Rafskinna Magazine: Today's Fish

Rafskinna Magazine Trailer # 1 Fish/Fiskur
Featuring a.o. Curver, Einar Örn Benediktsson, Björk ("Volta" rehearsal), Skakkamanage, Gus Gus ("Moss" Video) .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbddUn6oYuM

http://www.rafskinna.com/
www.myspace.com/rafskinna

Odin's Raven Magic

Chapter 7 of Odin's Raven Magic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0L4UABRTKgE

Amiina's North American Tour postponed

On Amiina's MySpace:
An apology to our fans
We are very sorry to inform you that due to illness within the band, we have had to postpone our North American tour schedule to start in Washington DC next week. We obviously didn't want this to happen and are very disappointed, but we will soon be over before you know it! Thank you to those who have already bought tickets. Of course you will get a full refund, so please go to the point of purchase.
However, we do have some cool things coming up, including a long tour in Europe in October.
www.myspace.com/amiina

Gus Gus Live @ FIB Spain

Gus Gus Live @ FIB aka Festival Internacional de Benicassim (July 2007) aka "Glasto del Sol", Spain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gP182QHN2sM

www.gusgus.com
http://www.myspace.com/gusgu

"Vitamin" Video by The Sugarcubes

The Sugarcubes Video "Vitamin"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UW232Pgjx2M

http://thesugarcubes.blogspot.com

Screaming Masterpiece Odin's Raven Magic Exerpt

***** Screaming Masterpiece, a movie everybody who loves Icelandic music must have seen.
***** Odin's Raven Magic:Maybe the best concert I ever visited (a present for myself on my birthday).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrmaTFTnsVY

More info @ www.screamingmasterpiece.com

Reykjavik Jazz Festival is coming

This 18th edition of the Reykjavik Jazz Festival will be held in the Icelandic capital between August 29th and September 1st, 2007.
Amongst this year’s highlights will be Philadelphia born Uri Caine, who will play on Wednesday August 29th alongside Drew Gress on bass and Ben Perowsky on drums. Caine has performed with Philly Joe Jones, Hank Mobley, Johnny Coles, Bootsie Barnes and Grover Washington, amomgst others, and has won recent accolades for his treatment of music by composers such as Mahler, Schumann, Wagner, Bach and Mozart.
On Thursday August 30th, enigmatic Faroese superstar Eivör Pálsdóttir will take to the stage alongside the Reykjavik Big Band, to re-imagine songs from her famed collaboration album with the Danish Radio Big Band. Eivör is virtually a household name in Iceland, having won the Icelandic Music Award as well as the Grima Award. She has also won a prize for Best Album in Denmark and been named The Faeroe Islander Of the Year.
Also confirmed is Jerry Bergonzi, commonly regarded as ‘the saxophonist's saxophonist’. Bergonzi has played with Joe Lovano, Dave Liebman, Mike Brecker, Bob Berg, Steve Grossman, Victor Lewis and many more, and has enjoyed a long and fruitful collaboration with Dave Brubeck. Jerry Bergonzi has dedicated his life to teaching and is one of the greatest authorities alive on jazz music and saxophone playing. He will play along with Icelandic jazz players at Reykjavik Jazz Festival Muli Concerts on Wednesday and Thursday August 29th and 30th.
Local talent at this year’s Reykjavik Jazz festival is no less impressive. Sigurdur Flosason, one of Iceland's best known jazz artists, will be promoting a new album project; and Eythor Gunnarsson, who stepped into the international spotlight with pioneering Icelandic jazz funk band Mezzoforte, will conduct the Jerry Bergonzi Quartet and invite people to a fascinating programme about the late Jon Muli Arnason, known for his contribution to Icelandic Jazz hits.
Source IMX: www.icelandicmusic.is
More Icelandic Jazz @ www.jazz.is

Björk Interview in the List # 584

The List
Issue 584 - 23 August 2007
by Jonathan Wingate
Free spirit
Björk has been making her unique brand of endearingly eccentric music for 30 years, but she feels like she’s only just getting into her creative stride. She talks to Jonathan Wingate
It is a muggy summer’s afternoon, and although she has been doing interviews in an airless west London hotel suite for several hours, the Queen of Quirk is in fine form and fizzing with energy. Having recently released Volta – touted as her most accessible album in a decade – Björk has a lot to smile about.
Although she has not recorded anything remotely commercial sounding for years, her albums continue to sell well, she still has most critics eating out of the palm of her hand, and, most importantly for her, she still does exactly what she wants to do, just as she always has.
‘To be honest, I would have expected people to lose interest a long time ago, but I was gonna stick to what I have to do anyway,’ she explains, nursing the first of several cups of steaming Earl Grey. ‘I do feel very lucky that people are still around and still interested.’
Björk is the sort of person it is pretty much impossible to be neutral about. Whether you love or loathe her music, you simply cannot fail to be fascinated by the woman who creates it. Today she is wearing a long, heavily embroidered black kaftan, silver leggings and dolly shoes, and a strange necklace that looks as if it is fashioned out of deer antlers.
In the current climate, you could be forgiven for thinking that her public persona – Bjönkers Björk – was largely a media creation, or at the very least, a massive distortion of the truth. In fact, in the flesh, Björk is actually pretty eccentric.
The papers delight in repeatedly reminding us of her often strange behaviour: whether it’s punching a television reporter at Don Muang Airport in Bangkok after she tried to interview her young son or the rumour that she was so unhinged while shooting Lars Von Trier’s Dancer In The Dark that she ended up eating her own cardigan, Björk insists that while there is some truth in the stories, they are more often than not greatly exaggerated.
‘Well, the media always simplifies things and they take one incident that happens for five minutes in one year and then that’s your life for the next ten years. But I had all these other moments you know, and the other 364 days in the year were very different from that particular day. I mean, there is still a grain of truth there, but it’s just taken a bit out of proportion.’
Having relocated to London and initially enjoyed the huge commercial success of Debut, it wasn’t long before her fame began to suffocate Björk – both personally and creatively. The most adventurous artist of her generation left the capital in 1996 to try to bring some sort of normality back into her life.
‘I did feel honoured because I’m a foreigner and I was living in England and I was offered the chance to be an A-lister,’ she insists. ‘Normally I spend a lot of my time solitaire. It just felt a bit weird, because I have to be able to write music, and when I walk down the street I have this music going on in my head. That’s my life, and it felt like a thousand people had moved in there and they were leaving their dirty socks around, so I couldn’t write music. I’m a pretty tough cookie you know, and if I could endure that and still write good music, I would have endured it; but it wasn’t creative, so it had absolutely no interest for me. It was boring.’
Volta contains enough wonderfully weird stuff to keep the loyal leftfielders happy, and just about enough hummable tunes to entertain the more fickle fans who got into Björk via Debut and then gradually lost patience with her increasingly way out music over the last few years. Still, overall, Volta is as poppy as Björk is ever likely to get at this stage of the game.
‘Because I’d done two or three projects in a row that were quite serious, maybe I just needed to get that out of my system. All I wanted to do for this album was just to have fun and do something really up. It’s about wanting to go out in the physical world and experience stuff.’
Do her physical surroundings influence the music she makes? ‘A little bit, but I’m so used to travelling all the time that it’s more of an emotional state,’ she says. ‘In my introvert phases I could be in a glamorous hotel or in a log cabin or wherever, but when I am in my extrovert periods, I’m probably more aware of my surroundings. I made Debut and Post when I lived in London, and they’re very London albums. Whereas with Vespertine and Medúlla I was living half in Iceland and half in Manhattan, and you can’t really hear a lot of Manhattan there because I was quite introvert at the time and it was a bit of a domestic bliss period for me, so I could have done them anywhere.’
As with most Björk records, Volta features an unusual array of guests – from Malian kora master, Toumani Diabate and Chinese pipa player, Min Xiao-Fen to Antony Hegarty (Antony And The Johnsons) and hip hop king, Timbaland.
What’s he like? ‘He’s very impulsive, confident and very male . . . in the positive sense of the word. If you think of the elements, Timbaland is very much one element . . . 500%. There’s not one drop of doubt, so you walk into a room and he does a beat and you sing on top of it, and then five minutes later, you’ve got a song. We always said we’d do something together one of these days . . . and maybe I was ready to do something with him now because I was kinda ready to be put on the spot where you walk into a room and you just do it. First we spent three hours together and did four or five songs, and then we met again for two hours and did three more.’
Intriguingly, many of the songs on Volta feature Björk talking about politics for the first time in her long career. On the militant sounding ‘Declare Independence’ she sings: ‘Start your own currency/Make your own stamp/Protect your language/Declare independence . . . raise your flag.’
‘Things have changed a lot in the last ten years,’ she explains. ‘I think the 90s started with this feeling that we will overcome our problems and everything was gonna be amazing. But if you look at history, periods like that are very rare, so maybe this is more normal. I like to think it’s the end of the dinosaurs and the Texan tycoons and white trash Christianity maybe. I think you’ve never had so many people interested in politics as there is right now. If somebody like me is interested, it’s gotta mean that everybody is, right?
‘It’s not me, I think it’s just the zeitgeist, and that’s why it’s really important to react. It seems like ten years ago people like me didn’t have to spell it out, so of course I don’t wanna explode people in another part of the world, and of course I don’t wanna ruin nature. I’m not saying I’m left wing, because I’m not. I still don’t vote in Iceland, and the few times I have voted I’ve delivered a blank. I still like to consider myself an apolitical person, but it’s just that in times like this, you’re forced to spell it out. I bet most of the people who marched against the Iraq war never even worried about politics before.’
Ever since Björk became one of the biggest stars in the world back in the early 90s, she has refused to rest on her creative laurels while still managing to keep her music in the spotlight: ‘The essence I don’t think has changed at all since Debut. I’ve just become better at working in the studio and I feel like I’m a better singer. People keep saying: “Ooh, between every album it’s a revolution”, and they either praise me or knock me for my short attention span,’ she smiles. ‘And I’m like: “What short attention span?” I don’t feel like I’ve changed at all.
‘I feel like I’ve come a long way. I feel like I’m much better now at putting down the music inside my head. I had the live side of my character and then there was the studio boffin side; the boffin side kind of peaked with Vespertine and Medúlla, and Volta is where they meet again. So I feel the merge between the spontaneous and the academic is more seamless on Volta ... it’s more fluid between the left and the right hemispheres of my brain.’
At the age of 41, does Björk feel that she has to cram in as much music as she can in the time she has left? ‘Yeah, I do, but I felt like time was running out when I was a teenager as well; I think that is one thing that hasn’t changed. I’m very aware that I could live seven lives and still not do all the stuff I wanna do. But it’s not fear you know . . . it’s a form of enthusiasm. I feel totally like I haven’t even scratched the surface yet.’
The fact that Björk is still, first and foremost, an avant garde musician – albeit one whose records sell in their millions – goes a long way to explaining her enduring appeal. The other key to her continued success is her refusal to repeat herself.
‘I’m not gonna do the same stuff again, because if I did I’d be bored shitless,’ Björk chuckles. ‘I’m only halfway through. I try and talk myself into it sometimes, and the most sensible thing would be to do more of this again because I know I’d do it better because I wasn’t doing it for the first time and people get it now. I can hold my breath and do that for a couple of days and then I go: “Fuck that shit”. It would just feel like cheating. My attention span is rubbish, so I get bored very easily and it just isn’t any good because my heart isn’t in it.’
How much of the time does she spend thinking about music? ‘It’s sort of seamless. It’s not like I am thinking about music talking to you right now, but it’s generally more natural for me to interact with the world through my ears than my eyes. People who are into music are like that . . . it’s not just that I’m a weirdo or something.’
Source:
www.list.co.uk/article/4248-bjork
www.bjork.com

Song of the 24. Week: Retro Stefson's "Medallion"

Retro Stefson "Medallion" is song of the 24. Week.
Here's a Podcast of their Performance @ Grand Rokk @ Airwaves Festival 2006.
Wednesday IA06 #1 - Retro Stefson

Review of Skátar Album

Skátar Album "Ghost Of The Bollocks To Come" (Label: Grandmothers)
Plan B Magazine
Post-rock? Classic rock. Jazz? Maybe…math– dunno. Icelandic: certainly. That covers maybe 10 per cent of the cornucopia of
noises on Skátar's terrifyingly brilliant album. The first lyric on opener 'Lime Of Love' is "Brooaaghhhhhhh!" and you think you're in for some doomy scream trip. Then suddenly it's this relaxed juddering thing which smells a bit like Thin Lizzy. This album needs a map.
During the languorous opening to '5:45 Reykjavík', I'm thinking 'stoner', but then the band kick into gear and switch up to pointy double-speed. Expansive and wonderfully ambitious, but they know just when to rein it in. Every new section in each song delivers something to smile at. Pitter-patter drum flurries, naff keyboard sounds, mid-verse language changes, some quick handclaps hidden in the mix. Oh Christ, now I'm playing air guitar. Look what you've done, Skátar.
Thom Gibbs
www.skatar.net
www.myspace.com/skatar

And for those who understand Icelandic: A review on Rjominn
www.rjominn.is/reviews/show/469

„Ghost of the Bollocks to Come er ófyrirsjáanleg, ómótstæðileg og án vafa langskemmtilegasta íslenska rokkplata í háa herrans tíð”
4,5/5 Grandmother Records
„Eitt sinn...“ og „ávallt...“ heyrist oft þegar skáta ber í tal. Hvort rokksveitin Skátar hafi unnið slíkan eið er með öllu óvíst en þegar að því kemur að hnýta saman áhugaverða tónlist eru Skátar öllum hnútum kunnugir.
Skátum hefur verið líkt við ýmsar ólíkar sveitir en hér er ekki ætlunin að auka enn við þá flóru. Málið er nefnilega að þó ýmis áhrif megi greina í tónlist Skáta þá er ekki hægt að skilgreina tónlist þeirra svo auðveldlega. Skátar taka brot héðan og þaðan úr rokksögunni, sníða saman og bæta við svo úr verði heild sem er öllu öðru ólík en byggir þó á traustum grunni. Það sem skiptir mestu máli er að þeim tekst, með vel samstilltri spilamennsku að gera þessa heild einstaklega áheyrilega.
Það sem vekur fyrst athygli á Ghost of the Bollocks to Come er hversu margþætt tónlistin er. Lög plötunnar eru öll afar kaflaskipt og renna Skátar sér áreynslulaust milli þeirra með hraða-, takt-, og stílbreytingum sem gerir plötuna enn meira spennandi en ella. Það sem skiptir þó máli að kaflarnir eru allir stórskemmtilegir sem veldur því að þessi stíll Skáta verður hvorki leiðinlegur né þreytandi til lengdar. Ef til vill gætu þó þessar kafla- og stílbreytingar Skáta farið í taugarnar á einhverjum sem eiga erfitt með að höndla annað en einfalda og klisjukennda rokktónlist. Það sem Skátar stunda er nefnilega á öndverðum meiði við slíkt og gerir það tónlist þeirra einmitt svo illskilgreinanlega.
Lögin níu eru í raun hvert öðru skemmtilegra og er afar erfitt að hampa einhverjum þeirra á kostnað hinna (vel hefði hægt að tilgreina öll lög plötunnar í listanum hér til hliðar yfir áhugaverð lög). Að öðrum lögum ólöstuðum stendur „Skálholt“ upp úr en þar smellur allt saman í fullkomna heild. Önnur lög plötunnar luma þó öll á snjöllum og ógleymanlegum andartökum en ógerningur er að telja þau öll upp hér án þess að leggjast í löng ritgerðarskrif.
Þótt tónlistin sé hárnákvæm einkennist hún af skemmtilegu kæruleysi sem leyfir Skátum að flakka áreynslulaust milli ólíkra kafla og stíla. Þetta kæruleysi birtist ekki síst í textagerð Skáta en þar leyfa þeir textanum að fylgja tónlistinni fremur en að gera úr honum samstæða heild. Hver setning virðist sniðin við hvern kafla og er ekki endilega í samhengi við aðrar setningar sem heyrast í laginu. Þannig flakka Skátar t.d. stundum milli ensku og íslensku í sama laginu án þess að það trufli hlustandann en það gerir reyndar tónlistina enn ófyrirsjáanlegri og skemmtilegri en ella.
Sumir dómar skrifa sig næstum sjálfir en örfáir eiga erfiða fæðingu. Þessi dómur er dæmi um slíkan og er ástæðan líklega sú að auðveldara er að gagnrýna það sem miður þyki fara en að hrósa því sem vel er gert. Á Ghost of the Bollocks to Come er lítið sem hægt er að setja út á en fjölmargt er einkar vel gert. Platan er bráðskemmtileg, uppfull af sniðugum hugmyndum sem vel er unnið úr auk þess sem spilamennska, hljómur og frágangur er frábær. Hér blandast tilraunamennska og súrleiki í hæfilegu magni móti grípandi lagstúfum sem gerir plötuna ómótstæðilega. Það skín í gegn hversu gaman hefur verið að gera plötuna og smitar það óhjákvæmilega hlustandann sem fyllist gleði við hverja hlustun.
Hér er loksins komin íslensk plata sem er þess virði að hækka allverulega í botn „þar til mig langar að fara að hoppa“, svo vitnað sé nú aðeins í plötuna sjálfa. Ghost of the Bollocks to Come er ófyrirsjáanleg, ómótstæðileg og án vafa langskemmtilegasta íslenska rokkplata í háa herrans tíð. Það er því óskandi að Skátar strengi heit og verði ávallt viðbúnir að gleðja hlustendur með gripum sem þessum á komandi árum.
Pétur Valsson

Podcast about Airwaves: "Airwaves Eruption"

Podcast (> 9 min) about the coming Iceland Airwaves Festival on YouTube and also the IMX website:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KPXg4Q0YCY

http://www.icelandicmusic.is/resources/Files/imx/Podcast/airwaves_eruption.mov
Featuring a.o. Ghostigital, GusGus, Reykjavik!, Jan Mayen, Mammut, Minus, and Mr Destiny (Airwaves manager) himself.
And also featuring a sunny Reykjavik by the way.
Check iTunes the 17th of September because
ICELAND AIRWAVES RELEASES
iTUNES EXCLUSIVE COMPILATION
Much like the geological and volcanic activity that distinguishes its terrain, Iceland’s music scene has always had a steady reserve of fresh talent simmering just below the surface. And in that vein, Iceland Airwaves, the country’s yearly music festival, could be considered the musical equivalent of the volcanoes that call Iceland home, allowing amazing bands that have been rumbling in the underground to erupt into the bars and premiere music venues within the country’s capital city of Reykjavik.
The five day music festival, known amongst music fans as the place to catch the newest international talent, will return in October 2007 with a new showcase of the freshest faces in music, including not only hometown favorites such as mum, Gus Gus and Mugison, but international artists such as Bloc Party, Of Montreal and Deerhoof.
Now in its ninth year, the festival is commemorating its tradition of championing groundbreaking local talent with a compilation to be released exclusively on iTunes this September, giving the world a taster of the diverse artists Iceland has to offer. This compilation translates the experience of the Airwaves festival through 17 tracks from some of Iceland’s finest artists, whose sounds range from electronic gurgles to head-splitting metal, from hip-hop to folk lullabies.
Each song on the comp stakes its own territory; each artist sets him/herself apart from the rest. From the forlorn hazy melodies of Bang Gang, to the meticulous bleeps, blips and samples of Ghostigital, and the raucous post punk of Mammut, it is clear Iceland’s musical landscape is as lush, diverse, and unexpectedly warm as the terrain itself.
Also featured on the album is the jubilant eclecticism of Benni Hemm Hemm, the techno prowess of Gus Gus and the noisy guitar pop of Jakobinarina. The resulting compilation demonstrates a community sitting comfortably on the cutting edge of the international music scene.
Airwaves began in 1999 with their first show in an airplane hangar, and has since grown into one of the premiere showcases for new music in the world. Some of music’s most exciting artists, including The Flaming Lips, Franz Ferdinand, The Hives, Fatboy Slim and more, have played at the festival, sharing stages with some of Iceland’s finest talents: Sigur Ros, Gus Gus, Leaves, Apparat Organ Quartet and many more.
Photo found @ http://ralleffson.blogspot.com/
See below for track listings and education on the who’s who of this year’s Airwaves Festival.
Track Listings:
1. Mugison Go Blind
2. Lay Low Mojo Love
3. Eberg Sober in June
4. múm Dancing Behind my Eyelids
5. Gus Gus Moss
6. Reykjavík! Flybus
7. Dikta Breaking The Waves
8. Seabear I Sing I Swim
9. Benni Hemm Hemm Snjorljossnjor
10. Jan Mayen We Just Want To Get Everybody High
11. Mammút Ekki sofna núna
12. Ampop Two Directions
13. Bang Gang Find What You Get
14. Sign Dancing In (Airwaves Mix)
15. Mínus Futurist
16. Ghostigital Northen Lights
17. Jakobinarina His Lyrics Are Disastrous
More on Icelandic artists @ IMX website:
http://www.icelandicmusic.is/
More on Festival:
http://www.icelandairwaves.com/

Lada Sport "Last Dance before an Execution"

A brand new Video (posted today on YouTube) of Lada Sport: "Last Dance before an Execution", used in the Icelandic movie Astropia (English title = Dorks & Damsels).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUFpmFLCnNA

www.myspace.com/ladasport
Lada Sport has a new Album "Time and time again".
Trailer of the movie with English subtitles:
http://kisi.is/home/Films/DorksDamsels/Trailer

Sniglabandið

Sniglabandið (Snail Band)
"Selfoss er"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bSEAB_fo_0

A Sigur Ros Parody "Potíbumbu" Live @ Borgarleikhusinu (Reykjavik)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25A9S8C8YVs

Much more to detect: www.sniglabandid.is and www.myspace.com/sniglaband

"Breaks the mould" by Idir @ Kastljós

Idir playd Live "Breaks the mould" @ Kastljós (Icelandic RUV TV Program)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMCTJoqvZQA

www.myspace.com/idirmusic

Bubbi Morthens, Iceland's most popular artist Live

Bubbi Morthens Live Performance of "Fjöllin hafa vakað"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwiJ_Qf6G8E

Even the Icelandic president Olafur R. Grimsson is in the crowd (6-8 sec. after beginning - man with glasses).

Retro Stefson Live @ Kastljós

Retro Stefson Live @ Icelandic Televison Program Kastljós (RUV Sjonvarpid)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeboO-27TsA

More Retro Stefson @ www.myspace.com/retrostefsonmusic

Helgi og Hljóðfæraleikararnir The Videos

Helgi og Hjóðfæraleikararnir
"Halt thu kjafti"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue0WQ8XacbI

"Banana Lagid" (Banana Song)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qby9YzQGUMw

"Biltingin"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K94TWvdpUS0

"Dreymir" (2000)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0dpOLxtAdw

Iceland vs Morr vs Belgium

The Belgian (Flemish) Band "The Go Find" from Antwerp went to Iceland to play @ Akureyri (Graeni Hatturinn) & Reykjavik (Idno).
These 2 Morr Nights (Morr Kvöld) were 1. June Akureyri and 5. June Reykjavik.
Also other artists on the German Morr Label, the Icelandic bands Benni Hemm Hemm (BHH) and Seabear, were on stage in their home country.
It is always nice to see them going to Akureyri, my home town in 1998 until 1999. Hé guys, I was looking @ the longest fjörd of Iceland for a whole year!
The Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQtlIRzmkA0

The Movie Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-RCQL6G2yI

The Movie Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OVmiHQ0O54

And much more can be found audvitad @
Morr Music: www.myspace.com/morrmusic and http://www.morrmusic.com/
The Go Find: www.thegofind.com/blog and www.myspace.com/thegofindmorrmusic
Seabear: www.myspace.com/seabear
Benni Hemm Hemm: www.myspace.com/bennihemmhemm

Ragnheidur Eiriksdottir "Eg og heilinn minn"

"Me and my brain", a song by Heida aka Ragnheidur Eiriksdottir (of Unun fame) and Dr Gunni (of Unun, S.H. Draumur and Bless fame). She tried to get a ticket for Finland to go to the Eurovision Song Contest (Eurovision song contest semi-final). Unfortenately she didn't succeed. Comments on YouTube are not all positive, but Gunni & Heida, I still like this song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7rhfn8_MKY

More about Heida's band Hellvar @ www.myspace.com/hellvarmusic
and http://hellvar.blogspot.com
Or my fanpage/tribute to Hellvar: http://gotohellvar.blogspot.com
More Dr Gunni: Check his very good site with blog: http://this.is/drgunni

Isidor Video for "Scorpions"

"Scorpions" Video for the band Isidor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqlsdBcVcUo

Old Video of their Performance @ Nordurkjallari (2002)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LL_KKspfpt4

FM Belfast

Say hello to Iceland's new electronic sensation, FM Belfast. Imagine what would happen if the members of !!!, Royksopp, The Knife and Justice had a shy lovechild and you're a little closer to FM Belfast's core sound.
Source of this post:
http://musicslut.blogspot.com
More FM Belfast @www.myspace.com/fmbelfast
I found 3 Videos of FM Belfast Live @ Sirkus venue (Reykjavik)
"Killing in the name of " (cover of Rage Against The Machine)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-x7SxVjGzE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1H8EXnsP8k

"Synthia"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9i3vq3xpDQ

Sigur Ros on Planet Earth

Planet Earth (BBC) Video set on "Hoppipolla", a song of Sigur Ros.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmJgZxTMQMM

Singapore Sling "Listen" Live on US Tour

"Listen" by Singapore Sling. Directed by Elias Plagianos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJjiGoXFKVc

Yukatan

In 1993 Yukatan, an amazing new band won the Icelandic "Battle of the Bands". They were kinda innocent looking but the music was heavy, dark and somewhat menacing. What probably secured their victory was the drummer, Ólafur Björn Ólafsson, often nicknamed Obo, who hit the drums like the devil himself. At the time he was one of three young and talented drummers whom I was told had all been tutored by Sigtryggur of The Sugarcubes. The other two would win the competition the next two years.
Yukatan was formed in 1992 and won the competition the following year. As reward they got whopping 25 hours in a studio, which they used to record a whole album which was then released on Bad Taste the same year. It was strangely named "Safnar Guðum (Safnar Frímerkjum)", or "Collects Gods (Collects Stamps)" whatever that means. This album has been a favorite of mine ever since, but the band sadly disbanded in 1994, and so far only regrouped for a single concert in 2001 if I remember correctly. Ólafur Björn has been the most prolific in music since then, playing drums in various bands such as Unun, Stórsveit Nix Noltes and Benni Hemm Hemm to name a few. Guitarist Reynir Baldursson is now in a heavy metal band called Perfect Disorder.
The album contained 8 songs, all of whom were good with the possible exception of the last one, which always sounded like an unecessary fill-up. Of all the songs though, none got more to me than "Tunnels". After 14 years it still gives me goosebumps. I suggest you turn up the volume".
Listen to 2 songs of the Album on the Source of this post:
www.indie-mp3.co.uk

múm Live @ Tokyo @ Liquid Room (2006)

múm Live @ Tokyo @ Shinjyuku Liquid Room
"We have a map of the piano"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nYsBqRjtuw

"I'm 9 again"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evcdEFjO0NY

"Green grass of tunnel"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5Lkc8r8-0Y

"Oh how the boats drifts"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LT5Ni1RXeoI

808 State and Björk in Iceland anno 1991

Björk and 808 State together in Iceland for Rapido
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7F8uK-z9MBo

They worked together and their collaboration ended in 2 songs on the 808 State Album "Ex:el"
Video for the Song "Ooops"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4e7uobNiZA

Other song is "Q mart"
No video available; only Audio >
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZdFifB9gls

Song of the 23. Week Jan Mayen "We just want to get everybody high"

Jan Mayen "We just want to get everybody high" is Song of the Week. This a song of their latest Album "So much better than your normal life".
Review of this Album in online Magazine Grapevine http://www.grapevine.is/
Jan Mayen came out in late 2003 with an outright buoyant and breakable yet catchy and melodic self-titled EP. 2004 brought to light their debut full length, an album that shook many trees and even caught the attention of city counselor Gísli Marteinn Baldursson. "So Much Better than Your Normal Life" displays the quartet's development very gracefully from being mainly a gleeful tour de force to a more grown up entity that contains its youth elegantly, not only as a band but also as individuals. The band's biggest growth might be the voice of singer Valgeir Gestsson. The guitar work brings to mind the dueling chemistry of Sister-era Sonic Youth, Fugazi circa Repeater and even Thin Lizzy's Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson with a murky twist and held together by a greatly advanced rhythm session. The album is also neatly crafted and includes some out of the ordinary, but welcome, synthesized sweetness. This album is so much better than a normal rock album.
More Jan Mayen: www.myspace.com/janmayen

Pétur Ben Live @ BKK Barcelona

Pétur Ben Live @ BKK Barcelona
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2Phl9Lavbc

Elíza Geirsdóttir Newman releases "Empire Falls", her first solo Album

Icelandic singer Elíza M. Geirsdóttir Newman released her first solo album in her home country this week entitled "Empire Fall". The album will be released overseas on October 1 and Elíza will follow it up with a tour, at home and abroad.
Empire Fall contains 11 songs written and arranged by the singer. She is accompanied by Icelandic artists Gudmundur Pétursson, bass and guitar, Helgi Svavar Helgason, drums, and Birgir Baldursson, drums. Apart from providing vocals, Elíza also plays piano and the violin.
Elíza, who has been compared to the singer Nico and is known to be inspired by Kate Bush and the band Blondie, sings about independence, loss, homesickness and a showdown. The album is released by her own label Lavaland Records.
The singer was only 16 when she first entered the Icelandic music scene as the lead singer of the band Kolrassa Krókrídandi which she had founded with her class mates from Keflavík. The girl band won the young talent competition Músíktilraunir in 1992.
In 1998 they re-branded themselves as Bellatrix and move to the UK where they made a contract with the record label Fierce Panda. Bellatrix released two albums and toured the UK, warmed up for Coldplay and performed at the Reading music festival in 2000.
In 2002 Elíza enrolled to a postgraduate course in opera singing in London and founded the rock band Skandinavia under influence from her studies. The band released one album and two singles between 2003 and 2005.
Video for "Never too late" of the band Skandinavia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94AbG5EQsPA

Source: www.icelandreview.com
Elíza Geirsdóttir MySpace: www.myspace.com/elizanewman

Lay Low Live @ Trondheim

Lay Low Live @ Trondheim, Norway (February 2007)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbjszi9zOVE

The Telepathetics "Last Song" Video

"Last Song" Video The Telepathetics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlEPtPbFJ34

Also performing @ Iceland Airwaves 2007!
More The Telepathetics @ www.myspace.com/telepathetics

"Summer Garden" by Singapore Sling

Singapore Sling's "Summer Garden" Live @ Paris (May 2007)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQ4iMTuG_Mg

SS have a Compilation CD out, a compilation of their first 3 Albums.
You can Taste the Blood of Singapore Sling @ www.myspace.com/singaporesling

Thank you Lucie Yeung!

The Icelandic Dr. Spock

Dr. Spock Live @ Gaukurinn, Reykjavik
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whlSu093ZUQ

Go see the doctor @ www.myspace.com/doctorspock !!
Don't mistake him for Dr Gunni (http://this.is/drgunni) or Dr Wim (http://www.myspace.com/wimvanhooste) ;-)

From Keflavík... With Love: the Icelandic Pop Music Museum

Keflavik, the location of the International Airport, about 50 kms away from downtown Reykjavik (45 min drive). Once, for 50 years, the town of the Yankees in Iceland, because about 5.000 soldiers were lodged in the military base @ the airport, which started as a military airport. The American soldiers brought the American culture to the island, especially their music. A lot of people were listening to the American radiostation, and got influenced by the American style.
Keflavik is also called the Icelandic"Beatlestown", 'cause there's a link with the Fab Four from Liverpool. Years ago their was even a band in the footsteps of the Beatles ... Hljomar. www.runarjul.is (Runar Juliusson)


Because of all of this, Keflavik also has the Icelandic Pop Music Museum, Poppminjasafn Islands in Icelandic, to offer.
http://poppminjasafn.is

From Russia With Love

Very nice website about Iceland with a lot of stuff (in Russian) on Icelandic music. Go >> This is > Music.is (left side) and the offer also a lot of links to Icelandic artists if you Go > Music links (left side). Although some of their links to Icelandic bands & artists are "dead" unfortunately.
This side has a lot of information (many pictures) about Theyr, Purrkurr Pillnikk, The Sugarcubes, Björk, Unun, Trabant, GusGus, Hafdis Huld, Dr Gunni, and much more.
Picture of Unun, alive and kicking some years ago (fltr: Thor Eldon, Heida Eiriksdottir and Dr Gunni aka Gunnar Larus Hjalmarsson) that I found @
www.icelandculture.ru

Thanks Russia. Hope to learn Russian very soon ;-).

Stafrænn Hákon "Gummi" Video & performing "Eder" Live @ Birmingham (2004)

Song number 3 of his latest Album "Gummi"
P-rofi

Stafrænn Hákon performing "Eder" Live @ Birmingham (2004)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm1GD1XWwWI

Go to www.shakon.com or www.myspace.com/shakon to find more information on this fantastic artist.

Singer Védís Hervör Árnadóttir - A Beautiful Life - Recovery Project (2007)

Védís Hervör Árnadóttir
She was born the 8th of July 1982. Védís is a happy 25 year old singer/songwriter born in Iceland. Védís has starred in musicals in Iceland from a young age, toured the world with Icelandic band Bang Gang, performed as one of the "Icelandic Divas" in concert for the past 4 years and worked as a songwriter both in Iceland and London. Védís graduated from the Commercial College of Iceland in spring 2002 and then went to pursue a career in London where she studied Music Production at the highly acclaimed Point Blank in London. Her main instrument apart from vocals is piano and the upcoming album will be piano and guitar driven along with her special soulful vocals. Védís's album “A Beautiful Life – Recovery Project” is due in August 2007. Producing the album along with Védís are Michael Fayne and Jamie Maher. More Védis @ www.vedis.com and www.myspace.com/vedis

ICE 07 Festival @ Liverpool 29th of November til 2nd of December 2007

http://www.ice07.org/
Launching in Liverpool on 29th November until 2nd December, ICE 2007 or ICE07 promises four days when all things Icelandic will descend on the city, as part of Liverpool's year-long 800th birthday celebrations. A gift from the people of Iceland to mark the city's birthday, ICE07 is the UK's first multi-disciplinary festival of Icelandic culture, promising lots of fun for everyone.
The four day festival aims to strengthen Liverpool's centuries-old links to all ports north - especially those originally settled by the Vikings.
Icelandic music - Declare independence
Some of Liverpool's top venues, Including Barfly, Magnet are getting involved and staging gigs by fresh new Icelandic talent, and established, big name acts. Details to be announced very soon. Check back here for latest info, gig dates, and ticket information. These unique events promise to be highly charged, must-see events, showcasing some of the most exciting talent emerging on the world stage.
'Bands here are as diverse and unpredictable as the country...Iceland, and Reykjavik, and the people and musicians, are contradictory, wonderful, viciously embracingthe possibilities of the future'
Joe Shooman, Fly Magazine
'Icelandic Music Scene Ready to Erupt', said Music Week, in Jan 2007, 'Iceland's music scene ia as cool as a glacier: despite having a tiny poulation, the country's musicians are punching well above their weight.'
There's more to Icelandic music than Björk - although, as her last outing - Volta - proves, there's plenty of life left in the shape-shifting pixie.
Somehow, this jagged, isolated land is churning out a heck of a lot of great, important, thrilling music. And the rest of the world is listening. What's more astonishing is the breadth of this music. It is, frankly, amongst the most innovative on the planet. Stretching the boundaries of pop, electronica, alt.folk and thrash metal, Icelanders don't rip up the rule book. They simply make a new one.
Caught halfway between the US and Europe, Icelanders seem reluctant to embrace either musical tradition and, instead, re-invent rather than reinterpret.
This is the sound of a young country, locked in its bedroom, happily playing with itself.
There is no unified formula, though - each outburst is as unique and celebratory as the last. From the scratchy glitch-rock of Mugison, through to the cool blues of Lay Low, and deep techno of Gus Gus, Icelandic music is as twisted, raw and - yes - beautiful, as the landscape it came from. And we'll be bringing a selection of exciting new Icelandic favourites to Liverpool. Want to hear more? ICE2007 recommends the following artists.
GUS GUS http://www.gusgus.com/
Gus Gus were never going to be like any other band. A shape-shifting collective of artists, actors, musicians and filmmakers, they were like a mobile media studies course. But with better-looking students.
This year's 'Forever' continues to mine a Detroit techno vein, with DJ's such as Sasha and Digweed regularly playing it out, to ecstatic response, of course. Glorious, innovative, funky and eclectic - GusGus prove that techno doesn't need to be tedious.
TRABANT http://www.trabant.is/
iTunes might be big. It might even be considered clever. But it still can't quite categorize Trabant. Electronica? Rock? Disco? All three? None of the above? Classification issues aside, it's safe to say Trabant are - unlike their East German plastic-car namesake - a freewheeling, shiny and joyous experience, and the most dangerous thing to leave Icelandic shores since Erik the Red. Sexy, dirty, lo-fi and morally unstable - Trabant live is a glimpse into a world where, frankly, none of us could live for too long. But, for an hour or so, we guarantee it's the only place to be.
LAY LOW www.myspace.com/baralovisa
Lay Low's bluesy compositions and ballsy delivery belie the fact that this honest, original 24-year-old Icelandic songsmith is just one album into her hotly tipped career.
Nominated for four awards at the 2006 Iceland Music Awards, and with a gold disc awarded for debut CD 'Please Don't Hate Me' Lay Low's smoky, soulful dramas offer country blues with a dash of pop.
PETUR BEN www.myspace.com/peturben
Guitarist for Icelandic singer Mugison, Petur Ben is poised for greatness. A slight lad with an oversized guitar and similarly large knack with a tune, Ben's time in the sidelines is just about up. Wine for My Weakness is a stunningly mature debut CD, shot through with clever chords and achingly memorable tunes. Only fair, then, that it earned 'Album of the Year' by most of the in-the-know Icelandic publications. Melancholic pop doesn't have to mean James Blunt, you know.
MUGISON http://www.mugison.com/
When Lonely Mountain, Mugison's precociously smart-arsed debut announced its arrival a couple of years back, the music press was in a bit of a quandary. Cinematic, tantalising and fired through with enough ideas to fill a box set, it refused to be explained away in a 75 word review. Live, this ex-sailor presents a storm-lashed set which throws in raging guitars set against a sea of pre-programmed electronic washes. It's a thoroughly spine-tingling affair.
GHOSTIGITAL http://www.ghostigital.com/
When ex-shouty Sugarcuber Einar Örn sets out on a mission to 'top that', you know you're in for something shape-shifting and special. With co-collaborator, Curver (less of a musician, more of a Sonic Screwdriver), the pair cut'n'paste comical raps, breaks and beats and strange, Icelandic tales woven through dreamy soundscapes. Which is why, when Damon's Gorillaz came to town, they hooked up to record a song together, the 'Stop the Damns', featuring the Reykjavik West End Brass Band. If there's a more eclectic musical mash-up in history, we want to hear it.

Source: www.ice07.org/icelandic-music.php

Jako's "His lyrics are disastrous" New & Old Video

Jakobinarina's Video for "His lyrics are disastrous"
Single will be released 24th of September 2007 by EMI.

Old Video (2006) for same song
Jakobinarina - His Lyrics Are Disastrous

Sprengjuhöllin @ Iceland Airwaves 2006

Sprengjuhöllin @ Iceland Airwaves 2006
Podcast
Live @ Grand Rokk venue downtown Reykjavik
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-uC9HS0DGA

This year, they play @ Airwaves Festival again.
www.myspace.com/sprengjuhollin

Vicky Pollard "Alien"

The Band Vicky Pollard plays @ the Iceland Airwaves 2007 Festival
Here's their Video for the song "Alien"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xym_HNSZGrI

www.myspace.com/vickypollardmusic

Poppland - Icelandic Radio Live Performances

You can download and listen to live performances of many different artists @ Poppland Radio Program (period 2002-2007) if you go to: www.ruv.is/heim/vefir/poppland/live:
2007
05.01.2007
Pops: All Or Nothing
2006
22.12.2006
Skakkamanage: Reporter
1.12.2006
Beta: Gestþáttur
24.11.2006
Benni Hemm Hemm: Snjórljóssnjór
15.11.2006
Á móti sól: Flottur
15.8.2006
Baggalútur: Brimbretta-Baldur
18.8.2006
Æla: Óður til hinna guðdómlegu neanderdalsmanna
28.7.2006
Bogomil Font og Flís: Þvo á sér hendur
7.7.2006
Ragnheiður Gröndal: Gef að stjörnurnar skíni
10.2.2006
Dikta: WM3
2005
26.8.2005
Baggalútur: Settu brennivín í mjólkurglasið vina
19.8.2005
Flís: Viltu með mér vaka
8.4.2005
Valgeir Guðjónsson: Naesti
4.3.2005
AMPOP: Veðurspá
11.2.2005
Megasukk: Vindlingar, viský og villtar meyjar
28.1.2005
Jan Mayen: Garún
2004
12.11.2004
Quarashi: Payback
5.11.2004
Maus: Inn í kristalnótt
5.11.2004
Brain Police: Coed Fever
29.10.2004
Stoneslinger: Victorywalker
27.8.2004
Hjálmar: Hljóðlega af stað
24.9.2004
Death/Helgi Valur Ásgeirsson
17.9.2004
Frogsplanet: Illusion
27.8.2004
Hjálmar: Borgin
13.8.2004
Milljónamæringarnir: Speak up mambo
11.6.2004
Ríó og KK: Vegbúinn
30.5.2004
Jón Ólafsson: Sunnudagsmorgunn
21.5.2004
5ta herdeildin: Hjördísarvísur
14.5.2004
Mínus: Jumping Jack Flash (Jagger & Richards)
23.4.2004
Gummi Jóns: Ég skal vaka
16.4.2004
Rúnar Júlíusson: Að eilífu
19.3.2004
Moody Company: Human Callander
12.3.2004
Á móti sól: In a little while (U2)
13.2.2004
Brúðarbandið: Sid
6.2.2004
Kalli Bjarni of félagar: Keikó er kominn heim
30.1.2004
VAX: Don't want much
30.1.2004
Tristian: Morning Light
16.1.2004
Hvanndalsbræður: Svarfdælskir bændur
9.1.2004
Kung Fú: Sólstafir
2003
5.12.2003
Hörður Torfa: Langt í burtistan
28.11.2003
Mike Pollock: No Expectation (Jagger & Richards)
21.11.2003
Dr. Gunni: Á eyðieyju
14.11.2003
Bubbi Morthens: Svartur Afgan
24.10.2003
Lokbrá: Nosirah Egroeg
17.10.2003
Guðjón Rúdólf: Húfan
10.10.2003
Dys: Óvænt (Purrkur Pillnikk)
10.10.2003
Nilfisk: As We Speak
3.10.2003
Hljómar: Bláu augun þín
3.10.2003
Randver: Til helvítis
19.9.2003
Worm is Green: This time (Joy Division)
22.8.2003
Tenderfoot: Tenderfoot
1.8.2003
Buff: Angel
18.7.2003
Ég: Geitungarnir mínir
11.7.2003
KK & Maggi Eiríks: Síldarvalsinn
23.5.2003
Hörður Torfa: Sumarsól
23.5.2003
Kimono: Japanese Policemen
16.5.2003.
Tvö dónaleg haust: Villiblóm
11.4.2003
Spaðar: Obb Bobbbobb
21.3.2003
Cadillac: Lalli Johns
7.3.2003
Dúkkulísur: Pamela í Dallas
4.3.2003
Helgi og hljóðfæraleikararnir: Lóan
14.2.2003
Eivör Pálsdóttir: He'll have to go (Færeyskt þjóðlag)
2002
4.10.2002
SSSÓL: Síðan hittumst við aftur á ný
27.9.2002
Vítamín: Snjókorn
20.9.2002
Sniglabandið: Í góðu skapi
13.9.2002
SMACK: Emotion
2002
Í svörtum fötum: Dag sem dimma nátt