Reykjavík Grapevine - 01.06.2018, Qupperneq 52

44The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 09 — 2018Culture
When asked to make this list I started
with a nostalgic list that reminded me
of my first trip to Iceland in 2006, where
I blew all my money at 12 Tónar. My
nepotistic second was a compilation of
hits by my friends released during sum-
mer 2009. I finally whittled it down to
this list of gloomy songs by people I’m
honoured to call mentors and collabo-
rators—and one song that brought me
back to life.

Kvöl – We Are Nothing
The couple now known as the hardcore
duo ROHT had a brief foray into min-
imal post-punk, which I sorely miss.
This synthy angsty track is quintessen-
tial 80s goth rock realness and just the
stuff of self-effacing black adorned sad
sacks.
Singapore Sling – Martian Arts
I was introduced to the band quite
randomly through an ex-boyfriend
who had once opened for them in Ot-
tawa, playing in a band called The
Expatriates. I am now an expatri-
ate and I get to see these guys sulk
around town like grumpy aliens.
Kælan Mikla – Glimmer og Aska
This slow-building melancholic dirge
conjures so much visual beauty. Every
time I hear it I’m transported back to
my 14-year-old bedroom with midnight
blue walls, silk scarves, red lightbulbs
and incense filling the air.
Current 93 & HÖH – The Dream of the
Shadow of Smoke
While Current 93 is not an Icelandic
band, the album this song comes from,
‘Island’, was co-written and produced
by Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, (compos-
er and Ásatrúifélagið high priest) re-
corded at Studio Sýrland, and boasts
an Icelandic crème de la crème in its
credits. It’s a dreamy, soaring, ethereal
incantation.
Jóhann Jóhannsson –
Fordlândia - Aerial View
I will always hold a particular soft-
ness in my heart for JJ’s concept album
about Henry Ford’s failed Fordlândia
settlement project. I used this track
for a choreography in my early 20s and
spent four minutes slowly rolling on
the ground. I wish I could dance like
that on djammið.
Valgeir Sigurðsson – Past Tundra
The slow burn and mounting tension
of this song is gripping. The increasing
pace and instrumental layering that
culminates in a grand mal sonic panic
attack always makes me have one big
George Michael Bluth cough-sob right
at the end.
Godchilla - 1064°
Probably my favourite song to dance to
of any active Reykjavík band, this surf-
sludge banger is a loud, screechy, war-
bly, satanic jam fit for a sexy and scary
chase scene in a Russ Meyer movie. I
get to peak hip-twisting around three
beers in.
Þórir Georg – Ekki Neitt
This stalwart, prolific, yet highly un-
derrated musician has an output that
makes a lot of his peers shit their pants.
This track comes off a gothy af album
called Janúar from 2015 that is as bleak,
dark and depressing as the namesake
month.
Sigur rós – Svefn-g-Englar
A month after I turned 15, my fallopi-
an tube burst without my knowledge.
I haemorrhaged for two weeks and
was eventually rushed into emergency
life-saving surgery. While I slept post-
op, my mother put my headphones in
my ears and ‘Ágætis Byrjun’ in my Dis-
cman. I opened my eyes at dawn, seeing
the sun shining on the hospital’s red
bricks, listening to this song. It was a
decent start to my second life.
ARTIST PLAYLIST
Words:
Rex
Beckett
Photo:
Hörður
Sveinsson
Cold as Ice
Emerging goth-pop artist Rex Pistols shares her greatest Icelandic hits
Portrait of the artist as a qween

Info:
Find Rex Pistols
online at
facebook.com/
rxpistols