Reykjavík Grapevine - 20.05.2016, Qupperneq 24

Electronic music duo Pocket Disco has re-
leased their second single, “Blush.”
Salóme R. Gunnarsdóttir and Steindór
Grétar Jónsson first gained notice earlier
this year when they premiered their single
“Rock & Roll.” The “Rock & Roll” music
video was an otherworldly space-inspired
glam-fest, while their new video is punk all
the way, featuring thirteen televisions and
VHS cassettes.
“We have been developing our sound and
‘Blush’ is much more rough than our first
single,” Steindór told us. “The lyrics are
about those first days of seeing someone
new, getting to know their personality and
discovering whether the person’s perfect
image disappears or not.”
The music video was directed and ed-
ited by artist Atli Bollason, who had been
collecting old televisions. Gabríel Bene-
dikt Bachmann did additional editing and
Kristjana Björg Reynisdóttir styled the
video. Sound design, recording, mixdown
and master of the song is by Viktor Orri Ár-
nason.
Pocket
Disco
– “Blush”
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Musical recycling is a long and endur-
ing tradition, kept alive this month by a
gem of a remix, einarIndra's treatment
of the song “Pikaia” by Magnús Leifur
Sveinsson (former member of indie
band Úlpa). einarIndra is an electronic
musician who resides at one of Iceland’s
premier electronic labels, Möller Re-
cords, and released an LP, ‘Stories’, this
month. His remix of “Pikaia” features
thick-sounding retro synth pads, glitchy
microbeats reminiscent of Boards of
Canada and massively chopped-up and
manipulated vocal treatments. It starts
out quiet and serene but gradually picks
up steam when bigger sounds join the
mix; by the end the drums have wan-
dered off into drum’n’bass territory and
an adjective like “majestic” becomes un-
avoidable.
Right on the heels of the remix, a cover
came our way. The IDM outfit Worm Is
Green, who hail from Akranes, put out a
wonderful take on “Close to Me,” one of
The Cure’s most enduring song, a classic
that refuses to become a cliché. Singer
Guðríður Ringsted brings an effortless
devil-may-care girlish charm to the vo-
cal melody, putting a new spin on some
of the lines. The bottom is all deep synth
bass grinding up against crisp drum
breaks, and on top of it a densely layered
soup of keyboards and twinkly synthesiz-
ers.
But we also managed to pick up some
non-reworked material this month, in
the form of tarnished rock duo Skrat-
tar (Devils), who just last week released a
four-track EP titled ‘Hellraiser II’. They
mix together psych rock, 60s surf and a
drum machine, with great results. The
band also put out a video for the song
“Good Day,” which follows the members
on a wicked car ride through the city of
Reyjavík. Skrattar are Karl Torsten Ställ-
born (Muck/Fufanu) and Guðlaugur
Halldór Einarsson (Fufanu/russian.
girls); ‘Hellraiser II’ is their second out-
put and hopefully not their last.
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Words ÓLI DÓRI & DAVID ROACH
East Of My Youth
East Of My Youth’s
newest single “Moth-
er” was recently per-
formed on the MTV
series ‘Faking It’. The song was re-
leased on i-D magazine’s website
two weeks ago, and will be on the
band’s album, which is upcoming
later this summer.
Samaris
The electronic trio has released their
single “Black Lights” from their up-
coming album of the same title. The
album, the band’s third full-length,
will be released June 10. The trio will
tour in June, starting in England
and ending in Iceland June 29th at
Húrra.
Buspin Jieber
This Icelandic producer has been re-
leasing music under his pseudonym
Murya. He is releasing his five-track
EP ‘Thinking Of You’ as a teaser for
his upcoming album, which will be
released later in 2016.
$igmund
The superfly $igmund is the newest
face to Reykjavík’s music scene. He’s
releasing his first album ‘Glópagull’
May 20th. Check him out on Spotify.
Mark W. Georgsson
‘The Ballad Of The Nearly Man’ is a
double A-side 7" single by Mark W.
Georgsson, which will be released
June 3rd. The eponymous song
features vocals by Mark and Katie
McArthur on one side, and Icelandic
vocals by Sigríður Thorlacius and
Arnar Guðjónsson on the other.
Laser Life
Breki Steinn Mánason or Laser
Life just released his first album,
‘Polyhedron’, a lo-fi electronic trip
through the galaxy of Breki’s mind.
Check out his track by track later in
this issue.
Aron Can
The sixteen-year-old hip-hop new-
comer has released his album ‘Þek-
kir Stráginn’. His hit song “Þekkir
Stráginn” has approximately 74,000
plays on Spotify. You can see Aron
Can at Extreme Chill Festival and
Secret Solstice this summer.
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Tarnished