Just a few hours left before Reykjavík Music Mess 2011 officially starts. We present you with part 3 of our special about the festival’s artists. Have you taken a look at parts 1 & 2 yet?
Quadruplos (IS)
Reykjavik-based Tomio Newmilk and Magnoose are better known as electronic weirdcore duo Quadruplos. Quadruplos music is something far beyond music: it’s an immersive experience, a synesthesia, a place where sound and vision are one and the same. Quadruplos is a sensual oddity, a plunge into fragmented consciousness through known and unknown boundaries of noise.
Reykjavík! (IS)
It is not by chance that you add an exclamation point to Reykjavík!. This band is as energetic as bubbling lava. Reykjavík! deliver blazing indie rock that will make your ears twirl and your partying instincts foam. Not to mention, with songs like Cats you can’t go wrong, can you? Reykjavík! will be teaming up with Lazyblood for this Reykjavík Music Mess. Make sure your head won’t explode.
Samaris (IS)
Samaris are a brand new band that formed in 2011. For those in need of reference points: Samaris’ better known associated act is Pascal Pinon. But don’t expect anything too markedly along these lines. Samaris sink their teeth into trip-hop in the Bristol style. With laid-back beats, vaguely Björkish eerie vocals and gracefully dreamy suggestions, they’re likely to steal the hearts of those looking for quieter and more thoughtful moments.
Viltu vitrast (demo) by Samaris
Sin Fang (IS)
Sin Fang feels like home to me. I’ve been following him for a while now and, even without bears and bous, Sindri-Sin Fang is one of the Icelandic musicians I feel closer to. So close I will have to invite him to tea before I die or I become intolerant to caffeine. Sin Fang’s Morr Music-released new album, the wondrously eclectic Summer Echoes, hit shelves last March and it became terribly popular on gogoyoko. Last but not least, Sin Fang’s music comes with crocheted beards and other fancy things.
Skakkamanage (IS)
Skakkamanage, born as a totally amateurish project, represents one of the highest peaks in Icelandic indie pop. Yes, pop, although significant traces of strikingly fierce garage rock also flow through their songs, with strong melodies, crisp vocals and energetic guitar riffs. The impression is of a well-balanced song crafting, never artificially easy, whose appeal is frankly difficult to deny.
Sóley (IS) 
Sóley Stefánsdóttir, or simply Sóley, is also known as full-time member of Seabear. However, she has started her venture as a solo artist in 2010, with the release of a little gem which is the Theatre Island EP. Sóley’s songs are permeated by pensive, introspective atmospheres and are inhabited by intangibly veiled presences. Songs both from the EP and from the anticipated first full-length solo album are going to be part of Sóley’s setlist at the upcoming Reykjavík Music Mess.
Stafrænn Hákon (IS)
With one eye on Icelandic resonances and the other on international post-rock, Stafrænn Hákon’s music is a blend of grandiose and diminutive that develops into bursting walls of sound giving way to placid moments of respite. Sanitas, their latest album, was released around this time last year.
Swords Of Chaos (IS)
Witnesses assert Swords Of Chaos’ live performances to be among the most exciting, convulsed, energy-driven you will be able to attend on Icelandic soil. Personally, just reading this band’s song titles makes me moderately exhausted. Swords Of Chaos’ songs are thick and heavy, as all hardcore deserving to be ascribed to the genre should be.
Tomutonttu (FI)
Tampere’s Tomutonttu (Dust Gnome, in English) is the solo side project of Jan Anderzén, leader of psychedelic Finnish band Kemialliset Ystävät. I am totally psyched about this presence at Reykjavík Music Mess, if I have to be honest. Tomutonttu’s sounds are worlds inside worlds, distant and mysterious, atemporal glimpses into otherworldly spaces, universes ruled by laws unknown to reason, where the mind of the listeners is free to wander to its heart’s content.
Tomutonttu – King of nu H (Beta-Lactam Ring / Fonal) by Tomutonttu
Æla (IS)
Formed in 2003, punk trio Æla delivers fast, intense, nonstandard songs, some of which barely reach a couple of minutes in length. In the good old punk tradition, Æla’s shows can be some of the craziest noise galore feasts you will be able to experience within Icelandic borders. Can’t you sense the Minutemen’s ghost peeking behind the scenes? Enough said.
If you haven’t got your three-day pass yet, you can still get one following instructions on the official festival’s site. You can also purchase individual tickets to single shows at the door. See you there!
Photos @Pu the Owl.
I’m gonna check out Æla. They sound ubercool!