ICELAND: musings on recent music purchases made there

So, during the visit there, as a 12-step music geek, I had to see what kind of record action there was in town, in this case, Reykjavik. There's not much, but the one store that's worth visiting is certainly a gold mine, as far as finding interesting Icelandic musical artifacts you rarely found outside the country, and that is 12 Tónar. Besides finding, oddly enough, used copies of the Harry Crews album and the Public Service punk compilation on Smoke 7 (feat. Red Cross -- before the name change, Bad Religion, RF7, Disability, and Circle One) for 400 kronur each (around $5.50US), I purchased the following releases that have, at most, just scraped the service of stores outside the country. None of these releases are hot off the presses by any means; in fact, I may have missed previous praise of these records in this forum a while ago, but here goes anyway:

Graveslime Roughness And Toughness (2003): Their bio can be found here. They were a three piece that formed out of various previous bands like black-metal band Svört Verða Sólskin, She-Male, Skorpin Tunga, Þrír Hressir, and Thundergun (none of which I've heard, unfortunately.) When The Fucking Champs and Trans Am played in Iceland, these guys opened for them, and later on, invited Tim Green to fly over and record what turned out to be their one and only record. And here it is -- a semi-serious great dark stoner rock record with frequent departures. In any case, the band sound pretty much like the sum parts of Melvins, Kyuss, early Superconductor -- all with an occasional poorly disguised Gong influence. There are a few songs that are nods to more "grungey" pop a la Nirvana. And the "Chariots Of Fire" cover is pretty damn stellar and heavy. There's nothing on this record that is outstandingly original or unique, but Roughness And Toughness is a fun, if not sometimes obtuse, listen, especially if you like any of the bands mentioned above. It's too bad the album came out well after they broke up, so that nobody could have seen them play any place outside Iceland. Surely, these guys are already well into their follow-up bands right now. Song highlights: "The Punch Fucking Drunk Fuck And The Fucking Goat", "I Love You, Really I Do", "Yo 'My Lord What's Kicking In San Francisco?", "Chariots Of Fire", and "Awesome Nights In Reykjavik." (Mp3 samples can be found on Graveslime's page)

Mugison Lonely Mountain (2003): Mugison's site is here. Without trying to pace aimlessly into the eventual cul-de-sac of comparing this record to anyone or anything that is "modern digital indie pop" or "folkadelia", I'll just state that this record does a really good job of creating a slower-tempo subtle mood writing songs that are very "noir" yet use instruments that complement the writing style with light, airy sounding instruments, whether real or computer based. (Mugison performs 99.9% of the album himself: guitar, drums, laptop, etc.) This is great sailing-at-night music. The more I listen to this record, the weirder it sounds. Except for "I'm on fire", where he tries to do his best strained Tom Waits impression, Mugison's singing style sounds really tired (and I mean that definitely, not critically), weary, and slightly scared -- behind all of the effects. While I admit that my favorite songs on this record are the last two, where there's the least amount of effects and variety in instrumentation, but just Mugison and his guitar, this album is very, VERY slowly growing on me. The genius of this record probably won't hit me until next year sometime in the spring. But for fans of slow growers, it doesn't get any more slower and, potentially, as deep and rewarding as this. (Mp3 samples can be found on Mugison's site) (Side note: I sat next to Mugison at Heathrow airport at the gate, on my soon-to-be way to Iceland, as he was coming back from Sonar.. I didn't know who he was at the time. He introduced himself to me and said he was just this musician guy who just played somewhere in Spain and told me things to check out in Reykjavik while I was about to board the plane. Nice guy. Little did I know it was this guy, and that he had played Sonar, until I was informed by the folks at the 12 Tónar record store, and later checked his website after picking this CD up.)

Dr. Gunni Stóri Hvellur (2003): Gunnar Hjálmarsson a.k.a. Dr. Gunni is an Icelandic rock luminary. Without him, a lot of developments in rock bands in Reykjavik and outside, since the 80s, would have been very different. Gunni has his own site here. You get to find out that not only has he fronted several bands (several albums of which you can download for free off Gunni's site!), has hosted not only a radio show but a TV show, but also has written the only book documenting the history of Icelandic rock music, Eru Ekki Allir Í Stuði? (which, for now, is only available in Icelandic.. I can't wait for an English translation, if one is even in the works. Anyway, Hljomar was apparently the first Icelandic rock band that did originals, though they sounded like a very Bacharach-y Beatles. Junkmedia Magazine did a good piece on Gunni's book here). However, if any of you remember Gunni for anything, it was for the long out-of-print U.S. release of his second band, Bless, and their one and only album Gums, which thanks to the sudden rise in popularity of the Sugarcubes, helped get Bad Taste, the label/staple of late 80s/early 90s of Icelandic rock, a deal with Rough Trade and a subsequent distribution office in San Francisco and hence a printing of "Gums" thereof. Anyone remember the album by Reptile called Fame And Fossils? The World Domination Or Death: Vol 1. Assorted Artists compilation? That was part of the same deal. Of course, Rough Trade U.S. would collapse months later, and the SF office for Bad Taste too, I imagine. (Putting "Vol 1." in the title of any compilation is always the kiss of death, ain't it?) Today, while you can still possibly find Gums for no more than $3, you have to be quite lucky to find it in that used bin somewhere these days. Anyway, the album was a great slice of early Pixies/Thinking Fellers rock with great hooks and Gunni's voice sounding like Frank Black vs. Einar Örn possessed by either Sam Kinison or Bobcat Goldwaithe.. choose your favorite. (According to Gunni's Bless tour diary, they in fact played with the Thinking Fellas [sic] Union Local 242 [sic] at the I-Beam in San Francisco... SOMEONE HERE PLEASE HAVE A SHOW TAPE COPY. YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW HOW MUCH I'D WANT FOR IT!) Gums also featured guest vocals by Bjork Guðmundsdóttir herself, and a trumpet cameo by Einar Örn.

So where does that leave us with the Dr. Gunni album Stóri Hvellur? Well, I can say that while some things have changed, some things have thankfully not changed. Stóri Hvellur is a very solid Pixies/Weezer/Rocket From The Crypt sounding chunk of rock sugar, though weirder and noisier in moments. Whereas, IMHO, i can count the number of Weezer hooks I've heard over the span of their four albums on two hands, Dr. Gunni nails 15 hooks on this 15 song album, one after the other. The songs sound heavier and fuzzier than they did with Bless, and, at times, more poppy than anything Gunni has written before.. but Gunni still very much sounds like Gunni, and he's more upfront in the mix than ever before, which is what makes this record stand out amongst all the other Pixies or Weezer or Rocket influenced bands. His voice is easily the strangest thing about the music, but if the man doesn't already have the greatest personality himself, his voice alone does -- no matter if you can make out what he's saying. (As opposed to the Bless record, this one is entirely in Icelandic.) No one can belt out a yell or yodel quite like Gunni can.. and this can either be an acquired taste, or a permanent bad taste. If you have any hint of a sense of humor, you'll appreciate the voice, and the tight, sonic production on this record, and how amazingly fun every song on the record sounds. I can't list song highlights, because every song is a winner. Even though it was released last year, I'm going to cheat and adopt this as a 2004 release and claim this is my favorite record of the year so far. (Mp3 samples can be found on Dr. Gunni's site.. as well as a very Terry Gilliam-esque video for "Homo Sapiens")

V/A Rokk Í Reykjavik -- Upprunaleg Tónlist Úr Kvikmyndinni: This is a two-CD compilation of rock music from various bands from Reykjavik circa 1981 to 1982, most of which is some version of punk rock. This compilation is over a decade old (it was originally released in 1993) and is devoid and any real liner notes that describe the bands within -- which is too bad because the majority of the bands on this release are quite warped and interesting and warrant further investigation. A lot of people talk about how The Fall's legendary visit to Iceland in 1981 to play live was seen as the springboard for creativity in Icelandic rock. That's not strictly true. Sure, The Fall's arrival certainly created a rapid creative fallout within the country's rock musicians which would surface in the bands that would form in the mid to late 80s, but there was certainly evidence of interesting rock and punk before they visited, although you can make educated guesses regarding which of the bands on the comp seemed influenced by that visit, and which ones didn't. Fræbbblarnir, for instance, were around since the late 70s (I believe) and sound influenced by Devo or PiL. (Hell, two of the bands on this comp are called Mogo Homo and Jonee Jonee.. if you squint for a second, your brain thinks it's looking at the tracklisting for Q: Are We Not Men...) Q4U formed around the same time, and seem to carry other influences. "Creeps" sounds pretty much like a semi-cover of Kraftwerk's "The Model" but with the lyrics changed. As for the other bands, Þeyr features who would later become the Sugarcubes' drummer. Tappi Tíkarrass (which means "Cork the bitch's ass" in English) is Bjork's first outlet as a vocalist, who all sound a bit like a lower key, more serious and bent B-52s. (Frankly, Bjork's next band, K.U.K.L. were far more outstanding and interesting.) The bands that truly stand out here are the furious Vonbrigði, Purkur Pillnikk, and the insanely amateur Sjálfsfróun. Even if every song isn't a winner, it's an amazing document, and surely there is no other group of punk rokk bands that sound quite the same.

..and on that note:
http://www.kuci.org/~brianm/ile/summertrip2004/iceland/aroundtown/28_punkflyer.jpg

Punk lives on in Reykjavik.

(apologies in advance for the rather gossip-column style highlighting of notable artists in the preceding reviews)