Article in Dutch Music Magazine Vinyl about the Icelandic music scene (January 1986)

Yesterday I went downtown Gent (aka Ghent in English) with my friends M&M.
In a 2nd hand shop I found an issue of the Dutch Music Magazine Vinyl Year 6, # 1, published January 1986 (ISSN 0169 – 6130). This issue contains an article by Stan Rijven.
The title of the article is Stadsgezichten (translation: Town Views)
It covers the music scene of the following towns: Leningrad, Johannesburg, Warschau, Reykjavik, Shanghai, Toronto & Winschoten (Oost-Groningen) in the year 1985.
The publication about Reykjavik contains interviews with Einar Örn Benediktsson (aka EÖB), Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson (aka HÖH), Ásmundur Jónsson & Friðrik Þór Friðriksson (aka FTF).
Here is the translation I made today for all of you who don't understand Dutch (I've corrected the obvious/expected mistakes in Icelandic names):
Who’s expecting life in a climatological and geographical isolated place as Iceland?
Popjournalist Stan Rijven found a heavy punkscene in this awfully cold, sparsely populated pole area, between America and Europe.
The opening scene of the latest James Bond movie “A view to a kill”, shows us a scene with 007 running for his life in a glacial landscape ... in Iceland. Once again it suggests that the island is build up of ice. That’s only the truth for 10%, but yes, what do you expect by its name? Better to describe it as a desolate moon landscape, interrupted by mountains and geysers.
On an area three times as big as The Netherlands, 225,000 people, with among them Miss World ’85, and half of them live in Reykjavik. The beating heart of the polar area, because the music scene, fashion and nightlife are more lifely than many a man would expect.
The hottest disco is Hotel Borg, populated with a fauna putting Mazzo and Fizz far behind. Also here the punk wave brought redemption. Next to other drugs as alcohol and sniff to survive the long, dark winter nights, the punk music made things hum. On a place where beer consumption is forbidden by law, with only one television channel, with even a Thursday evening without TV broadcasting, and two radio stations, a punk movement leaves traces.
Three years ago,the Icelandic society came brutaly out of hibernation. The movie "Rock in Reykjavik" was broadcasted, a moment that loosed the tongues for a long time.
The same things happened in Iceland as in England, with the introduction of punk movement. Director Friðrik Þór Friðriksson opened the situation under the Icelandic youth as with a tin-opener. Punks with mohawks, a lot of black leather, but above all agressive music played by 19 bands, with names as The Masturbators, Egó, Purrkur Pillnikk and Þeyr. Teenagers as young as 14 were talking about how sniffing glue, a girls band about sexual pleasure of making music. Another band mixed protest against the American military base with Nazi Germany symbols (note by WVH: Þeyr). Even after removing some scènes before the screening, censorship by the government to prevent worse.
Friðriksson can laugh about it now.
FTF: “The first reaction is always: punk in Iceland!? Do they make music in Iceland at all? Of course, just like all other West-European countries. In the sixties the bands copied their American idols. In 1974 there was a ban on life concerts, at that time mostly organised in schools, because there were no specials clubs. Discotheques were allowed. In 1979 everything changed with the arrival of punk. Bands ignored the ban on concerts, and after a while the situation normalised. We are lying inbetween America and Europe, so many groups travelling around can perform here . Records were terribly expensive, but many Icelandic monsters travelled to England and brought music with them. Just like a lot of artists went to school in The Netherlands."
Six years later, you can see how the law of the retarding lead (note by WVH: theory of the Dutchman Romein) leaves its marks. Gramm, thé record store of Reykjavik, has everything in stock what you can call independent. The shop is also the headquarter of Gramm Records, the national independent music label with a growing catalogue. Most of them local talent, but also Psychic TV are on this label.
Ásmundur Jónsson, doing a weekly 2 hours radioshow, started the label.
Asmundur: “First I worked at the Icelandic representation of the EMI label, and I noticed they were not in touch with the music scene of 1979. We didn’t got the imported records of the English indie labels, that friends brought for me. In 1981 I started with a couple of friends Gramm. The first record was made by Purrkur Pillnikk. Now Gramm is an important katalysator in the creation of an Icelandic music scene. We sell a couple of thousand LPs of one band. And the album “Those who do not” by Psychic TV was our biggest succes, more than 20,000 albums were sold. Our bands all had the same energy and power, but 2 years ago a lot of bands split up, etc."
KUKL, who played at Pandora ’84 (note by WVH: music festival in The Netherlands), and did a tour in The Netherlands in december 1985, can be called the completion of the Icelandic musical revolution. The members came from Þeyr, Purrkur Pillnikk, Tappi Tíkarass and Medusa. Some of these bands supported bands like The Fall, Psychic TV and Killing Joke when these groups played in Iceland. Þeyr had a No. 1 hit in the Japanese independent charts.
EÖB: “In our music you can hear Iceland, this is the sound of mountains, combinated with all waterfalls, geisers and volcanoes. You get a wonderfull symfonie, a kakophony of all these elements. That is our inspiration. When we travel across Europe, people always expect a bunch of eskimos in disguise, but when we sart playing they get thunder and storm."
In contrast with the local situation, KUKL has a cult status in Western Europe. The Icelandic music scene collapsed 2 years ago.
EÖB: “I have the idea that a lot of things are happening now, it’s like a sort of natural circle. After a raw and heavy period in the beginning of the eighties, the things stopped and bands split up.”
A final word about the Icelandic connection of Psychic TV. Hilmar Örn is now a fixed member of the band and lives both in London as in Reykjavik. The new 12” is called “Heartbrak Hotel” ....
HÖH: "Einar, the singer of KUKL, joined us in London. We get drunk with David Ball, once a member of Soft Cell. We booked a studio and recorded 2 songs: "God Star", dedicated to Brian Jones and The Rolling Stones; and "Heartbreak Hotel". All disco clichés are in the lyrics, but are extremely sharp. Einar sings in Icelandic about Hotel Borg, the Heartbreak Hotel of Reykjavik. The meeting point of all Icelandic teenagers, spending a dark winter night in this asylum of dispair and misery. Youngsters come, get drunk and wait til something happens. Now they can dance in misery on music about their misery.”

Translated by Wim Van Hooste.

Mosi frændi's "Katla Kalda" on Icelandic Television in 1988 - Comeback Concert @ Grand Rokk 13. August 2009

Mosi frændi
"Katla Kalda", followed by "Deus" The Sugarcubes on Icelandic TV Channel Stöd 2 back in 1988
The band "Mosi Frændi" was formed by 6 students @ M.H. School in October 1985. Played @ Norðurkjallara in April 1986. Cassette in 1987 "Suzy Creamcheese for President" ("Sandý Saurhól").
Two songs, "Geirþrúður" (1'53") & "Poppstjarnan" (3'00"), were featured on the cassette "Snarl 2" released by Erðanúmúsík Label. Band split up in 1988.
But they are doing a Comeback Concert @ Grand Rokk venue 13. August 2009 @ 21:00.
Admission: 1000 IKR
Tickets for sale @ MIDI
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKuMIH3g0tI&fmt=18

Mosi frændi's Website
Mosi frændi @ MySpace

Interview with Amiina in Irish Times

Ice queens play nice
Kilkenny-bound Amiina share a homeland with Björk and Sigur Rós, and while showing Tony Clayton-Lea around Reykjavik’s highlights, they explain what makes Iceland so special

IT IS THE morning after the night before, and after traipsing around the centre of Reykjavik at 3am – with the sky still as bright as a silver button – your disconcerted correspondent is talking to three demure, quite studious members of Amiina at a small table in a cafe on Laugavegur, the city’s main street. Sólrún Sumarliðadóttir, Hildur Ársælsdóttir and Edda Rún Ólafsdóttir (the other member, Maria Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir, is away for the weekend) are, of course, used to the 20-hour brightness during the summer months (and the 20-hour darkness during the winter period), but for someone who is used to sleeping in the dark, this midnight sun lark is totally messing with my innate, perfectly poised karma. The previous night, the three Amiina women brought me on a brief tour of the city’s hotspots – a cool and buzzy bar, a quiet gay bar and a stuffed rock venue where one of Amiina’s roadies was indulging his inner Hard Rock God proclivities. It all amounted to a whistle-stop guide to a city that has produced two of the most innovative acts of the past 20 years – Björk and Sigur Rós.

In truth, you can add Amiina to that short list. The most important thing to know about the band – who are coming to Ireland next week as part of the 2009 Kilkenny Arts Festival – is that their music is beautiful, and is very much a constituent product of their upbringing and their unique island life. It is common in Iceland, they say, for children to study a musical instrument, including recorder, violin, flute and piano; indeed, the study of music is subsidised by the state, which makes it even easier for parents to get it to happen. “During the second World War,” says Sólrún, who does most of the talking, “a lot of refugees came to Iceland from Europe – lots of musicians – and something started happening, musically. The national symphony orchestra started around that time, too. Before that, there wasn’t much emphasis on music, although many people sang in choirs, and people always sung together, but studying an instrument wasn’t common. We were also lucky enough to get a couple of politicians in the government, and they pushed forward their interest in music to the extent that they promoted the music education system. There are music schools all over the island now. Music is the main arts activity in Iceland, more so than dance and visual arts.” The members of Amiina have known each other for years – Hildur and Maria from childhood (“We had the same violin teacher,” says Hildur), and all four from the Reykjavik School of Music in the mid-1990s. In 1998, during a government-assisted summer programme for teenagers and young people, the women formalised their ideas for a group. Their output at that point was chamber music from the classical repertoire.
“We didn’t really start to write our own music until 1999,” says Hildur, “which is when we began to play with Sigur Rós for a while. At that point, Sigur Rós would not have been known outside Iceland.”
“The first time we worked with them,” recalls Sólrún, “was the launch concert of Ágaetis Byrjun. At that time, we hadn’t been doing anything other than reading sheet music and performing music by others. But when we started with Sigur Rós, they really do creatively, because that’s how they work.” “They also made us realise how much fun it would be,” adds Hildur. “And how different. When we start to create a piece of music, it changes each time. Sometimes it’s a chord structure; sometimes it’s a melody or a soundscape.”Amiina’s music is best experienced live, but listening to albums such as Kurr (and other rare EPs such as the recently released "Re Minore") will give you a sense of how their island environment, if not the actual topography, has influenced them. Nowhere near as climactic or dramatic as Sigur Rós or as skittish as Björk, Amiina play gentle yet tensile music as if their collective life depended on it. They use an array of instrumentation, including zither, Irish harp, musical saws, music boxes, drinking glasses, metallophone, guitars and harmonium – “We have a theremin but we haven’t learned how to play it yet,” says Hildur. Despite their environment, they claim that their music hasn’t been directly influenced by Icelandic folk music, which is largely song-based. Subtle changes are afoot, however, as the women are presently working with some male musicians, but don’t expect any heavy injection of testosterone anytime soon.
Yet whatever we’ll hear at Kilkenny or on forthcoming releases is bound to be intrinsically connected to their homeland – intricately romantic, rapturous, dreamy, dramatic and not a little bit unusual.
“One thing that is special about Iceland,” explains Sólrún, “is that we are a small community, and as we live on an island we have to work with each other to get along. There is a lot of co-working with bands going on, so there is this good community – not really a sense of competition but more of assistance. Also, the popular music scene has bonds with the island’s classical musicians, because we all grew up together, went to the same music schools. Sometimes we might work with people from the symphony orchestra or with a heavy metal band. So there are a lot of cross-connections.”
“Also, the musicians here,” comments Hildur, “generally don’t depend on making lots of money by having to sell many records, so the feeling is just to enjoy what you’re doing. They have – like some of us, maybe – another job, and they’re doing it just for fun.”
The primary aim for Amiina, imply the women, is to make a living from making and playing music, but that, remarks Sólrún, is the main ambition for a lot of bands.
“It’s a delicate balance, because when you get to a certain level of success, there is a danger that what you then do is directed by money.” It depends on who you work with, she says, and whether there are pressures from managers or record companies.“We’re still just trying to figure out how the music business works. It’s such a jungle, it’s hard to figure out where you stand. We’re just taking a few months at a time, and that’s all we can do. We all have our separate lives – Maria has a baby, Hildur is expecting in October – so there are no long-term plans. It’s all so hard to predict.”
"Rugla" Live @ Bæjarbíó @ Hafnarfjörður, together with Kippi Kaninus & drummer Maggi on 29. July 2009
www.youtube.com/v/vXFVKmJCyZo&hl&fmt=18

Amiina's Website
Source: Irish Times - 31. July 2009

New Kippi Kaninus Album "Happens Secretly" out on Brainlove Records 8. October 2009

The new album by Kippi Kaninus "Happens Secretly" will be released on Brainlove Records on 8. October 2009.
Kippi Kaninus is the alter ego of Gudmundur Vignir Karlsson. Kippi started small, with a self-released album in the year 2000. He made only fifty copies, and sold them at his local record shop in Reykjavik. But as is often the way, from humble beginnings came great things...
The record attracted the attention of experimental label Kitchen Motors, who released the follow-up, "Huggin", across Europe and America. A tour of the US followed with fellow Icelanders múm, and Kippi never looked back.
He has since worked on a variety of projects with many of Iceland's most well-known musicians - be it providing electronic textures for all-girl string quartet Amiina, creating percussive experimental music with former Sugarcubes drummer Sigtryggur Baldursson, or singing in a choir and touring with Sigur Rós and Björk.
"Happens Secretly" is Kippi's first release with Brainlove Records, and is released 8. October as a ltd edition CD digipack (distributed by Cargo) and at all good mp3 stores (distributed digitally by State 51).
Kippi's Page
Kippi Kaninus @ MySpace

New Video of Berndsen: "Supertime"

Berndsen presents a new Video for a song titled "Supertime"
Director: Helgi Jóhannsson
DP: Hrafn Garðarsson
Producer: Atli Viðar Þorsteinsson
Co-Prod: Helgi og Krummi
www.youtube.com/v/ysPcyOvNJew&hl&fmt=18

Berndsen @ MySpace

HAM "Living Dead" Documentary

HAM Documentary "Living Dead" was put on YouTube tonight, featuring The Sugarcubes (Björk, Einar Örn Benediktsson), Jóhann Jóhannsson, Ottarr Proppé, Sigurjón Kjartansson, Dr. Gunni, Magga Stina and many more big names in the Icelandic music scene
Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Part 9

Worm is Green "Army of them" Video

Worm is Green is working on new material. Here's an old one:
"Army of them", directed by Guðmundur Ásgeirsson

Worm is Green Website
Worm is Green @ MySpace