Iceland
Track: Jónsi – Exhale
There is a heartbreakingly beautiful element to anything Iceland’s Jónsi (Jón Þór Birgisson) creates, whether it be through Sigur Rós or collaborations with partner Alex Somers. Jónsi has just released a stunning video for a new solo piece of work – ‘Exhale’ – and, again, there is such an ephemeral, breathtakingly impossible ache to the …
See: Gunnar the Fifth reveal new video for ‘Hide from the world’
‘Hide from the world’ by Oslo based Icelandic alt-pop act Gunnar the Fifth, aka world famous tattooist Gunnar Valdimarsson. Taken from the debut EP, out later in the spring, Gunnar says of the track, “[it was] Originally written about wanting to hide from the world due to a break up and other personal issues. Now ever …
Say Psych: Album Premiere: Singapore Sling – Killer Classics
Cult Icelandic band Singapore Sling are back with their tenth LP, Killer Classics, and Backseat Mafia is honoured to bring you the premiere streaming of the album in full. Discordant, claustrophobic and unforgiving, Icelandic psych-rock heavyweights Singapore Sling – the project of Reykjavík-based noisenik Henrik Björnsson – have been conjuring their own scuzzy nihilistic anthems …
News: Fufanu Share New Album ‘SPORTS’
With a name evocative of a Shooting Stars Mystery Prize, Icelandic trio ‘Fufanu’ have shared their new album ‘Sports’ (One Little Indian) in its entirety on fellow culture site The Line of Best Fit. “Fufanu” doesn’t mean anything specifically, but the name suited the world that they created and the band’s 2015 debut LP ‘A …
Album Review: Pascal Pinon – Sundur
Pascal Pinon prove that absence makes their songwriting grow stronger with the chilling beauty of new album’ Sundur’. If Pascal Pinon’s 2013 album ‘Twosomeness’ was about sisters Ásthildur and Jófríður Ákadóttir being together, new album ‘Sundur’ – from the Icelandic proverb “sundur og saman” meaning “apart and together” – reflects on their separation. While Ásthildur …
Album Review: Bang Gang- The Wolves are Whispering
Iceland act Gang Bang are essentially the project of artist Bardi Johansson, who’s been coming and going from the music scene since 1996. Counting three album releases already in his cannon, his sophomore album in particular highlighted Johansson’s talents – his sense of the melancholy, mostly transmitted by the smooth hypnotical sound of his voice …
See: Young Karin release video for ‘Sirens’
One of the debut EP’s of the year last year came from Icelandic duo Logi Pedro Stefansson and Karin Sveinsdottir, aka Young Karin. After meeting at a song contest, the pair locked themselves away in a Reykjavík studio, reappearing with the n1 EP, and (more recently) winning awards at the Icelandic Music Awards. It starts …