Reykjavík Grapevine - jan. 2022, Blaðsíða 8

8 The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 01— 2022
Impressions (1999)Words:
Valur Grettisson
John Pearson
Andie Sofia Fontaine
Reetta Huhta
Images:
Magnús Andersen
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Inspector Spacetime materialise unexpectedly in the middle
of the Grapevine Awards party, and tumble out of their time-
travelling British phone box. We suspect that they’d actually
set the controls for late-nineties London clubland—their
spiritual home—but once it dawns on them that they’ve won
our Artist Of The Year award, the trio of energetic young
danceheads couldn’t be happier.
“This is a huge honour that I didn’t expect us to have,”
says Elías Geir Óskarsson, de facto leader of Inspector Space-
time, (only becasue he's the one who answers the group's
emails).
“Yeah I was not expecting this either, and I’m really
honoured!” Egill Gauti Sigurjónsson chimes in. He formed
the group with Elías back in the early stages of the pandemic,
shortly before they recruited Vaka Agnarsdóttir to sing and
complete the Spacetime trio.
“It’s a great title to have,” says Vaka, “and I love that people
love us!”
With one remarkable album, a couple of great videos and
twelve months of unmissable high-energy gigs under their
collective belt, Inspector Spacetime have earned the acco-
lade. However their eponymously titled album nearly never
saw the light of day, due to the fact that Elías accidentally
deleted all the recordings. Oops. Elías…?
“I'm very proud of it! Because we had to do it again,”
he says of his finger-slip, and the subsequent process of
re-recording the album from scratch. “We did it better. If I
hadn't done that, maybe we wouldn't be here today.”
The world would certainly be musically poorer had
Inspector Spacetime never travelled back and changed the
past for the better. The album, which finally emerged at the
start of 2021, is an energetic, eclectic bounce around all the
best touchstones of dance—from the sweet UK two-step of
the song “Hitta Mig” to the frenetic drum ‘n’ bass of the titu-
lar track—and all stops in between.
In a year of firsts and new experiences for Inspector
Spacetime, a definite highlight was their biggest gig yet at
LungA Festival in Sey!isfjör!ur. Besides the novelty of being
put up in a hotel—and we do hope that they hit that minibar
hard—the band also got a taste of what might be in store for
them when they played the town’s gymnasium.
Egill recalls the surreal experience: “People in the front
were asking us to take a selfie with them, like famous
people!” “Yeah,” laughs Vaka, “they were riding the barri-
cades with their phones!”
The idea of future celebrity might take a while to settle
with the band members. In the meantime, they can survey
this year’s achievements with pride.
“It’s crazy,” Egill reflects on their award. “I remember last
year Bríet was Artist Of The Year. I really didn't think that we
would win the next one.”
It’s well-deserved, Inspector Spacetime. And welcome to
your own party, which we suspect has only just started. JP
Honourable mentions: Hipsumhaps, kef LAVÍK, BSÍ,
Bára Gísladóttir, Bjarki
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2021 was nothing less than a rollercoaster ride for anyone
trying to organise a party or, god forbid, a concert. Count-
less events were cancelled due to COVID-19 and many had
to change their settings to adjust to whatever the rules were
at the time. But one party, one concert, was a smash hit: the
rave, BUXUR (simply means pants) at the artist-run space
Fúsk.
A group of artists, and even an international techno star,
were the brains behind the operation held last summer
in Gufunes. Among them were Elsa Jónsdóttir, one of two
artists in the art gang called Krot&Krass, and Atli Bollason,
a visual artist and sometime musician.
“Well, we wanted to have some kind of an opening party,”
Elsa explained when asked about the thought process behind
the rave that attracted hundreds of partiers. “Bjarki [Rúnar
Sigur!sson] suggested that we would have a rave,” Elsa says.
“This is such an unbelievable space, the location is perfect
and, in theory, we could have just done whatever. But instead
of going for a cocktail party, why not rave?“ Atli adds.
Elsa explains that, while ultimately a success, it was no
easy task to pull off. Dozens of volunteers helped ready the
space and, true to the spirit of Fúsk, the whole undertaking
was a community project.
The rave quickly attracted international attention and
turnout was incredible. But this was far from the end for
this exciting venue. Elsa says that the group is aiming to
host an art festival in the area next summer where you will
find everything from architecture to experimental concerts.
As for BUXUR, Elsa and Atli couldn’t be happier. “Every-
thing went our way,” Atli said “Covid restrictions were actu-
ally lifted days before the event, and the weather was so
nice. There was a fog on the bay lending everything a mysti-
cal air, and painting the whole site in hues of pink once the
sun started setting. It was an all-day celebration of being
together, of music and art and dancing, and of accomplish-
ing something together.” VG
Honourable mentions: sóley Livestream from The
University of Iceland, Björk Harpa concert, Kaleo Live
at various places dir. Hör!ur Freyr Brynjarsson, Bony
Man - Cinnamon Fields Concert at Kex 2021, Plútó DJ
Streams, GusGus live from Sundlaugin
N I N E T H A N N U A L
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