Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.07.2019, Síða 2

Elín Elísabet is an illus-
trator and cartoonist
born and raised in
Borgarnes. At the
tender age of 15, Elín
moved to Reykjavík
and hasn’t looked
back, except for the
annual springtime
impulse to move
someplace quiet
and keep chickens.
Elín likes folk music,
stationery, seal vid-
eos, the country of
Ireland, and eggs.
Hannah Jane Cohen
is based out of Ice-
land by way of New
York. An alumni of
Columbia University,
Hannah has lived
on five continents
and speaks three
languages fluently.
Her visionary work is
known for expand-
ing the definitions of
emotion, introspec-
tion, and above all
else, taste.
John Rogers is an
Englishman who first
joined Grapevine
as a music writer,
later graduating to
Managing Editor. A
constant traveller
and a lover of art,
culture, food & night-
life, he edits our Best
of Reykjavík, Best of
Iceland, and Iceland
Airwaves sister
publications. His first
book, “Real Life,” was
published in 2014.
Shruthi Basappa
traded the warmth
of Indian summers
for Iceland's Arctic
winds. She's a food
enthusiast masquer-
ading as an architect
at Sei Studio, and
loves obsessive
attention to detail.
When not leading
our Best of Reykjavík
food panel, she can
be found trying to
become a Michelin
restaurant inspector.
Sveinbjörn Pálsson
is our Art Director.
He's responsible for
the design of the
magazine and the
cover photography.
When he's not work-
ing here, he DJs as
Terrordisco, hosts
the Funkþátturinn
radio show, or sits at
a table in a Laugarda-
lur café, drinking
copious amounts of
coffee and thinking
about fonts.
Josie Gaitens is a
Grapevine intern who
is also a freelance
arts project coor-
dinator, musician
and writer from the
Scottish Highlands.
She was once errone-
ously referred to as
the Queen of Scot-
land by a Malaysian
newspaper and has
been falsely using
that title ever since.
Andie Fontaine has
lived in Iceland since
1999 and has been
reporting since 2003.
They were the first
foreign-born mem-
ber of the Icelandic
Parliament, in 2007-
08, an experience
they recommend for
anyone who wants
to experience a
workplace where
colleagues work tire-
lessly to undermine
each other.
Felix Robertson is
a theology student
from the UK who is
currently on a gap
year and is trying,
with varying degrees
of success, to ‘find’
himself in the frigid
wastes of the north.
He likes classical
music, long walks
and really dead lan-
guages. He's one of
our current interns.
Lóa Hlín Hjálmtýsdóttir
is a national treasure.
One of Iceland's
leading illustra-
tors, when she's
not drawing in her
unique style, she's
the front-woman of
Icelandic electro-
pop supergroup FM
Belfast. Her comic
strip Lóaboratorium
appears every issue
on page 8, and is also
available as a daily
dose on her Twitter.
First 16: Soulflow Bring Diversity to Comedy12: Bullying At City Hall14: Songs Of The Dammed, Verse Two 24: Outdoor Art Takes Over Snæfellsnes 34: Make It So: The Next Music Generation 36: Arts And Crafts With William Morris 50: The Oldest Shop In Iceland46: The Hot Springs Of The Kjölur Trail47: The Westfjords At The Speed Of A Bird

There is something anti-
establ ishment about
Post-dreifing, the collective of bands
occupying out cover that believe that
music is inherently political. These
musicians are not making bedroom pop
on their computers like so many in the
same wave around the world, but play-
ing rock and roll, punk, guitar-driven
indie and so forth.
Their DIY attitude perhaps has it roots
deep in the punk scene of the eighties,
when young people, hating facism and
a society that’s not keeping up with the
times, picked up instruments, not really
knowing what to do. That alone was a
revolution; to play without really know-
ing how (a lot of them new, though). And
who could blame them, they just wanted
to scream something at society and tell
everyone to go fuck themselves. Punk, in
my opinion, is definitely one of the most
important music scenes in history; they
dragged the wagon
forward, literally screaming.
The next DIY moment was perhaps
in Seattle in the nineties, when Kurt
Cobain found a channel for his root-
lessness through an electric guitar.
The grunge scene came to the fore and
captured the emptiness and the sarcasm
of generation X in a powerful way.
But when I think about a movement
like the Post-dreifing, I don’t really
think about the music. I think about
the society they are building around the
music. Around their ideas. And perhaps
this is the interesting core of the Icelan-
dic DIY today. Not everyone is striving to
score a deal with a record company and
become a rock star. Some just want to
experiment with society.

You can find a complex revolution in
that idea. Post-dreifing feels like the
music industry is capitalistic and super-
market-style profit oriented, like they
told Reykjavík Grapevine in an inter-
view last year. They just want to create
an alternative space for art in a time
where everything seems so scattered,
or a product of a huge record label in the
US. And they are building a new society
along the way. VG
EDITORIAL
The DIY Society
COVER ARTWORK:
Loji Höskuldsson
ABOUT THE ARTWORK:
Loji, a rising star in
the art world and one
of the leaders of the
last big class of indie
stars, illustrates this
issue's cover with his
trademark stitch-
work style.
More info and tickets
lavacentre.is
Open every day
9:00 - 19:00
Volcano &
Earthquake
Exhibition
LAVA Centre is an awarded, interactive exhibition
on Icelandic volcanoes and earthquakes. Learn
about the most active Icelandic volcanoes and
see all the latest eruptions in 4K. Lava Centre is
a mandatory stop on your Golden Circle or South
Coast adventure.
Located in Hvolsvöllur
80 min drive from Reykjavík
Photo: Eyjafjallajökull Eruption 2010