Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.07.2019, Qupperneq 23

Lucky 15

Eistnaflug 2019 goes back to basics
Over the past 15 years, Eistnaflug has
grown from a tiny one-room DIY shin-
dig to one of the biggest festivals in Ice-
land. This year, though, in honour of its
15th anniversary, the Neskaupstaður
metal festival is going back to its
roots. It’s scaling down, returning to
its original venue (the smaller Egils-
búð community centre), and focusing
whole-heartedly on showcasing a mix
of large international headliners and
newer Icelandic acts. While smaller,
the horizon for the festival is—in con-
trast to its music—bright as all hell.
Small & sweaty
“It’s been fun watching it change,” Gen-
eral Manager Magný Rós Sigurðardót-
tir says, sitting back in a conference
room in the National Library—perhaps
an uncharacteristic locale for a metal-
head. “When I started going, it was a
small festival of Icelandic bands, and
having that morph into bands like Be-
hemoth or Meshuggah playing in Nes-
kaupstaður, it’s surreal.”
Eistnaflug, it must be said, not only
put Neskaupstaður on the map, but it
also put Icelandic metal on the inter-
national circuit. The festival, the first
dedicated metal event in the country, is
single-handedly responsible for bring-
ing foreign metal journalists to Iceland
and pointing them to up-and-coming
acts. Many bands got their start there
at the raucous party.
This year, though, it ’s quieting
down. “We’re going back to basics,”
Magný explains. “We’re going back to
Egilsbúð for a small and sweaty Eist-
naflug.” While it was fun to have huge
crowds and big bands, Magný em-
phasises, this iteration will be more
personal. “Now nobody can hide away
somewhere; you’ll be able to sit in the
grass outside the venue and speak to
everyone.”
Black metal, viking metal
Magný is particularly excited by the
newer Icelandic bands on the roster.
She names doom metal mavericks Mor-
pholith—who recently won Iceland’s
Wacken Metal Battle 2019—as a par-
ticular favourite. Another standout
are the power metal breakout stars of
Paladin. “That’s a new band, but look-
ing at the crowd during the first ever
Paladin concert, they were having so
much fun,” Magný reminisces. “You
had all kinds of metalheads singing
along with their fists in the air—black
metal, viking metal, death metal peo-
ple—I’m looking forward to that.”
For more established acts, Magný
recommends catching Auðn, Une
Misère, Sólstafir, and Dimma.
Though it’s first and foremost a
metal festival, that doesn’t mean there
won’t be some good ole’ fashion party-
ing. This year, a glitter-festooned di-
version will be championed by none
other than the King of Icelandic pop,
Páll Óskar. “He’s playing on Saturday
night,” Magný exclaims. “Then every-
one will be dancing.” She grins. “At
least, I will be!”
Words:
Hannah Jane
Cohen
Photo:
Johanna
Persson
Words:
Alexander Le
Sage de Fontenay
Photo:
Elina Shorokhova
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Strike a pose
In The Middle Of
Music & Design
Jónbjörn on making a living and the future
Reykjavík's dance music scene
The audible and visual subsistence of
music is undeniable. Jónbjörn Finnbo-
gason—also known as JB and one-half
of house music label Lagaffe Tales—
is a creative who works within both
worlds as a music producer, DJ, label-
manager, promoter and designer.
He currently works at digital
agency Dark Arts of Digital in Ber-
lin, specializing in social media and
digital marketing for record labels
and musicians. “In my spare time, I
do the design, A&R and label man-
agement for Lagaffe Tales, which I
started back in 2012 with my good
friend Viktor Birgiss,” Jónbjörn ex-
plains. “I also started working on my
solo project again after a three year
hiatus around the time I moved to
Berlin.”
Festival
Eistnaflug runs
from July 10th
to July 14th in
Neskaupstaður.
Tickets are
18,900 ISK
Music
Follow
Jónbjörn’s
music at
soundcloud.
com/jonbjorn.
Buy his new
eclectic record
of pop music
edits out
on Pompon
Records last
month

Jónbjörn feels his inspiration comes
from all over, and he likes having
personal side-projects to keep him
inspired. “Sometimes a visit to my
hometown [Hnífsdalur in the West-
fjords] or travelling around Iceland
really does it for me. Other times it’s
my experiences from different clubs
in Berlin,” he explains. “Speaking to
like-minded people about music and
their work also makes me excited
about making something interest-
ing myself.”
Having been away from Reykja-
vík for a few years, Jónbjörn can see
clearer how it differs from larger
cities like Berlin. “The main differ-
ence is that most venues [in Iceland]
have a broad audience, so there is
no place for dance music only,” he
says. “Shout-out to Kaffibarinn and
Sónar festival, but I think what Reyk-
javík needs now is a small, raw and
versatile club for all kinds of dance
music.”
This year, Jónbjörn has performed
in Helsinki, Vienna and Tbilisi.
He recently started making dance-
edits of pop songs—like Páll Óskar’s
1996 euro dance hit ‘Ég Er Bundinn
Fastur Við Þig’—available as a free
download on Bandcamp. “I’m work-
ing on loads of original music and I’ll
be releasing something very soon,”
he says. “Then I’ll play at my favourite
club in Berlin, Zur Wilden Renate,
on August 2nd before moving back
to Reykjavík later that month!”
Stay Weird, Seyðisfjörður
LungA 2019
July 14th-21st - Seyðisfjörður -
8,900-13,900 ISK
Ah, LungA. A week of workshops, a
weekend of concerts, and people
having a lovely time talking about
how artists will inherit the earth and
capitalism will die. We’re so here for
it. With a vibrant and interesting
programme, there’s something for
everyone—from songwriting
classes and workshops on improv
to things we sure as hell can’t
describe in under 70 words in a box
in a magazine. JG
You Couldn’t Make This Up
Improv Iceland
July 10th, 17th & 24th - 20:00 -
Tjarnarbíó - 2,500 ISK
For many people, enjoyment of
improv springs from a place of
schadenfreude, so idk, maybe start
saving to see a therapist?
Alternatively, you could take
yourself along to Tjarnarbíó on
Wednesday evenings in July to see
Improv Iceland, laugh a lot and bury
your personal problems forever!
Provided by a word from the
audience to inspire their routine,
the group perform a completely
different show every night, so you’ll
never see the same thing twice. JG
Internal Organs
Hallgrímskirkja International Organ
Summer
June 22nd to Aug 28th -
Hallgrímskirkja - 2,500-3,000 ISK
The Klais Concert Organ at
Hallgrímskirkja has 5,275 pipes
and weighs around 25 tonnes, and
this summer you can hear it in all
its glory as a range of Icelandic
and international organists play
everything from thundering Bach
toccatas to melodious strains of
Vierne and Debussy in 29 concerts.
The award-winning Schola
Cantorum choir will also perform—
perfect for the stunning acoustics
of Iceland’s largest church. FR