Reykjavík Grapevine - 09.11.2018, Blaðsíða 8

If you trust viral listicles and industry
insider books—and who wouldn’t—
then trust and believe local record shop
12 Tónar is the world’s greatest record
store. Sit down, Amoeba Records!
OTT grooviness
The accolade was given by self-
described ‘journalist and crate-digger’
Marcus Barnes, who recently compiled
the 80 best record shops on the planet
into one book. Marcus then published
his 10 favourites online on NME, which
is where we were made aware of this
incredible honour.
The Reykjavík institution is known
for its incredible selection of local musi-
cians and older Icelandic efforts. Not
only is it run by Icelandic artists, but
those working there are so knowledge-
able about music, they’ll hand select
records for you based on your taste. In
the basement, they have couches with
CD players and headphones, so it’s basi-
cally a late 90s Sam Goody, which was
the place-to-be at the time. Bring your
friends, it’ll be sick!
That said—we must note that Grape-
vine has been on the 12 Tónar hype train
long before NME. While they didn’t
make the 2018 iteration, they were
the runner up for Best Record Store in
the Grapevine’s Best of Reykjavík 2017
awards and have graced numerous
Grapevine city guides.
Silver’s good too
But 12 Tónar is not just a first place
winner as determined by NME, they
also won second place on BuzzFeed’s
“27 Breathtaking Record Stores You
Have To Shop At Before You Die.”
While Icelanders might not necessar-
ily be used to first place—just read past
iterations of this column—they are very
comfortable with second place, just ask
the handball team and Eurovision star
Jóhanna Guðrún.
The World’s Greatest
Record Store
Stick it and split it, other countries
8 The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 20— 2018
LÓABORATORIUM
12 Tónar: still rockin' it
Listen, watch & hear
more tracks:
gpv.is/play
Hugar - Saga
‘Saga’ by Hugar
will sit well with
fans of Ólafur
Arnalds and the
more muted Sigur
Rós material. It’s a
glossily produced
instrumental
composition with
rainy-day brass,
subtle string
arrangements and
a cinematic video
by Máni Sigfússon.
JR
Commander -
Blöðrusynthi
The Commander
project is an
unusual turn
for Gunnlaugur
Lárusson.
“Blöðrusynthi”
is the opening
track off his debut
solo, ‘Stephen’—a
mesmerising soft
techno outing that
evokes 90s-era Carl
Craig in its subtle
mastery. You can
dance to it or nap
to it. Isn’t that most
of what we want out
of life? The entire
album deserves
a run-through;
it’s a consistent,
multifaceted,
beautiful work. SP
Svartidauði -
Burning Worlds of
Excrement
Just when you
thought Svartidauði
had retreated to the
shadows, they’re
back after a long
hiatus with some
fresh nightmare
fuel. While the
name might
indicate otherwise,
‘Burning Worlds
of Excrement’ is
anything but a
flaming pile of shit.
The title actually
refers to the Hebrew
concept, and the
song is just as
apotheotic. Vile,
uncomfortable,
dissonant—it’s
Svartidauði at their
most awful, or
rather, their most
awe-inspiring. HJC
bagdad brothers -
Brian Eno Says: Quit
Your Job
On the opposite end
of the spectrum
you’ll find the
halcyon good-
time guitar-pop of
bagdad brothers,
who are fomenting
a return for dreamy
indie music.
After the recent
torrential downpour
of Icelandic rap and
RnB, it’s nice to hear
something with a
feel-good quality,
for a change. JR
Árni Vil - Sides
(trumpet edit)
The eccentric
former frontman
of FM Belfast, Árni
Vil, has turned
solo, and released
two videos for the
same song. There’s
a vital difference
though—one
version was
without the
trumpet solo. How
considerate of him.
The song is like
a Jim Jarmusch
vision of the
“krútt” generation,
riding horses in
the Highlands of
Iceland, fighting
off lonely elves and
bitter trolls. See it
live at Airwaves. CS
THE
GRAPEVINE
PLAYLIST
The must-hear tracks of the issue
Th
e

Ol
af
sd
ot
tir
WORD OF
THE ISSUE
What were you doing at age 16? If we were
to hazard a guess, you probably weren’t
presenting
y o u r o w n
self-tit led
element at
the Artistic
G y m n a s -
tics World
Champion-
ships. Well,
b e d a z z l e d
n a t i o n a l
hero Sonja Margrét Ólafsdóttir did just
that October 29th when she debuted her
new trick ‘The Olafsdottir.’ The balance
beam dismount is comprised of a Gainer
Salto Tucked with a one-and-one-half
twist at the end of the beam. Basically,
you plebeians, after she jumps off the
beam she does a backwards flip while
rotating 540° so that she lands facing the
beam. Difficult, gorgeous, iconic—we’re
fans, Sonja. HJC
WHAT HAVE
WE WON?
Words:
Hannah Jane
Cohen
Photo:
Art Bicnick
First
Photo:
Dominiqua
Alma
www.tulipop.com Skólavörðustígur 43, Reykjavík