Reykjavík Grapevine - 13.09.2019, Blaðsíða 31

Elvar Smári Júlíusson made a
splash two years ago with his de-
but album ‘Ljóstillífun’, released
under his artist name Án. Here,
the electro enthusiast tells us his
favourite tracks of all time. It’s a
playlist full of lyrical strikes and
warm humanity.
Rival Consoles
Pattern of the North
I think songwriting in electronic
music is an under-appreciated skill
and Rival Consoles certainly has it.
This song in particular has such
warmth and humanity. It’s expres-
sive. It’s emotional. These are not
words that I can use to describe
much electronic music, but I really
want to. It’s a very difficult thing to
achieve. His work inspires me a lot.
Nick Mulvey
Fever to the Form
I heard this song for the first time
this summer after listening to an
interview where Nick and producer
Dan Carey discuss the process of
creating his debut album. It was
love at first listen kind of deal.
There are some really cool produc-
tion tricks in this one, the Moog-y
synth bass comes as an unexpected
twist; the drummer is going abso-
lutely crazy, but the drum sound is
very small and dry; some spooky
Mellotron strings; reverse cym-
bals. Great stuff. And I weirdly re-
late to bringing fever to a form.
K.óla
Nýir Draumar
I debated if I should just make every
single track on this list a song from
‘Allt verður alltílæ’ but I’ll let “Nýir
Draumar” do. I am so impressed
with this album. I mean, I expected
the album to be good, but not this
freaking good. This song almost
feels like a house track (someone
do a remix please). I like the blend
of LoFi and HiFi elements, how the
chorus kind of washes over you
and having the lyrics in Icelandic
brings so much honesty. I am of-
ficially calling on The Reykjavík
Grapevine to give this album all
the awards at the end of the year.
Steve Reich
Music for 18 musicians (ECM
Recording)
I have such strong love for this
piece of music. In the summer of
2018, I had a week where I remem-
ber doing very little apart from
listening to this piece and eating
camembert. I really want to add a 4
to the floor kick to this and dance
to it.
Low
Quorum
What a gut punch this is. Beauty
and ugliness in equal parts. I don’t
want to over-conceptualize it, but
this album makes me think of the
chaos of social media, politics and
the climate crisis.
Jai Paul
Str8 Outta Mumbai
Real hits only. Jai Paul feels like
if Prince had Ableton and zero
recording budget. It’s hard not to
think about the drama surround-
ing this album, the leak and the 6
years of silence from Jai Paul fol-
lowing it. I admire his decision of
just releasing it in the raw unfin-
ished form the world first heard it
in. And I feel like the rawness is ex-
actly what makes it great, from the
bedroom quality of the vocal re-
cordings to the really strange cut-
out silences and obscene amount
of bass.
Music 31The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 16— 2019
ARTIST PLAYLIST
Obscene Bass And
Crazy Drummers
Elvar Smári Júlíusson tells you what you need to be listening to
Words: Elvar Smári Júlíusson/Valur Grettisson Photo: Art Bicnick
“What a gut punch this
is. Beauty and ugliness
in equal parts.”
gpv.is/music
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