YOUR FREE COPY Reykjavík Listings Lots of cool events Get the FREE Grapevine apps Appy Hour, Craving and Appening Available on the App store and on Android Market. 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 www.grapevine.is grapevine@grapevine.is Published by Fröken ehf. www.froken.is Member of the Icelandic Travel Industry Association www.saf.is 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 Food Editor: Ragnar Egilsson / ragnar@grapevine.is Editorial: +354 540 3600 / editor@grapevine.is Advertising: +354 540 3605 / ads@grapevine.is +354 40 3610 Publisher: 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 Editorial Interns: Alexander de Ridder / alexander@grapevine.is Rebecca Conway / rebecca@grapevine.is Art Director: Hörður Kristbjörnsson / hordur@dodlur.is Design: Hrefna “Cool” Sigurðardóttir / hrefna@grapevine.is Anton Kaldal Ágústsson / antonkaldal.com Contributing Photographers: Art Bicnick Anna Domnick Hörður Sveinsson Sales Director: Aðalsteinn Jörundsson / adalsteinn@grapevine.is Helgi Þór Harðarson / helgi@grapevine.is Óskar Freyr Pétursson / oskar@grapevine.is Distribution manager: distribution@grapevine.is Proofreader: Mark Asch releases: listings@grapevine.is Submission inquiries: editor@grapevine.is Subscription inquiries: +354 540 3605 / subscribe@grapevine.is General inquiries: grapevine@grapevine.is Founders: Hilmar Steinn Grétarsson, Hörður Kristbjörnsson, 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 Reykjavík, Akureyri, Egilsstaðir, Seyðisfjörður, Borgarnes, Keflavík, Ísafjörður and at key locations along road #1, and all major tourist attractions and tourist information centres in the 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 <strong>CLASS</strong> 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.