaurants, hav-
ing housed a few in the last couple of
years. Perhaps going Full Tourist will be
the winning formula. Verbúð 11 Lobster
& Stuff, Geirsgata 3. RGV
Sónar Reykjavík
Emphasises
Presence Of
Female Artists
Sónar Reykjavík organisers have
revealed that they are working on
increasing the presence of female
artists at the festival. We reached
out to head booker Steinþór Helgi
Arnsteinsson, who gave a very
Trudeauian answer as to why. He says
female representation has been a hot
topic in the largely male-dominated
scene, and there has been a call
for positive female role models for
young creative girls. Further, he says
Sónar isn’t just about booking good
acts, but about sowing the seeds for
the future generation: “There are lots
of female artists doing cool things,
and we’re particularly honoured to
get to premiere new talent like Karó,
Hildur, and asdfhg.” GB
Most of our local readers will have
known 34-year-old Ársæll Þór Ingva-
son—AKA intr0beatz—since way back
in the day, first as a DJ/producer for
seminal Icelandic hip-hop act Forgotten
Lores, and in later years as a resident DJ
at establishments like Prikið and Kaf-
fibarinn. A stalwart proponent of hip-
hop-as-lifestyle since his early teens,
it came as a surprise to many when
intr0beatz launched into a second, al-
together different phase of his musical
career at Sónar Reykjavík 2014, where
he débuted a set of original house mu-
sic. Now, two years later and with a slew
of well-received releases to his name,
intr0beatz is excited to take the Sónar
stage again and enjoy the privilege of
watching people dance and celebrate life
to the sound of his compositions.
Breaking into the House (Scene)
For the sake of our friends from abroad,
who might be less familiar with your
oeuvre, could you briefly tell us about
how you got into making music, and
how your career has evolved through
the years?
As a kid, I was exposed to some won-
derful people and music through skate-
boarding [an avid skater, intr0beatz
even made a series documenting Ice-
land’s skating scene a few years back,
‘First Try Fail Mondays’, which you may
view at www.vimeo.com/introbeats]. I
soon found that I really wanted to be-
long to that world. At the time, techno,
house, drum ‘n’ bass, trip hop and hip-
hop were all in the same category as far
as I was concerned: underground music.
I was buying techno and drum ‘n’
bass records long before I got into hip-
hop. Scratching was always my thing,
though, and that eventually led me to fo-
cus exclusively on hip-hop. All I wanted
back then was to be a turntablist and
compete in DJ battles—so that’s what I
did.
It’s funny, I’ve never really consid-
ered music as a career of mine, mainly
because I’ve been doing it for the better
part of my life. Performing, DJing, mak-
ing beats... It’s simply a part of who I am.
And every aspect of life has to evolve at
some point, so breaking into the house
scene was a pretty natural progression
for me. Anyway, all these different styles
stem from the same background, breaks,
and that’s what I’ve been messing with
my whole life.
You’ve been branching out of late,
releasing some fine house music as in-
tr0beatz, a moniker you also go by when
DJing and producing hip-hop. Did you
ever consider adopting a different artist
name for your foray into a new genre?
No. I use intr0beatz for all of my cre-
ative output, whether I’m making skate-
boarding videos, hip-hop beats or, most
recently, house music. To me, intr0beatz
isn’t any one thing. It represents all the
elements that got me into what I do and
made me what I am. I figure that when
people see the name, they’ll know it
might be something interesting.
How many house records have you
released so far? Where can we hear
them? And can we expect more?
In that genre, I’ve thus far released
three EPs and a few singles and remixes
on various labels. All of it came out in
2015, and it’s all available on Beatport,
Traxsource and Juno Download, and
some are also on iTunes. If you want to
check ‘em out, just remember to search
for intr0beatz, not Introbeats.
There’s definitely plenty more the
way. This month, I have an EP coming
out on a label called Disco Kicks with
my good UK homie Kit Leonard, AKA
Twin//Peaks. We met a year ago, when
he was here with City Fly Records’ Jon-
na & James for a show at Dolly (RIP).
Kit and I are also both signed to another
label, Closer To Truth, and we’re fea-
tured on a compilation that’s also out
this month. I have lots of other projects
coming out in the near future that I can’t
speak of at the moment, but stay tuned.
The ol’ box of floppies
You’ve said that house music appeals to
you in the same way that the jazz and
soul vibes that have always informed
your work in hip-hop do. Can you pin-
point this appeal any further? What is it
about house that so entrances you?
Right before I devoted myself to house
full force, the music I was making was
all over the place. I was clearly looking
for something new. I guess I started
drifting towards house around the time
mainstream hip-hop shifted to incor-
porate pop sensibilities that interest me
less. The hip-hop I’ve always loved, the
golden age stuff [late 80s to early 90s],
is based on the jazz, funk and soul that
preceded it—and those sounds have
also very audibly informed house music
since its inception.
And, like I noted earlier, both genres
are break-based in nature. So I kinda
knew just from the sound of it that I
wouldn’t have a problem making house
music, ‘cause all I ever do is dig for
breaks, samples and sounds to use for
my own tunes. I’ve since learned that
the production methods I developed
making hip-hop work just as well for
house. I’ll often go back to my old box of
floppies and dig out some of my ancient
hip-hop beats, to mine sounds I sampled
more than decade ago for a fresh new
house tune.
I guess what I’m trying to say is: I
still bump my head the same way to
house as hip-hop. It’s the same love. The
house stuff is just more uptempo, which
is refreshing. Seeing people actually
dance to my music, instead of just stand-
ing around and nodding their heads, is
such a rewarding feeling. Don’t get it
twisted though: I was raised by hip-hop,
and will always try to contribute to the
scene. At the moment, I’m just busy with
something else.
The Icelandic House Institute
How do you view Reykjavík club cul-
ture? How does it compare to other
cities you’re familiar with? Do you feel
there is a lack of proper “clubs,” like
many local DJs claim, and too big an em-
phasis on “bars you can dance at”—or is
that maybe a special type of atmosphere
that forms?
First of all, there’s only one proper
club in Reykjavík: Paloma, which has
two floors and a really nice sound sys-
tem. On the other end of the spectrum,
Kaffibarinn maybe isn’t the typical club
you’ll know from other cities, mostly be-
cause it’s tiny. Despite this, it has very
much earned its reputation as The Ice-
landic House Institute, as I like to call it.
They were the first to set a real standard
in the Icelandic club scene, and they re-
main he only establishment that is dedi-
cated to evolving and adopting the latest
technologies, providing their DJs with
everything they need; turntables, a mix-
er and CDJs.
Everything else is just bars with
good music.
No Dabblers, No Dilletantes
What about all the local DJs? There seem
to be so many skilled ones around these
days—do you think the people of Reykja-
vík are perhaps spoiled for choice, or are
we lacking in some respects?
Icelanders are definitely super spoiled
from having so many active quality DJs
around. Some are more prominent than
others, but most have something special
to offer. I think this abundance of talent
might stem from how us local DJs take
pride in knowing good music, old and
new. The scene is full of dedicated music
lovers, as opposed to dabblers and dilet-
tantes, which makes a real difference.
All we need now is better clubs!
Who are the top DJs in the game at
the moment? Who should our readers
seek out and see during Sónar weekend?
I did my first show as a house musician
at Sónar two years ago, so I’m really
stoked about returning this year. And
I’m not exaggerating when I say every
DJ on the bill is top quality, well worth
seeing, so it should be a great weekend if
you’re looking to dance.
To name names, there’s for instance
DJ Kári—AKA Formaðurinn—who’s
been the busiest DJ in the game for the
last twenty years, and has mastered all
kinds of styles, incorporating every-
thing from old Icelandic tunes to techno
bangers. Then there’s DJ Frímann, who
has been my absolute favourite since I
was a thirteen-year-old. I’ve recently
enjoyed the opportunity to do sets with
him, an idol of over twenty years. What a
humbling experience. No one is as mean
on the mixer as DJ Frímann!
I also can’t forget my BLOKK broth-
ers, Lagaffe Tales, BORG and Simon
FKHNDSM. And of course… YAMAHO!
(hollatcha boi).

What are your top picks for Sónar Reyk-
javík 2016, international and local?
Floating Points is the number one act I
plan to witness. I’ve been following that
dude for a long time now. I think he’s
performing with a live band at Sónar, so
that’s going to be interesting.
And Kiasmos, for sure, ‘cuz they’re
so fucking good. And Lone!
Lastly, Forgotten Lores came togeth-
er a couple of months ago to play a gig
that drove RVK hip-hop heads up the
wall, and is still being talked about in al-
most hushed tones. Are there any plans
for further activity in that camp?
We actually have show at Stúden-
takjallarinn on February 13, again along
with our good friend Kött Grá Pje. As
for future plans, I really can’t say at this
point. Who knows…
Breaking Into House
The second coming
of intr0beatz
by Haukur S. Magnússon