Reykjavík Grapevine - 07.12.2018, Síða 34

Quality,
Ambition &
Originality
The 2018 Kraumur Awards longlist is richly diverse
Words: John Rogers Photo: Art Bicnick
Music Prize
The Kraumur awards longlist is
out now. The six winners will be
announced in December
As the year draws to a close, music
journalists, bloggers and critics are
starting to draw up their end-of-
year-lists of their favourite albums
in the preceding 12 months. The
annual Kraumur Awards, now in
its 11th year, is traditionally one of
the first to appear; their longlist—
which seeks to reward “Quality,
Ambition & Originality”—is a har-
binger of the “Best of 2018” frenzy
that will soon follow.
The Kraumur awards dish
out support (i.e. hard cash—the
amounts change from year to year)
to six ultimate winners, drawn
from a longlist decided by a jury of
esteemed members of the music
industry and media, including a
cross-section of journalists, DJs,
bookers, festival workers and peo-
ple generally found neck-deep in
Icelandic music scene.
Old and new favourites
This year, there are 21 contenders
from all areas of the Icelandic music
scene. Many of them are favour-
ites of ours that you may have read
about in the pages of the Grapevine
this year, such as the “Íslando-dis-
co” of Andi, whose excellent album
‘Allt í einu’ turned heads earlier
this year; SiGRÚN, whose debut LP
‘Onælan‘ marks a bold leap forward
for her sound; and GYDA, the new-
ly adopted nom du plume of Gyða
Valtýsdóttir, whose ‘Evolution’ is a
long-awaited and much-admired
album of solo material.
The Icelandic rap scene is, of
course, present—Birnir gets the
nod for ‘Matador,’ Ragga Holm for
‘Bipolar,’ the eccentric Elli Grill for
‘Pottþétt 2018,’ and the ever-evolv-
ing CYBER for ‘BIZNESS.’ A trio
of all-caps pop and R’n’B artists—
BRÍET, AUÐUR and GDRN—also get
the nod.
Come through, RVK
underground!
Cult, niche and alternative music is
also well represented. The post-dre-
ifing indie label has no less than
three records on the list—namely,
the feelgood, halcyon indie-pop of
the bagdad brothers ‘JÆJA’—which
must be considered a frontrunner
for the prize after a stellar year—
DIY duo asdfgh.’s ‘Örvæntið ekki,’
and sideproject for ‘isis emoji.’
“This represents to us the words
made flesh of our ideas,” says bag-
dad brothers frontman Bjarni
Daníel, also a founder member of
the post-dreifing collective. “We
set out to create a label that puts
the music and the artists at the
front—not focusing on success or
money. These nominations are the
consequence of a strong communi-
ty of care and support that allows
the artists to grow and gain visibil-
ity through the people. Dreifing er
hafin!”
Kids = alright
Blistering metal band ROHT are
longlisted for ‘Iðnsamfélagið og
framtíð þess,’ theremin wizard
Hekla for the haunting ‘Á.’ Íbbagog-
gur—the founder of SMIT Records,
also featured in this issue, is anoth-
er nod to the underground.
All in all, the Kraumur list is
a balanced selection of top-notch
albums from a diverse and booming
music scene. Whilst rap and pop
might have soaked up the majori-
ty of the mainstream attention—
there’s a reason they call it the
mainstream, after all—the excit-
ing, artistic, experimental and in-
dependent artists are a strong and
highly welcome presence. Icelandic
music is in good shape, indeed.
We’ll report on the final win-
ners when they emerge—keep an
eye on grapevine.is/music for that.
And look out for our own Grapevine
Music Awards come January.
Music
bagdad brothers are one of the bands nominated this year
“Exciting, artistic,
experimental and
independent art-
ists are a strong
and highly welcome
presence.”
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