{"id":6372,"date":"2016-03-13T23:18:59","date_gmt":"2016-03-14T03:18:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=6372"},"modified":"2018-08-24T14:11:48","modified_gmt":"2018-08-24T18:11:48","slug":"of-monsters-and-men-and-of-men-and-monsters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=6372","title":{"rendered":"Of Monsters and Men, and Of Men and Monsters"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ice\u00adland, con\u00adsid\u00ader\u00ading its small pop\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtion (329,100 at last count), has pro\u00adduced a phe\u00adnom\u00ade\u00adnal amount of rock music that has reached a glob\u00adal audi\u00adence. It\u2019s as if Oshawa, Ontario or Eugene, Ore\u00adgon each had a half-dozen world-lev\u00adel bands. Absurd\u00adly improb\u00ada\u00adble, when you think of it. Reyk\u00adjav\u00edk is a live\u00adly lit\u00adtle city, but its frisky music scene, what Ice\u00adlanders call jam\u00admi\u00f0<\/em>, is con\u00adfined to a hand\u00adful of clubs in the \u201c101\u201d dis\u00adtrict: Caf\u00e9 Rosen\u00adberg, Kaf\u00adfibarinn, Bar 11, Dil\u00adlon, Den Danske Kro, The Celtic Cross, The Eng\u00adlish Pub. After mak\u00ading the rounds, peo\u00adple stag\u00adger out\u00adside to find a hot dog or a crushed sheep\u2019s head as a post-gig snack. The hard-drink\u00ading Ice\u00adlanders take their jam\u00admi\u00f0<\/em> seri\u00adous\u00adly. Bands and audi\u00adences mix freely in this pro\u00adfound\u00adly infor\u00admal and egal\u00adi\u00adtar\u00adi\u00adan coun\u00adtry. This small, but intense scene has pro\u00adduced phe\u00adnom\u00ade\u00adna like the Sug\u00adar\u00adcubes and Bj\u00f6rk, M\u00ednus, Sig\u00adur R\u00f3s, Quarashi, S\u00e1lin, Botnle\u00f0\u00adja, Maus, Agent Fres\u00adco, Samaris, Mam\u00adm\u00fat, and Jakob\u00ednar\u00edna.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Ing\u00f3lfr<\/a>

Ing\u00f3l\u00adfr Arnar\u00adson founds the first set\u00adtle\u00adment at Reyk\u00adjav\u00edk in 874 A.D., lay\u00ading the ground\u00adwork for jam\u00admi\u00f0 and the Ice\u00adlandic music scene. He appears to be stand\u00ading pre\u00adcise\u00adly at the spot where Kaf\u00adfibarinn stands today. An 1850 paint\u00ading of dubi\u00adous his\u00adtor\u00adi\u00adcal accu\u00adra\u00adcy by Johan Peter Raadsig.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

In 2010, a new band emerged at the M\u00fas\u00edk\u00adtil\u00adrau\u00adnir, an annu\u00adal bat\u00adtle of the bands. Of Mon\u00adsters and Men is com\u00adprised of two lead singers\/guitarists, Anna Bryn\u00add\u00eds Hilmars\u00add\u00f3t\u00adtir and Rag\u00adgi \u00deorhalls\u00adson, Bryn\u00adjar Leif\u00ads\u00adson (gui\u00adtar), Kristj\u00e1n P\u00e1ll Kristj\u00e1ns\u00adson (bass), and Arnar R\u00f3senkranz Hilmars\u00adson (drums). Their sound was pol\u00adished from the begin\u00adning, sol\u00adid indie rock in rough\u00adly the same vein as Muse or Mum\u00adford &<\/span> Sons, maybe Death Cab for Cutie. With\u00adin a year, they had their first album out, My Head Is an Ani\u00admal<\/em>, and it took the world by storm. \u201cLit\u00adtle Talks\u201d, \u201cDirty Paws\u201d, \u201cMoun\u00adtain Sound\u201d got exten\u00adsive air\u00adplay in major world mar\u00adkets, and all the oth\u00ader cuts were qual\u00adi\u00adty work. Fame, world tours, and movie sound\u00adtracks fol\u00adlowed. But this sort of instant suc\u00adcess is a noto\u00adri\u00adous per\u00adil for a good band. For three years, no sec\u00adond album. Music crit\u00adics and \u201cseri\u00adous\u201d lis\u00adten\u00aders for\u00adgot about them. I heard the sin\u00adgles, but not the whole album until the spring of last year. It bowled me over. An intense, pas\u00adsion\u00adate sound, catchy melodies, seri\u00adous lyrics.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Of<\/a>

Of Mon\u00adsters and Men<\/p><\/div>\n

I\u2019m always run\u00adning behind. There\u2019s so much music to lis\u00adten to. But I\u2019ve just now heard the long-delayed sec\u00adond stu\u00addio album, Beneath the Skin<\/em>, released in the sum\u00admer of 2015, as well as Live from Vat\u00adna\u00adgar\u00f0ar<\/em>, which was released on a small scale in 2013. I like the new album even bet\u00adter than the first. The music is more restrained, more intro\u00adspec\u00adtive, not as grab-you-and-shake-you as the first round, but three cuts (\u201cCrys\u00adtals\u201d, \u201cHuman\u201d, and \u201cI of the Storm\u201d) have just as much hit-poten\u00adtial as their fore\u00adrun\u00adners. I was par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly tak\u00aden, how\u00adev\u00ader, by the qui\u00adeter \u201cBack\u00adyard\u201d and \u201cWin\u00adter Sound\u201d (which kind of remind\u00aded me of some old Wall of Voodoo songs). Beneath the Skin<\/em>, I hear, did very well with both crit\u00adics and record-buy\u00aders. They did best of all here in Cana\u00adda, where the album went gold and reached #1 on the charts. Most Ice\u00adlanders are flu\u00adent in Eng\u00adlish, and use it both to access and com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adcate to the out\u00ader world. All the songs on the two stu\u00addio albums are in English.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Of<\/a>

Of Men and Monsters<\/p><\/div>\n

One thing has puz\u00adzled me. I\u2019ve encoun\u00adtered no expla\u00adna\u00adtion of the band\u2019s name, oth\u00ader than that Rag\u00adgi sug\u00adgest\u00aded it. Had he read the bril\u00adliant lit\u00adtle sci\u00adence fic\u00adtion nov\u00adel Of Men and Mon\u00adsters<\/em>, by William Tenn? It came out in 1968, and has stayed in print. I read it as a kid, and reread it six years ago. It\u2019s a lit\u00adtle mas\u00adter\u00adpiece, with a razor\u2019s edge bal\u00adance of satire and tragedy, cyn\u00adi\u00adcism and hope, and is one of the best fables of the Lit\u00adtle Guys against the Big Thing you can read. Much of it would fit the moods that the band achieves in their music.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve nev\u00ader encoun\u00adtered this old SF<\/span> clas\u00adsic, you have a plea\u00adsur\u00adable expe\u00adri\u00adence await\u00ading you. I reviewed it<\/span> here<\/span><\/a> in this blog.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ice\u00adland, con\u00adsid\u00ader\u00ading its small pop\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtion (329,100 at last count), has pro\u00adduced a phe\u00adnom\u00ade\u00adnal amount of rock music that has reached a glob\u00adal audi\u00adence. It\u2019s as if Oshawa, Ontario or Eugene, Ore\u00adgon each had a half-dozen world-lev\u00ad\u00adel bands. Absurd\u00adly improb\u00ada\u00adble, when \u2026<\/p>\n

Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[947,952],"tags":[1141,1143,1030,1026,1137,1136,1139,1138,1144,1140,1135,1134,1142,1145],"class_list":["post-6372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-c-listening","category-ck-listening-2016","tag-anna-bryndis-hilmarsdottir","tag-beneath-the-skin","tag-iceland","tag-icelandic-music","tag-ingolfr-arnarson","tag-jammid","tag-johan-peter-raadsig","tag-kaffibarinn","tag-live-from-vatnagardar","tag-musiktilraunir","tag-of-men-and-monsters","tag-of-monsters-and-men","tag-raggi-thorhallsson","tag-william-tenn"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6372"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7408,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6372\/revisions\/7408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}