Reykjavík Grapevine - 09.12.2016, Page 23

GKR, the rapper named “artist to
watch” at last year’s Grapevine Music
Awards, made good on his early prom-
ise last month by releasing an epony-
mous EP, ‘GKR’. The rapper is in his
early twenties, and made a name for
himself with his lyrics’ sense of exis-
tential anxiety and acute eye for the
minutiae of everyday life. This char-
acter runs through the EP in old fa-
vourites like “Morgunmatur” (“Break-
fast”), and his remix of “Elskan af því
bara,” a single from the masked mys-
tery band Vaginaboys. It’s clear that
he has gained some confidence in the
past year—just note his assured deliv-
ery on “Tala um.”
He also has a keen ear for choos-
ing the right producers and banging
beats, as heard on the grinding club
thump of “Slæmar fréttir,” the ever-
moving organs of opener “Velkomin”
and the liquid synth waves of “Lifa lí-
finu.” The album is deftly sequenced,
beginning with a “Velkomin” (“Wel-
come”), and ending on an encore song,
the tongue-firmly-in-cheek “Meira”
(“More”: the Icelandic chant for an
encore at concerts). The lyrics go: “I
want always more, enough is never
enough, I will never quit, If you tell
me to relax, will not do it!” The EP is
a compact nine songs, with not a dud
among them. You can download it free
of charge at GKR’s website, or buy it in
the form of a cereal box (a nod to his
breakthrough hit).
More hip-hop! Icelandic musician
Dýrfinna Benita raps under the name
Countess Malaise, and released her
first song and video in November, en-
titled “Goth Bitch.” Dýrfinna’s vocals,
delivered over a bouncing trap beat
produced by Lord Pusswhip, are both
haunting and to-the-point. The video
was made by Dýrfinna and Valdemar
Árni Guðjónsson.
Last month also saw the release of
the song “Brenningur” by Ambátt,
featuring Mammút songstress Katrí-
na Mogensen. It has a low-key, crawl-
ing bassline and gentle electric guitar
picking, along with a trip-hop beat,
and Katrína’s sultry cooing to pull it
over the top. It’s an atmospheric and
cinematic journey that sounds Scan-
dinavian in the best The Knife/Tren-
temöller sense of the word.
The Sónar Reykjavík Music Festi-
val is set to light up Harpa from Feb-
ruary 16-18. They just announced the
first confirmed artists to perform
this year. We’re excited about their
impressive roster of international and
domestic acts, with a wide focus on
electronic music and multimedia pro-
jections. Legends like Fatboy Slim,
Moderat and De La Soul will be joined
by Ben Klock, Forest Swords, Tom-
my Genesis, Helena Hauff and B.
Traits. From the local scene, Emmsjé
Gauti, Aron Can, Kött Grá Pje, FM
Belfast, Samaris, Sin Fang, Glowie,
Øfjord and sxsxsx are all playing. Cel-
ebrating its fifth Reykjavík edition,
Sónar has, in a remarkably short time,
become one of the highlights of Ice-
land’s annual festival calendar.
“It’s such a big and small world!”
Steinunn Önnudóttir says of the art
book community. She’s standing in
the newly opened back room of Har-
binger Gallery, where she and Halla
Hannesdóttir have set up “Books In The
Back”—Reykjavík’s only art book shop.
Two and a half years ago Steinunn
opened Harbinger Gallery, the skin-
ny-doored single-room art space at
Freyjugata 1. “It’s been an idea of ours
for a while,” Steinunn says. “To make
something of the back room. Halla was
always encouraging me to open it up.”
When Halla moved back to Reykjavík
from Australia, where she was work-
ing on her master’s degree in product
design, the two decided to set up shop.
Books in the Back fills a gap that
opened with the closure of Útúrdúr
and Kling og Bang, two art spaces on
Hverfisgata that were once the city’s
carriers of small, independent publish-
ers. The lack of a proper space to show-
case and sell these books was apparent
as soon as Steinunn and Halla com-
mitted themselves to the idea. Solely
through word-of-mouth, their project
spread through the streets. Almost im-
mediately they started receiving sub-
missions. “These were just sitting in
a box somewhere,” Steinunn says, and
holds up a Gamli Sfinxinn publication
with a string of well-known Icelandic
artists down its cover. “They’re just
waiting to be sold!”
Besides being an outlet for the in-
dependent and self-published pieces
around Reykjavík, Steinunn and Halla
visited the Stockholm Art Book Fair
and have turned their gaze onto Ins-
tagram and internet sources for the
small, the strange and the special
edition. “I think the most inspiring
thing from Stockholm was going to
this studio," Steinunn says and points
at the wide, textured “Moon Space
One” on the top shelf. “His studio isn’t
much bigger than this space,” she says.
“And they’ve put out maybe ten, twelve
books…” She moves to the middle
shelf. “This one [also by Moon Space] is
something he did for a painter friend,
and this one is his girlfriend’s book…”
she says, picking up a third book.
It is clear that the network is nu-
anced but expansive. Book in the Back
fills a narrow yet deep hole in Reyk-
javík’s art and literary scene. And
the size does not hinder its content.
Tucked neatly behind Harbinger’s gal-
lery front, Books in the Back is a big
and small world.
Words
DAVÍÐ
ROACH &
ÓLI DÓRI
Photo
ALBUM
COVER
Straumur,
Iceland's premier
indie music
radio show, airs
on X977, Mon.
at 23:00. Daily
music news in
Icelandic at
straum.is
Words
PARKER
YAMASAKI
When Iceland Airwaves
was started in 1999, the
festival organisers were
looking for a platform
to bring in the tourists and push out
the music. It worked, it really fucking
worked. What started as a one-off
weekend is now a full week’s block
on the calendar. What was once an
empty airport hanger in Vatnsmýri
is now every stage, bar, bookshop,
stadium, yoga studio and hair salon in
downtown Reykjavík. 101 is com-
pletely bloated, and the organisers
recognize. Time to expand.
Iceland Airwaves 2017 will be held in
both Reykjavík and Akureyri, Iceland’s
culture capital of the north. It’s a long,
scenic drive from the capital (about
six hours in one push), but that is part
of the point. Grímur Atlason, one of
the festival organisers, confirms that
it has been an aim of Airwaves for
a long time to get visitors into the
countryside, as well as to expand the
event to Icelanders outside of the
capital area.
Speaking of reaching out, GKR’s
newest video—for “Meira” a track
off his new EP produced by Marte-
inn—turned up on the US-based Mad
Decent’s YouTube page in mid-No-
vember. It’s a massive shout out from
the label run by party-maestro Diplo,
which backs artists like Major Lazer,
Sean Paul and Riff Raff. The same
day the video dropped, Mad Decent
called GKR “one to watch,” something
that we at the Grapevine decided
a year ago when we awarded him
the coveted, ahem, “artist to watch”
award at our annual Grapevine Music
Awards. Just sayin’. The big-loved
video was directed by GKR and fea-
tures mud, buggies, and technicolour
skies.
For the last two and a half years, one
of the Iceland’s most widely-loved
singers, Emilíana Torrini, has been
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Icelandic hip-hop,
a cinematic journey
and Sónar Reykjavík
STRAUMUR
Books In The Back
Reykjavík's New Space for Special Editions
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