Reykjavík Grapevine - 06.12.2019, Blaðsíða 24

Music
Two Icelandic women are amongst
those nominated for the 2020 Grammy
Awards, setting a historic precedent
for Icelandic music. Anna !orvalds-
dóttir has been nominated for Best
Engineered Album,
Classical, for her album
‘Aequa.’ Hildur Gu$nadót-
tir has been nominated for Best Score
Soundtrack for Visual Media for her
composition of the ‘Chernobyl’ score.
It bears mentioning that she has
already secured an Emmy win for the
score for episode two of the series,
“Please Remain Calm”. Will two Ice-
landic women go home with Grammy
awards on January 26th? Only time
will tell, but we’re rooting for them
both. AF
The grim-postmodern-scream-of-
angst-and-BDSM-fueled-anti-hate—
and now anti-corruption—band
Hatari performed at a protest rally at
Austurvöllur connected to the scandal
around the fishing company Samherji,
who are accused of bribery in Namib-
ia. Forgoing their normal vinyl gimp
onesies, Hatari donned business suits
to underline the uniform of corrup-
tion, which the band then endorsed
onstage in a very sarcastic way. Hatari
is no stranger to capitalism, as they
currently operate a company called
Svikamylla ehf., or the “Big Scam”,
which tries to sell the livestock—i.e.
us, the depressed consumers—use-
less stuff to fill our empty souls. It
works. VG

Genki Instruments' ‘Wave’ ring offi-
cially won the Icelandic Design Prize at
the 2019 Iceland Design Awards. Cre-
ated by Ólafur Bjarki Bogason, Daníel
Grétarsson, Jón Helgi Hólmgeirsson,
and Haraldur Hugosson, the ring is a
wearable MIDI controller that allows
artists to control sounds with a series
of small tilts, pans, rolls, taps, and
clicks. Of course, always being ahead
of the curve, the Grapevine named
Wave Product of the Year at the 2018
Reykjavík Grapevine Design Awards.
“The way they have integrated design
with the technological process is a
good example of what design can
do,” the Grapevine awards panel said.
“They designed an experience.” IP
MUSIC
NEWS
The Greatest Hits
The Grapevine’s critics pick the best of 2019
Words: The Grapevine Music Review Team
As 2019 draws to an end, we asked
our music team for their person-
al highlights from this fabulously
diverse year in Icelandic music.
It’s impossible to talk about this
year in Icelandic music without
first mentioning one name: Hildur
Gu!nadóttir, and her work on the
HBO miniseries ‘Chernobyl’. Hildur’s
ability to transform the silent and
invisible—nuclear radiation—into
savage, eerie frequencies is a feat. I’ll
never forget the unsettling chords
the moment the fireman grasped the
graphite—I’m getting chills think-
ing about it! Other than that, Une
Misère’s ‘Sermon’ was an obvious
standout, as was their Iceland Air-
waves performance at the Reykjavík
Art Museum. The band’s melange of
hardcore/death/black metal has done
what seemed impossible: it crossed
over to the mainstream. They play
at Priki! now for god's sake! Next
on the list, the debut of gugusar—a
15-year-old electric wunderkind—
made me excited for the future of
the scene as did the soothing piano
works of Gabríel Ólafs. I stan. HJC

This was undoubtedly a defining year
for Post-dreifing. The young D.I.T.
(“do it together”) music and art col-
lective has been pumping out more
new music this past year than you
can shake a stick at, with standout re-
leases by the likes of Skoffín, GRÓA,
sideproject, bagdad brothers, We
Are Not Romantic, K.óla and many
more. They also dominated the un-
derground live scene and drew at-
tention from international media.
On another note, as the resurgence
of dark music keeps booming, Kælan
Mikla and their synth-producer
Sólveig Matthildur have kept soar-
ing, opening for The Cure, touring
extensively through North America
and Europe, and securing their place
in the modern goth cannon. RB

This year was a diverse one. The big-
gest standout, in my opinion, was
the incredible collective success of
Icelandic classical music. This was
exemplified in the compilation al-
bum ‘Concurrence’ by the Iceland
Symphony Orchestra, which was
conducted by the classical super-
star, and former Grapevine cover star
Daníel Bjarnason. There, you’ll find
amazing work by artists like María
Huld Markan, Víkingur Hei!ar
Ólafsson and Anna "orvaldsdóttir,
who was recently nominated for a
Grammy. When it comes to electron-
ic music, Berlin-based techno-star
Bjarki is an absolute standout with
his album, ‘Happy Earthday.’ Sin
Fang enjoyed a brilliant comeback in
2019 with his boyish and melancholic
album ‘Sad Party,’ and Mr. Silla re-
leased a fantastic effort ‘Hands On
Hands,’ which unfortunately slid
under the radar but should have been
one of the year’s biggest hits. VG

There are two albums this year that
completely won my heart. First, I
would like to mention Andavald’s
absolutely breathtaking and devas-
tating debut album ‘Undir Skygg!ar-
haldi.’ The insanely well-composed
tremolo-picked guitar harmonies
provide a fitting background for the
vocals of pure despair. It’s authentic
and gorgeous. The second album that
deserves full attention is K.óla’s ‘Allt
ver!ur alltílæ.’ Every track on this
album is a hit. They are incredibly
well-written, well-produced and
authentic pop hits that never get
boring, no matter how often you
listen. And believe me, because I have
listened the s*** out of them. PUW
Reigning champion of the Icelandic music scene, Hildur Gu$nadóttir
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