Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.07.2019, Qupperneq 34

Music
The Taste
Of Victory
Diving into the winners of Iceland’s Músiktilraunir
Words: Felix Robertsson Photo: Patrik Ontkovic
Music Competition
Blóðmör, Konfekt and Ásta won
Músíktilraunir 2019. See them at
Iceland Airwaves, and find them on
Facebook
In the world of Icelandic music,
Músiktilraunir, Iceland’s ‘Battle
of the Bands’ competition, is a
veritable kingmaker. Running for
over 30 years, it’s helped kickstart
bands like Mammút, Vök, and Of
Monsters and Men. This year, the
winner was metal band Blóðmör
(Blood Pudding, in English), while
Konfekt came second, and singer/
songwriter Ásta Kristín Pjeturs-
dóttir third. All three bands re-
cently played at Secret Solstice
and will play at Airwaves this No-
vember.
Help from mom
Since the competition finale in
April, Blóðmör have remained
hard at work. “We’ve been per-
forming almost every week,” the
band tells me after a soundcheck
at Iðnó. They’ve also released an
EP called ‘Líkþorn’—a moody as-
sortment of tracks straddling the
line between rock and metal. Have
just one listen and you’ll under-
stand why the band won the prize
for Best Guitarist at Músiktilraun-
ir. “It’s had a great response,” says
guitarist and vocalist Haukur Þór
Valdimarsson of the EP. “We re-
corded it before we won Músiktil-
raunir, but we’ve just released it
now, so it’s been very good timing
for us.”
But despite their victory in
Musiktilraunir, they hope to con-
tinue recording, taking advantage
of the time they won at Sund-
laugin studio. Their success belies
the youth of the band. “We only
came together in 2016,” Haukur
explains. “Though Matthías Ste-
fánsson, our bassist and vocalist,
and I had already
played in a band be-
fore we joined with
Ísak Þorsteinsson,
our drummer.”
Of course, one
must ask about the
name. “My mother
came up with it,”
H au k u r l au g h s .
“But I don’t think
any of us actually like blóðmör. It’s
edible—but we wouldn’t choose to
eat it.”
Indie kids fight back
Second place winners and indie
kids Konfekt have also been keep-
ing busy since their Músiktilraun-
ir success. “We’ve been recording
a lot,” explains drummer Eva Kol-
brún Kolbeins. “We’re taking it one
step at a time. We’ll start by releas-
ing a single and see where it goes
from there.”
The band, like Blóðmör, is rela-
tively young, only coming togeth-
er in 2018, but they have already
developed a defined style, deftly
switching between Icelandic and
English in tracks that are both re-
laxed and tightly controlled. This
is all the more impressive consid-
ering that Músiktilraunir was one
of their first major musical events.
In fact, when they came to sign up,
they didn’t even have a fixed name.
Konfekt, though, suits the all-
girl band well. “It means assort-
ed chocolates,” says singer Anna
Ingibjörg Þorgeirsdóttir. “And
we thought that it resembled our
range of songs—some you might
like, some you might not—but
they’re all different.”
Next big things
Ásta Kristín Pjetursdóttir, who
won third place, cuts a rather
different figure. Arguably better
known as one of Iceland’s foremost
classical violinists, Ásta only be-
gan writing her
own songs re-
cently, describ-
i n g h o w s h e
began w riting
p o et r y w h ic h
then fed into her
s o n g w r i t i n g .
While she wasn’t
playing at Iðnó,
she will surely
be one to look out for at Airwaves,
especially for her award-winning
Icelandic lyrics. Her songs are cap-
tivatingly sparse, utilising only a
guitar and her ethereal voice, but
it’s powerfully effective.
Could any of these acts achieve
the successes of Mammút and
Of Monsters and Men? It’s a bold
proposition, but when you hear the
skill of these three new contend-
ers, and look at their achievements
thus far, there’s more than a little
reason to be hopeful.
“I don’t think any
of us actually
like blóðmör. It’s
edible—but we
wouldn’t choose
to eat it.”
34The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 11— 2019
These kids don't eat blood sausage
gpv.is/music
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