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ICELAND
AIRWAVES
SPECIAL
INSIDE
Issue 16 × 2015
October 9 – November 12
THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO LIFE, TRAVEL & ENTERTAINMENT IN ICELAND
SCIENCE
That time Kári Stefánsson
tried to bully Dave Eggers
into giving him a DNA sample.
FILM
The horror! The horror!
FOOD
Prepare to feast
on yummy insect flesh!
FILM
There is no art!
All the galleries left!
2
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 1 — 2011 2
Hafnarstræti 15, 101 Reykjavík
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grapevine@grapevine.is
Published by Fröken ehf.
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Member of the Icelandic Travel Industry Association
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Printed by Landsprent ehf. in 25,000 copies.
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 16 — 2015
The Most Beautiful Thing In The World
Editorial: Haukur S. Magnússon
Editor In Chief:
Haukur S Magnússon / haukur@grapevine.is
Journalist & Travel editor:
John Rogers / john@grapevine.is
Journalist & Listings editor
Gabríel Benjamin / gabriel@grapevine.is
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Ragnar Egilsson / ragnar@grapevine.is
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Hilmar Steinn Grétarsson / hilmar@grapevine.is
+354 540 3601 / publisher@grapevine.is
Contributing Writers:
RX Beckett
Davíð Roach
Nathan Hall
Barry Shaw
Óli Dóri
Bob Cluness
Ásgeir Ingólfsson
Samuel Wright Fairbanks
Ciarán Daly
York Underwood
Kári Tulinius
Regina Falange
Björn Teitsson
Bjarni Bernharður
Paul Fontaine
Axel Björnsson
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Rebecca Conway / rebecca@grapevine.is
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Anton Kaldal Ágústsson / antonkaldal.com
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Art Bicnick
Anna Domnick
Hörður Sveinsson
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Hilmar Steinn Grétarsson,
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Jón Trausti Sigurðarson,
Oddur Óskar Kjartansson,
Valur Gunnarsson
This issue’s cover is beautiful. I hope you like it, I’m
sure you do, but your opinion doesn’t really concern
me, because I think that it is absolutely beautiful.
Intrinsically beautiful. Unconditionally beautiful.
Beautiful. Just beautiful. Heart-warming. Radiant.
Touching. Its beauty reaches deep inside of my very
being, if such a thing exists, touching upon my innermost
core, if such a thing exists. Every time I glance
its way, I am filled with the warm energy it exudes,
a pure joy that trickles down my spine and out my
nerves and through my veins and pores, connecting
me with everything there is.
The image is wonderful, sure. It’s no wonder,
either: some of the most talented people you’ll find
came together, pitched in and contributed to the creation
of the image that’s on our cover.
We do that kinda thing all the time though, and
the resulting images rarely turn me into a gushing,
pulsating pile of jelly.
This one is different. It’s special. Here’s why.
This is a picture of seven musical acts in a classroom
in downtown Reykjavík. The man pretending
to be a teacher is composer Úlfur Eldjárn, who has
constantly supplied me with moments of joy and
beauty since the 1990s, first as member of a novelty
act called Kósý, later as a member of bands like Apparat
Organ Quartet, and now as an adventurous
composer.
The guy throwing the paper plane is called
Auðunn, and he creates music as Auður. I had never
heard of him before encountering him in that classroom.
He is a happy, polite young guy, and he shared
his music with me when I asked him to. I have not
stopped listening to it since. It is great. He also has an
infectious laugh.
The blonde kid next to him is called Gaukur, but
his rapper name is GKR. I saw him rap at some house
party at five in the morning this summer, and his
exuberance and cheer invigorated and endeared me.
At the shoot, I learned that he possesses a disarming
sincerity, that can warm any room.
Those guys that are all covered in blood and shit,
they’re a band called Misþyrming. They play good,
honest black metal, and they are very sincere in their
efforts and endeavours, going to great lengths and
working very hard to realize their artistic vision,
which they are happy to share.
The two punker girls, they’re called Alexandra
and Júlíana. They are fun, fierce and they don’t take
any shit from anyone. Having watching them play
several shows with the band they created, Börn, I
can also tell you that they have a clear, brilliant vision
of the art they want to engage in, and they work
harder than anyone to realize it. What’s best is that
they reach more people every time they play, which
means more people will enjoy the chance to consider
the philosophy they espouse (it is an important philosophy).
The two guys in masks, they are from a mysterious
secret band called Vaginaboys. I was abroad
when they became the most popular and exciting
band in Iceland, and I really just kind of missed it.
When I wandered into that schoolroom, I thought:
who are these guys in white masks? It’s weird to
wear white masks at a photoshoot. They should
probably remove them.
I then learned that they are a secret band, and
then I heard their secret music and got an insight
into their secret plan to spread their thoughts and
love to more and more people every day. After talking
to them, I am certain they will succeed in their
goal, but I am equally certain that it doesn’t matter
if they don’t, because what they’ve made is already
heart-breakingly beautiful.
And then there are the sort of plain guys sitting
by the window. They are me. But not really. They
come from a tiny town that’s next to the slightly less
tiny town I came up in, and they were isolated from
the rest of the world like I was, and music provided
an important and expansive window to all the colours
of the world for them, as it did for me. I might
be projecting but I’m pretty sure that happened for
them as it did for me, because in tiny towns like ours
nothing really changes.
They are called Rythmatik, and when they are on
stage they glow like a thousand suns, exuding rays of
light and happiness, because they love it and because
of that moment when you lose your grip and all of the
sudden you’re hanging in the air, weightless.
These are the seven musical acts featured on
our beautiful cover: Rythmatik, Vaginaboys, Auður,
Börn, Úlfur Eldjárn, GKR and Misþyrming,
These are the seven artists we asked to be on our
cover to celebrate this year’s Iceland Airwaves festival,
and we chose them because we like them and
believe in what they do—but there are five hundred
other musical acts appearing at the festival and in
the city that week, and most of them are just as beautiful
and their stories are just as interesting and the
worlds they create are just as fascinating.
Music, it’s fucking great. Go hug a musician today.
---
PS – be sure to download the monster Airwaves compilation
from our website next week. All the musicians
donated their work for your enjoyment.
Featuring: Skelkur í bringu, My Bubba, Mafama,
Markús And The Diversion Sessions, dj. flugvél og
geimskip, Kriki, Gusgus, Kött Grá Pjé, Herra Hnetusmjör
& Joe Frazier, Ghostigital, Hide Your Kids,
Rúnar Þórisson, Severed, HAM, Vio, Mr. Signout, In
The Company Of Men, Mosi Musik, Teitur Magnússon,
Trúboðarnir, Borko, Serengeti, Oyama, Futuregrapher,
Jón Ólafsson, Sykur, FURA, Axel Flóvent,
Good Moon Deer, Himbrimi, Magnús Leifur, Asonat,
Ruxpin, Kippi Kaninus, WESEN, Munstur, Gunnar
Jónsson Collider, Cell7, Bistro Boy, Æla, HIMBRIM,
Vaginaboys, TRPTYCH, Mógil, Red Barnett, Úlfur Eldjárn,
Lára, Elín Helena, Var, Grúska Babúska, Rythmatik,
Ylja, Epic Rain, Hekla, Brilliantínus, H.dór, Mikael
Lind, DÖPUR, Helgi Valur, Nordic Affect, DALÍ,
Börn, Tonik Ensemble, DAVEETH, & more!
The Reykjavík Grapevine is published 18 times a year by Fröken
ltd. Monthly from November through April, and fortnightly
from May til October. Nothing in this magazine may be reproduced
in whole or in part without the written permission of
the publishers. The Reykjavík Grapevine is distributed around
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country.
Comic | Lóa Hjálmtýsdóttir
You may not like it, but at least it's not sponsored (no articles
in the Reykjavík Grapevine are pay-for articles. The opinions
expressed are the writers’ own, not the advertisers’).
MASTER
CLASS
Iceland Airwaves
admits the class of ‘15
Complete
+
SPECIAL
AIRWAVES ISSUE
On the cover:
Úlfur Eldjárn + New kids on
the block
Photographer:
Baldur Kristjáns
www.baldurkristjans.is
Set design:
Dagur Benedikt Reynisson
Assistant:
Snorri Björnsson
& Haraldur Hrafn Thorlacius
Makeup:
Elísabet Halldórsdóttir
Thanks:
Herrafataverzlun
Kormáks og Skjaldar,
Margt Smátt,
Yngvi Pétursson
(MR collage chancellor)
Hjörtur Hjartarson
Kolabrautin is on
4th floor Harpa
Reservations
+354 519 9700
info@kolabrautin.is
www.kolabrautin.is
For a special evening
with a view like no other
A dinner at the elevated fourth floor of Harpa concert hall
is a destination in itself. Relax and enjoy the best Icelandic
produce complemented with a spectacular panoramic view
of Reykjavík and the surrounding horizon.