Reykjavík Grapevine - jan. 2020, Síða 23

Iceland’s most soulful electro art-
ist, EinarIndra recently made a
serious splash at the 2020 Iceland
Airwaves festival. While we’ve been
busy streaming EinarIndra on Spo-
tify (you should, too) we asked him
to create a playlist of his favourite
Icelandic music, and he delivered ev-
erything from the first Icelandic Trip
Hop experiments to Underworld’s re-
mixes of Björk herself.
Magnús Blöndal
Jóhannsson - Samstirni
Magnús Blöndal was a pioneer of
Icelandic electronic music and
“Samstirni” (Constellation), from
1960, is such an interesting com-
position with beautiful sounds that
he recorded and edited on tape. It’s
good to be reminded of the old ways
of making electronic music where
you had to spend hours editing one
loop by cutting physical tape.
Subterranean - My style is
phreaky
From the age of 10 through 16 I lis-
tened mostly to hip hop, and when
I first heard Subterranean it was
like a bomb had gone off in the
Icelandic hip hop scene. They were
young and fresh, with really well
thought out lyrics, and they were
skilled rappers. Still, 20 years later,
I think they are one of the best hip
hop acts of Iceland.
GusGus - Polyesterday
This track was a breakout for me.
I was working with my father in
!órshöfn when I was 15 and after a
hard day at work, I was lying in bed
listening to the radio when I first
heard it. It had this hip hop feeling
but it wasn't hip hop; still, I really
loved it! GusGus helped me break
out of my hip hop bubble and into
trip-hop. I followed them up with
Massive Attack, Portishead and
similar bands.
Björk - Human Behaviour
(Underworld Mix)
I was a massive Underworld fan af-
ter seeing Trainspotting and some-
how I managed to get this remix
of Björk’s songs called “The best
mixes from the album Debut: (For
all the people that don't buy white
labels)”. This track was the first on
the CD and I started listening to
everything with Björk after that.
Sigur Rós - Leit a! lífi (Re-
cycled by Sigur Rós)
I think this is the first track I heard
with Sigur Rós and I think it was
on the radio (though that seems
unlikely) and somehow I connect
it also with me walking by Rey-
kjavíkurtjörn. It has an Amen break
for drums and that mixed with the
bass and vocals really got me and
hasn't let go since.
Múm - I’m 9 today
When the kids (they will always ref-
erenced as kids) in Múm released
“Yesterday was dramatic,” I was in
high school and already listening to
a lot of electronic music like Aphex
Twin, Autechre and the likes, so I
was ecstatic when I heard this new
electronic glitchy Icelandic band. I
remember skipping class with my
friend and listening to the album
in the school’s cafeteria.
Worm is green -
Automagic
I had started listening to a lot of
glitchy electronic music from Ger-
many and Russia when Automagic
dropped. This band had really well
programmed drums and beautiful
synth melodies. Streaming had not
yet begun, so I always bought all my
albums on CD.
Jónsi and Alex - Indian
Summer
During those years I ran a cooper-
ative cafe/art space in downtown
Reykjavík with my friends where
Alex and Jónsi were daily visitors.
At the same time, or around 2009,
when we were being forced out by
the house owner (who wanted to
build a large shopping mall in the
area), I met them and got this al-
bum which I think is one of the best
albums released. It was something
completely new but old at the same
time, it’s these beautiful sound-
scapes unbound by time.
Music 23The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 01— 2020
ARTIST PLAYLIST
Put The Soul In The Soul
The songs that made EinarIndra, well, EinarIndra
Words: Valur Grettisson & EinarIndra Photo: Art Bicnick
gpv.is/music
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