Borco were a revelation with their fantastic airy tunes and matching tracksuits (a look sported by the entire tour entourage) and three-piece punk/metal band Mordinjarnir were, as always, full of energy and humour, even though I couldn’t understand much. It’s a pity a few more people didn’t come.

Benni Hemm Hemm

LA-style rock in the middle of the old Sirkus car park, however, is something rarer than ‘big news’ which made Atomstation’s impromptu performance last week a bit special. Their stage was a tent bought from Bonus and crowd was mainly made up of confused tourists (“Gene, why are there hairy men playing loud music in a car park? I thought Iceland was meant to be peaceful…anyway, can you see the Northern Lights yet?” ) and lots of old Sirkus regulars. Atomstation were brilliant and their album, Exile Republic, is one of my favourites so far this year – if it doesn’t win some sort of IMA recognition then it’ll be a surprise.

Even the lead singer had a Tom Selleck ‘tache in honour of the legendary Sirkus Tom Selleck Moustache Competition, but he may have just had it anyway. Nice fuzz though.

They have three live dates in the next few weeks so go see them for yourself.

Valgeir has produced, or worked on, all of Bjork’s albums since 1998 which makes him the Icelandic equivalent of George Martin, except that Valgeir’s studio in Iceland is far nicer than the Beatles old basement hang out.

He will be showcasing his new solo album at the gig, which is by all accounts a pretty special piece of work and has attracted excellent reviews from esteemed organs such The Times (4/5). American folk singer Sam Amidon is also playing.

You can buy tickets here for £8 in advance: http://www.wegottickets.com/event/30907

And see here for more information: http://www.reykjaviknights.com/

They played in Clapham, South London a few weeks ago and left everyone wanting to see some more so lets hope they play a lengthy set packed with some of their famous “long versions”.

If you click here (or below) when iTunes is open, it should automatically load the podcast.

http://ax.phobos.apple.com.edgesuite.net/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/browserRedirect?url=itms%253A%252F%252Fax.phobos.apple.com.edgesuite.net%252FWebObjects%252FMZStore.woa%252Fwa%252FviewPodcast%253Fid%253D275215106

They’ve been recording with Joe Barresi who’s something of a legend in the US, having worked with Queens of the Stoneage and Tool, so the new material sounds like it might have a more “polished” side that was maybe lacking in some of their rougher releases. Tool’s 10,000 Days is one of my favourite albums from the past two years so if Joe Barresi has been guiding the band in the same way, it should be worth the wait and then some.

The podcast also covers the recording of the new version of Throwaway Angel, as highlighted in my previous post.

The song is an acoustic version of ‘Throwaway Angel’ and you can listen to it here or here

http://www.monitor.is/?i=10&expand=2-10&b=1,1739,news_bImageLinks.html

The lyric ‘exector of God’s wrath – sit next to me’ scares me a little but I know they’re into deep subjects as whaling, religion and Pantera, thus these interests are reflected in the nature of their excellent recordings.

You can read what The Reykjavik Grapevine thought of the album here.

I hear the band are also touring the UK soon…details to follow as soon as I have them.

I’m really looking forward to seeing Blindfold play, the stuff on their myspace page is superb.

Venue:

www.arch635.co.uk

Hafdis Huld:
www.hafdishuld.com
www.myspace.com/hafdishuld

Blindfold:
www.myspace.com/theblindfold

Single Drop:
www.myspace.com/singledrop

Ingi Gislason:
www.myspace.com/ingiorngislason

The latter are a trio who sound like this they didn’t make it to this decade. Their dress sense and excellent 80-90s electro is, however, making them extremely popular in Iceland and they even got a mention in the NME a few months ago. Check them out:

http://www.myspace.com/fmbelfast

or on www.myspace.com/bloodgroup