Ólafur Arnalds - Variations Of Found Songs
Ólafur Arnalds is well known for combining classical instrumentation with a raw indie aesthetic to obtain compelling results. His debut album "Eulogy For Evolution", was highly praised by the media and music fans in Iceland and created quite a buzz around Europe and further afield.
After a similarly lauded follow-up EP ("Variations of Static") Arnalds recently embarked on a more experimental project known as "Found Songs", where he pledged to create and release a song every within 24 hours.
This month the album will finally get a physical release via Arnald’s label, Erased Tapes. The new album will be released on limited edition CD in Digisleeve and 10" Vinyl and will also be available for purchase as high-quality mp3s or .wav. The booklet artwork includes photos from the collaborative Found Songs Flickr group: one image was chosen for each song on the record.
IMX talk to Ólafur about Found Songs and his myriad other projects - a new “proper” album, a ballet score, making techno as Kiasmos…no wonder people want to make documentaries about him…
So talk us through your new Found Songs project - how did it come about and whose idea was it?
Well, I was having one of those nights in my apartment when i just feel endlessly inspired and keep writing nice music that doesn't necessarily fit with what I'm doing on my albums and I realized that i had quite a few song ideas that I never really had reasons to finish and release. The original idea behind Found Songs was just to make an excuse to finish those songs and let them be heard. I decided to take one week where I would look through old sketches and find melodies and ideas that I liked, finish them, record them and release them - one per day. I thought putting them up for free just made perfect sense for this project as it's not really a proper album and at the beginning I was worried they wouldn't even be proper songs.
How did you find the process? Was it gruelling? fun? A mix of the two?
It was both fun and challenging. I basically had to lock myself inside my room for a week, worked up to 18 hours per day trying to finish the songs in time. But I got a lot out of it. Putting yourself under such pressure is really good for you I think and in the end, contrary to my worries, the songs actually became proper songs, even though they were short and simple.
What were the toughest aspects from your perspective?
Writing the songs themselves wasn't so hard. I had much more problems with letting them go - I'm such a perfectionist and I would have liked to spend a few more days with each song but in the end I always just had to let them go and send them out even if they weren't "perfect".
Were you intending to release the results from the outset or was that a later decision?
The idea was in the back of my head from the beginning. And before the week started I spoke to Erased Tapes records and asked them to help me with making a website around the project and in return I'd give them the rights for a Limited Vinyl release. We didn't actually decide up on anything until after the week but the idea was definitely there the whole time.
The Flickr photo pool idea also helped make it a more communal project. Was that your idea?
Yes, it was also my idea from the beginning to keep everyone really involved with the project. To make a kind of a social/art experiment. The Flickr idea was a part of that and also how I kept everyone posted on my progress with each song on Twitter. I even asked people for help and inspiration if I got stuck. In the end we used our favourite Flickr submissions for the booklet of the physical release of Found Songs.
You’re also working on a new “proper” album – what can you tell us about that?
I'm very excited about that. Unfortunately it's still a while until the release. I'm guessing early 2010, but I think it will be great. It's definitely more mainstream than the other ones. I'm incorporating even more instruments and elements from pop music but still maintaining the classical foundation. Barði Jóhansson (of Bang Gang / Lady & Bird) is co-producing it with me so that definitely adds an interesting perspective. There are more songs in the vein of "3055" from Eulogy...
And your techno side project Kiasmos, what’s the latest with that?
That's been really taking off lately. In fact I just arrived from the Faroe Islands where we did two DJ sets and a live set for Undirbeat at this big festival they have there every year. We recently released a split 12" vinyl with Rival Consoles which got really good reviews, though some of them were of course bound to complain about the lack of piano and strings. We have been writing material for an EP and have got a few exciting things coming up, including some European tour dates.
You’ve recently been commissioned to write a ballet score for Wayne McGregor's Dyad 1909 – how did that come about?
He told me he picked up a flyer at Barbican Hall in London for my show there last year and has had me in mind ever since. He told me he had been warming up and practicing to my music for the last few months, which is quite funny cause I have been watching his works a lot on YouTube for the last few months as well, drooling over his talent. We were actually completely unaware of each other but he knows the PR girl at Erased Tapes (who is also a choreographer) and asked her to get him in touch with me a few weeks ago. Two days later it was confirmed.
Is this the first ballet or theatre score you’ve written?
Yeah it's my first. I'm very excited about it, not only because Wayne is my favourite choreographer (I'm quite into contemporary dance) but this should also be a great experience and make me better as an artist in the end. Not to mention the new audience I will be able to reach. They will take the piece on tour around the world and I will be playing live at many of the shows with them. I'm just starting to write now so I have actually yet to see how exactly I will approach it, but it will include some of my older works as well as brand new material.
And last but not least, you have a documentary coming out too….
It was actually premiered at Gimli Film Festival in Canada this week! It's nothing huge. My good friend Gussi, a young, very talented film maker here in Iceland asked me if he could make a documentary about me. It's just over 20 minutes. He followed us on tour in the UK for a couple of weeks, so it's basically just a movie about life on tour, filled with interviews and music. I'm quite happy with it actually - it's personal and "cozy”.
All of which begs the question: where do you manage to fit in time to SLEEP?
I don't know. Let me know if you find out ‘cause I could really do with some!
"Marching Bands of Manhattan" Cover @ venue 't Smiske, Asse, Belgium
www.youtube.com/v/H52qXHPBNf4&hl&fmt=18
Ólafur Arnalds @ MySpace
Source: Iceland Music Export IMX
þriðjudagur, ágúst 04, 2009
mánudagur, ágúst 03, 2009
Song of the 123. Week: Árstíðir's "Látum okkur sjá"
123. Song of the Week is "Látum okkur sjá" by the band Árstíðir, the Icelandic, modern Simon and Garfunkel. Their music is characterised by rich vocal harmonies & delicate melodies. Árstíðir was formed in July 2008.
Another song, live @ Café Rosenberg:
www.youtube.com/v/am2VEHDYU4g&hl&fmt=18
Árstíðir's Wepage
Árstíðir @ MySpace
Another song, live @ Café Rosenberg:
www.youtube.com/v/am2VEHDYU4g&hl&fmt=18
Árstíðir's Wepage
Árstíðir @ MySpace
sunnudagur, ágúst 02, 2009
Short Gig of Helgi Rafn Jónsson @ Stúdíó Jónatan Grétarsson, Hafnarfjörður 6. August 2009
Helgi Hrafn Jónsson
@ Stúdíó Jónatan Grétarsson, Hafnarfjörður
Thursday 6. August 2009
21:00-22:30
New songs & White wine
Free admission
@ Stúdíó Jónatan Grétarsson, Hafnarfjörður
Thursday 6. August 2009
21:00-22:30
New songs & White wine
Free admission
You can watch the work of photographer Jónatan Grétarsson
Only 40-50 people can attend the short concert.
Send a mail to klifurmus@gmail.com to get a place on the guestlist.
Send a mail to klifurmus@gmail.com to get a place on the guestlist.
Helgi Jónsson's Official Website
Helgi Jónsson @ MySpace
Upcoming gigs @ Reykjavík in August 2009
Upcoming concerts downtown Reykjavik:
5. August @ Café Rosenberg @ 21:00: Bubbi & Hafdis Huld
6. August @ Café Rosenberg @ 20:00: Buff
8. August @ NASA @ 23:00: Gay Pride with Paul Oscar
14. August @ Grand Rokk @ 22:00: Grapevine presents Seabear, Pascal Pinon & Moses Hightower
22. August @ Grand Rokk @ 21:00: Cultural Night with Megas, Sukkat & Fraebbblarnir
5. August @ Café Rosenberg @ 21:00: Bubbi & Hafdis Huld
6. August @ Café Rosenberg @ 20:00: Buff
8. August @ NASA @ 23:00: Gay Pride with Paul Oscar
14. August @ Grand Rokk @ 22:00: Grapevine presents Seabear, Pascal Pinon & Moses Hightower
22. August @ Grand Rokk @ 21:00: Cultural Night with Megas, Sukkat & Fraebbblarnir
Stuðmenn Gig @ Reykjavik's Zoo @ Laugardalur 2. August @ 14:00
Stuðmenn
@ Fjölskyldu- og húsdýragarðinum (Family Park & Zoo), Laugardaulur
Sunday 2. August @ 14:00
Supporting Acts:
Ljótu hálfvitarnir
entertainer Stefán Karl (new CD "Í túrett og moll")
@ Fjölskyldu- og húsdýragarðinum (Family Park & Zoo), Laugardaulur
Sunday 2. August @ 14:00
Supporting Acts:
Ljótu hálfvitarnir
entertainer Stefán Karl (new CD "Í túrett og moll")
The History of Icelandic Rock - Part 7
The History of Icelandic Rock
Part 7
Heavier, Deeper, Smokier...
By Dr. Gunni in Grapevine Magazine (Issue # 11, August 2009)
Icelandic popular music has in every major way developed similarly to pop music internationally. By 1969, Icelandic pop was – much like abroad – increasingly being divided into two major classes: lightweight pop for the masses (aka “bubblegum” or “commercial” music) and heavy and deep pop (not called rock until later, as in 1969 the term just reminded everybody of Elvis) for the forward thinking music lover (aka “progressive” music).
Of course, every serious musician wanted to turn their attention to the latter. Hljómar had been the leaders of the sixties beat-boom. The same core players were to be the leaders of the hippie-rock movement: composer/guitarist Gunnar Þórðarson and singer/bassist Rúnar
Júlíusson. The super duper hippie-group Trúbrot (Breach of Faith) was born after much preparation and discussion, mainly between Gunnar Þórðarson and Gunnar Jökull, the inventive drummer from beat band Flowers. At 17, Gunnar Jökull had left Iceland for London werehe joined local band The Syn and played on two great psychedelic pop singles. As The Syn evolved into Yes, Gunnar Jökull chose to return to Iceland, were he joined Flowers and just missing world fame drumming with prog giants Yes.
The birth of Trúbrot was major news on the Icelandic scene. Along with Gunnar and Rúnar came singer Shady Owens from Hljómar, and Gunnar Jökull brought along keyboard virtuoso Karl
Sighvatsson from Flowers. Right off the bat, the members of Trúbrot were full of great expectations for the future. The feeling was that the old bands had become stagnant and not original enough; the new band was to be fresher and more inventive. Despite these sublime goals, Trúbrot’s first LP in 1969 was not a giant leap from Hljómar’s second LP from the previous year. Yet again a studio in London was used to get the music on tape. To begin with, the band had wanted to make an album with original songs only, but in the end four foreign cover versions had to be added. One of the songs was a 9-minute jam/mini-opera aptly titled "Afgangar" (Leftovers).
The album sold well though, in parts thanks to news coverage of Trúbrot’s hash-smoking escapades. By this time, drug use in Iceland was on the rise so laws had to be made to prevent further moral decline. Trúbrot got their supply mainly from soldiers they knew at the Keflavík army base, but the band was never charged for their smoking as they just escaped the new laws. The cannabis thing damaged many peoples’ goodwill towards the band though, and the band
had some trouble booking gigs while the affair was hot and one festival organizer wanted the band to sign a statement that the band didn’t use any drugs any more.
Trúbrot of course declined the offer, saying their smoking was their personal matter, and all real hippies smoked anyway. In 1970, Trúbrot were crippled with line-up problems. Singer Shady left to tend to her homesickness in America, while keyboardist Karl, who many felt had never blossomed with the band, left for a music school and drummer Gunnar Jökull left because he felt Trúbrot hadn’t fulfilled their original goal of playing heavy progressive music. Rúnar and Gunnar soldiered on, adding keyboardist Magnús Kjartansson from Keflavík band Júdas to the line-up, along with a new drummer. The original line-up’s last gig was at the famous Reykjavík club Glaumbær in June 1970 and the band rocked like never before, perhaps thanks to the fact that all members of Led Zeppelin were present, fresh from playing a legendary gig in Reykjavík.
With the sixties officially gone, other bands seriously started to dent Trúbrot’s throne of rock. There was Ævintýri (Adventure), a band that started out playing bubblegum pop but evolved into harder territories; Tatarar (Gypsies), a hard rocking college band that scored a hit with
“Dimmar rósir” in 1969; and Náttúra (Nature), the heaviest and most progressiveof them all. Only Óðmenn (Madmen) released an album at the time though, and a double album at that.
Óðmenn had started out as a beat group in the sixties and mainly worked as a popular cover band. In 1970, the band had been chiselled down to a trio lead by bassist/singer Jóhann G Jóhannson. The band modelled itself obviously after Eric Clapton’s power trio Cream and got a gig composing music for and playing in Iceland’s first original rock musical, "Óli".
This material ended up on the eponymous double album along with some new songs. The music is groovy and cool and has aged well, except the fourth album side which consists solely of one boring jam called "Frelsi" (Freedom). All of Óðmenn’s songs were in Icelandic (except one), some about nagging current matters like war and pollution. Trúbrot, however, sang everything in English (except one song) on the second album (the band had Icelandic lyrics only on their eponymous debut). The album was titled in Icelandic though, "Undir áhrifum" (“Under the Influence”), and fared the least well of all four Trúbrot’s albums. The music sounded much like
soft American rock bands (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, et. al.), with only the closer, longer lasting Stjörnuryk (7:28) hinting at future progressive leanings.
Dr. Gunni
Based on his book "Eru ekki allir í stuði? "(Rock in Iceland)(published in 2000). A revisited update of the book is forthcoming in 2010.
Part 7
Heavier, Deeper, Smokier...
By Dr. Gunni in Grapevine Magazine (Issue # 11, August 2009)
Icelandic popular music has in every major way developed similarly to pop music internationally. By 1969, Icelandic pop was – much like abroad – increasingly being divided into two major classes: lightweight pop for the masses (aka “bubblegum” or “commercial” music) and heavy and deep pop (not called rock until later, as in 1969 the term just reminded everybody of Elvis) for the forward thinking music lover (aka “progressive” music).
Of course, every serious musician wanted to turn their attention to the latter. Hljómar had been the leaders of the sixties beat-boom. The same core players were to be the leaders of the hippie-rock movement: composer/guitarist Gunnar Þórðarson and singer/bassist Rúnar
Júlíusson. The super duper hippie-group Trúbrot (Breach of Faith) was born after much preparation and discussion, mainly between Gunnar Þórðarson and Gunnar Jökull, the inventive drummer from beat band Flowers. At 17, Gunnar Jökull had left Iceland for London werehe joined local band The Syn and played on two great psychedelic pop singles. As The Syn evolved into Yes, Gunnar Jökull chose to return to Iceland, were he joined Flowers and just missing world fame drumming with prog giants Yes.
The birth of Trúbrot was major news on the Icelandic scene. Along with Gunnar and Rúnar came singer Shady Owens from Hljómar, and Gunnar Jökull brought along keyboard virtuoso Karl
Sighvatsson from Flowers. Right off the bat, the members of Trúbrot were full of great expectations for the future. The feeling was that the old bands had become stagnant and not original enough; the new band was to be fresher and more inventive. Despite these sublime goals, Trúbrot’s first LP in 1969 was not a giant leap from Hljómar’s second LP from the previous year. Yet again a studio in London was used to get the music on tape. To begin with, the band had wanted to make an album with original songs only, but in the end four foreign cover versions had to be added. One of the songs was a 9-minute jam/mini-opera aptly titled "Afgangar" (Leftovers).
The album sold well though, in parts thanks to news coverage of Trúbrot’s hash-smoking escapades. By this time, drug use in Iceland was on the rise so laws had to be made to prevent further moral decline. Trúbrot got their supply mainly from soldiers they knew at the Keflavík army base, but the band was never charged for their smoking as they just escaped the new laws. The cannabis thing damaged many peoples’ goodwill towards the band though, and the band
had some trouble booking gigs while the affair was hot and one festival organizer wanted the band to sign a statement that the band didn’t use any drugs any more.
Trúbrot of course declined the offer, saying their smoking was their personal matter, and all real hippies smoked anyway. In 1970, Trúbrot were crippled with line-up problems. Singer Shady left to tend to her homesickness in America, while keyboardist Karl, who many felt had never blossomed with the band, left for a music school and drummer Gunnar Jökull left because he felt Trúbrot hadn’t fulfilled their original goal of playing heavy progressive music. Rúnar and Gunnar soldiered on, adding keyboardist Magnús Kjartansson from Keflavík band Júdas to the line-up, along with a new drummer. The original line-up’s last gig was at the famous Reykjavík club Glaumbær in June 1970 and the band rocked like never before, perhaps thanks to the fact that all members of Led Zeppelin were present, fresh from playing a legendary gig in Reykjavík.
With the sixties officially gone, other bands seriously started to dent Trúbrot’s throne of rock. There was Ævintýri (Adventure), a band that started out playing bubblegum pop but evolved into harder territories; Tatarar (Gypsies), a hard rocking college band that scored a hit with
“Dimmar rósir” in 1969; and Náttúra (Nature), the heaviest and most progressiveof them all. Only Óðmenn (Madmen) released an album at the time though, and a double album at that.
Óðmenn had started out as a beat group in the sixties and mainly worked as a popular cover band. In 1970, the band had been chiselled down to a trio lead by bassist/singer Jóhann G Jóhannson. The band modelled itself obviously after Eric Clapton’s power trio Cream and got a gig composing music for and playing in Iceland’s first original rock musical, "Óli".
This material ended up on the eponymous double album along with some new songs. The music is groovy and cool and has aged well, except the fourth album side which consists solely of one boring jam called "Frelsi" (Freedom). All of Óðmenn’s songs were in Icelandic (except one), some about nagging current matters like war and pollution. Trúbrot, however, sang everything in English (except one song) on the second album (the band had Icelandic lyrics only on their eponymous debut). The album was titled in Icelandic though, "Undir áhrifum" (“Under the Influence”), and fared the least well of all four Trúbrot’s albums. The music sounded much like
soft American rock bands (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, et. al.), with only the closer, longer lasting Stjörnuryk (7:28) hinting at future progressive leanings.
Dr. Gunni
Based on his book "Eru ekki allir í stuði? "(Rock in Iceland)(published in 2000). A revisited update of the book is forthcoming in 2010.
laugardagur, ágúst 01, 2009
Icelandic artists on stage in Belgium this year
Last year, they came. This year the Icelanders are back:
Stórsveit Nix Noltes @ Kayam Stage @ Dranouter Folkfestival Sunday 9. August @ 14:30
múm @ Botanique venue @ Brussels 1. September
Emiliana Torrini (Support Act: Lay Low) @ AB @ Brussels 30. September
Jóhann Jóhannsson @ Music in Mind Festival (organised by Cactus) @ Concertgebouw (Concertzaal), 't Zand 34, Brugge 31. October @ 20:30. More information here.
Stórsveit Nix Noltes @ Kayam Stage @ Dranouter Folkfestival Sunday 9. August @ 14:30
múm @ Botanique venue @ Brussels 1. September
Emiliana Torrini (Support Act: Lay Low) @ AB @ Brussels 30. September
Jóhann Jóhannsson @ Music in Mind Festival (organised by Cactus) @ Concertgebouw (Concertzaal), 't Zand 34, Brugge 31. October @ 20:30. More information here.
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