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Reykjavík_Grapevine_issue_16_2015_master_WEB_ALL
Reykjavík_Grapevine_issue_16_2015_master_WEB_ALL
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4<br />
THE REYKJAVÍK GRAPEVINE ICELAND AIRWAVES SPECIAL<br />
LORD PUSSWHIP'S<br />
SECRET, MACABRE<br />
HISTORY OF<br />
FUCKED UP<br />
REYKJAVÍK SPOTS<br />
WORDS BY LORD PUSSWHIP<br />
PHOTO BY ANNA MAGGÝ<br />
"In psychogeography, a 'dérive' ("drift") is an unplanned journey<br />
through a landscape, usually urban, on which the subtle aesthetic<br />
contours of the surrounding architecture and geography subconsciously<br />
direct the travellers, with the ultimate goal of encountering<br />
an entirely new and authentic experience." (Wikipedia)<br />
The art of “reading houses” was described by fabled Icelandic<br />
author Þórbergur Þórðarson in his 1940s masterpiece ‘Ofvitinn’. It<br />
is a meditative act that entails sensing a house’s past life, he writes:<br />
"I wanted to inform my readers of these fountains of knowledge<br />
and atmosphere, closed off to those who remain so occupied with<br />
the miniscule banalities that float on life's surface that they never<br />
found the time to learn how to read houses."<br />
Skeljagrandi<br />
Situated near Reykjavík’s westernmost<br />
point, the Skeljagrandi area is like<br />
Iceland’s very own miniature Twin<br />
Peaks. You’ll know you’re there when<br />
you see a row of buildings that locals<br />
affectionately refer to as "jólatrésblokkirnar"<br />
("The Christmas tree buildings”),<br />
due to their distinctive shapes.<br />
Urban explorers could do worse than<br />
trailing the numerous, winding back<br />
passages that snake through the area.<br />
The Skeljagrandi area stands on a<br />
landfill. It is slowly sinking into the<br />
ocean.<br />
Reportedly, people from the the<br />
Skeljagrandi area have a tendency to<br />
develop psychic abilities. Others fall<br />
prey to insanity, and yet others set<br />
about diligently carving out illustrious<br />
careers in the field of violent crime.<br />
The latter camp’s main poster boys are<br />
the so-called Skeljagrandi brothers,<br />
who managed to amass a Freddy and<br />
Jason-level of infamy through the various<br />
ultraviolent sociopathic misdeeds<br />
that have been their bread and butter<br />
since childhood.<br />
In Skeljagrandi, people sometimes<br />
get thrown down flights of stairs by inexplicable<br />
gusts of wind. Your neighbours<br />
might become upset by your new<br />
satellite receiver, lodging formal complaints<br />
about the devil-rays that are<br />
being pointed at their house. Neighbourhood<br />
kids might get bags of coke<br />
for a confirmation gift from their dads.<br />
I have no explanation for any of this.<br />
They’re just stories in the air. That I<br />
happen to know are true.<br />
The Catholic Church<br />
Back in the day, the Catholic Church<br />
and its accompanying school were<br />
tightly in the grips of a gruesome twosome,<br />
Father Georg and groundskeeper<br />
Margrét Müller. Decades later,<br />
locals still whisper horror stories of<br />
the pair and the abominable ways they<br />
would treat some of their students and<br />
young parishioners.<br />
Even as she took her own life, Margrét<br />
still couldn’t pass up a chance to<br />
traumatize some students—opting to<br />
kill herself by leaping from the school’s<br />
top floor, on a school day (of course),<br />
thus ensuring her splattered remains<br />
would leave the kids something to remember<br />
her by. Rumours persist that<br />
Margrét had carved out a number<br />
of secret passageways in the schoolhouse,<br />
which she would use to spy on<br />
the children. Perhaps her spirit still<br />
lingers.<br />
Despite being repeatedly made<br />
aware of the pair’s crimes, local<br />
church authorities, nuns and priests<br />
stood silently by as several young lives<br />
were damaged beyond repair by those<br />
sadist monsters. To add insult to injury,<br />
Father Georg was inducted into the<br />
Order of the Falcon by Iceland’s president<br />
in 1994.<br />
But hey—there's a nice little spot<br />
behind the church’s west side, ideal for<br />
getting fucked up and maybe pissing<br />
on some graves.<br />
Leifsgata<br />
A beautiful, postcard-pretty street in<br />
downtown Reykjavík, quiet little Leifsgata<br />
has been a home to many an<br />
artist and person of talent. Strangely,<br />
it has also been the site of quite a few<br />
murders—many of them occurring at<br />
the end of debauched drinking and<br />
drugging parties. The sheer number of<br />
murders that have taken place in that<br />
tiny area has caused many to theorize<br />
that the street is somehow haunted in<br />
a way that can drive people to commit<br />
unspeakable acts. Besides all the artists<br />
and murder victims, Leifsgata also<br />
played host to an infamous brothel and<br />
shady halfway house for drunks and<br />
junkies.<br />
They have some beautiful houses<br />
though!<br />
Hlemmur<br />
The central bus station has proudly<br />
served as Reykjavík’s official grime<br />
and grittiness HQ. In the early 80s, it<br />
served as a gathering spot for young<br />
punk rockers, who would convene<br />
there to play arcade games, sniff glue,<br />
harass commuters and defiantly stuff<br />
hot dogs into their faces, rather than<br />
eating them like a normal person (see<br />
Friðrik Þór’s amazing documentary<br />
‘Rokk í Reykjavík’ if you haven’t already).<br />
Weird and violent stuff will go<br />
down at Hlemmur on a regular basis.<br />
Like that woman who lost an eye after<br />
being attacked with a chisel.<br />
Heiðmörk<br />
Close by the Rauðhólar pseudocraters,<br />
you’ll find a serene conservation area<br />
that doubles as the site of Reykjavík’s<br />
reservoirs and drinking wells. Aside<br />
from being a popular spot to take in<br />
some nature on a good day, Heiðmörk<br />
is also quite popular with local drug<br />
dealers and debt collectors, who like<br />
to bring boys who owe a lot of money<br />
up there and mess them up real good.<br />
This was amply demonstrated in the<br />
90s, when a pair of brothers were<br />
sentenced for murder after smashing<br />
some guy’s head to bits. In case you’re<br />
toying with heading up there for some<br />
murder, do note that I have no idea<br />
where’d you’d go to dump the body<br />
après homicide. Maybe Hvassahraun,<br />
on the way to the Keflavík Airport?<br />
Don’t ask me, bruh.<br />
Fellahverfið<br />
Breiðholt’s Fell housing projects are<br />
perhaps Icelanders take on Atlantastyle<br />
traps (a one way in, one way out<br />
type deal, with lots of dead ends and<br />
overgrown streets), with all that entails.<br />
Indeed, prior to the 2008 collapse<br />
that wound up inspiring lots of folks to<br />
set up the hydroponic growhouses that<br />
keep Iceland’s abundant weed supplies<br />
constantly replenished, you’d often<br />
have to drive up to Fellahverfið to cop<br />
a nug of hash. It’s not crack, but that’s<br />
still pretty trap.<br />
Fellahverfið’s infamy skyrocketed<br />
in the 1990s, due to the minor gang<br />
wars that went on there. Those involved<br />
groups of Asian immigrants<br />
and locals who would regularly clash<br />
on the streets, often resorting to bats,<br />
machetes and home invasions to get<br />
their points across.<br />
There are no gang wars in Fellahverfi<br />
these days, but it remains the<br />
kind of place where you might see<br />
someone's mom hitting on a gravity<br />
bong in the living room.<br />
Yuh. My début album, 'Lord Pusswhip<br />
is wack', is coming out sometime before<br />
Airwaves, first on the Internet, and<br />
then as the first official cassette release<br />
of a fresh new label called Cosmic<br />
Seagull Records. www.soundcloud.<br />
com/mantisfromdamudgang