Mother Country Music Loving... 2

Brain Police is one of the biggest rock bands in Iceland, all in all they have been playing since 1998. Though they seem to go through regular cycle of touring, someone quitting or all of the them quitting, then lots of kisses to make up, then touring. The name comes from a song by the almighty and all powerful Frank Zappa, called "Who Are The Brain Police?". Their biggest influences are without a doubt Kyuss(the fact that they regularly cover 100° should be a good clue), Fu Manchu and Monster Magnet meaning that the play Stoner/Desert Rock, with a big party vibe. Their gigs tend to be sweaty and full of life and thrashing about. So far they've released 4 albums, But they haven't released an album since 2006, called Beyond The Wasteland in 2006, which didn't feature the founding guitarist and it got lambasted. For reasons I do not understand, fair enough it doesn't have songs like Jacuzzy Suzy, Johnny Babas or The Journey is The Destination. It's not intense as the self titled album, it is more relaxed and probably bit more funky. The focus is more on the bass and the singer, who if Soundgarden ever wanted to continue without Chris Cornell, would be the perfect replacement. Though there are undoubtedly good rock songs on there like this one:

Free EPK from ReverbNation.com

Botnleðja is a punk rock band that decided to reunite last year after many many years of non-activity(one of them became a nursery teacher). They started of, in 1994, as very basic very simple punk rock band that barely knew how to handle their instruments, into some fun loving punk rocksters who blended in brass instruments, into a mature punk rock band... only kidding. And from what I can hear of the new album that they released this year sounds like a great amalgam of all the stuff they had done in the past. They are one of those bands that just ooze fun and frivolity from every pore. For some time they were heavily associated with Blur, because when Blur played in Iceland Botnleðja were their supporting act, and Blur tried their best in helping Botnleðja getting famous, so assisted with their tour in the UK where they played under the name Silt. In fact if you listen to Song 2 by Blur, you'll hear that influence. In their time they've released 5(possibly 6) albums, but only one of them got an international release, Icelandic National Park, which has a wonderful album cover.




Emiliana Torrini, has been around for as long as Botnleðja. But her strengths lie purely on ethereal beauty of her voice. She's done electronic music, acoustic and pop, and always done it very well. Most people will know recognise her from The Two Towers, where her contribution was Gollum's Song.  What does bug me very often, is that because she's Icelandic, Female and Sings, people's first automatic reaction is either "Does she sound like Björk?" or "She sounds like Björk?", my responses to that are usually "No" and "Fuck off". Although she does have a solo career going on it doesn't seem to stop her from writing songs for/with people like Kylie Minogue, Moby and Sting. She had released three albums in Iceland before embarking on a moderately successful international career. First up was the electronic laid back Love in the Times of Science with classy songs like To Be Free, Baby Blue and Easy. From there she went to the acoustic Fisherman's Woman where we can close our eyes and relax to Honeymoon Child, Heartstopper and Serenade. And straight into fun loving poppy jazz of Me and Armini where she had a rather big hit in the form of Jungle Drum and the rather jolly title song. It has to be said that she comes across as a fun loving elf with a constant smirk on her face that just makes her adorable and every level.


Well, that's part 2 finished. I've got some ideas on what to write for part three. But reminders are also good.