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Börn! Basement! Boston!

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I first heard Börn when I was up in Iceland last year.  After hearing a track or two I was excited to get the chance to hear them in person at Iceland Airwaves ’14.  Alas, their time slots never seemed to work, and when I did finally get to see them, I had to split the time as I really wanted to see another of Iceland’s punk bands, Kælan mikla, who were playing directly below Börn at the same time.  So I got to see a half show but really wanted more.

Luckily for me, this past Saturday they stopped by a random Boston basement on their U.S. tour to play a gig with Laika’s Orbit and Leather Daddy. put on by the outfit, Grandma’s house.

Laika’s Orbit was a pleasant pop-punk band, more punk than pop, but their melodies and rhythms worked well in being the first band of the night.  Leather Daddy, an all female band, growled and thumped causing the crowd in this tiny basement to move around to the absolute limit they could.

Börn, up next, is comprised of 4 members; Alexandra on vocals, Anna Guðný on Guitar, Júlíana on bass, and Fannar on drums.  Their riffs remind me of Christian Death and their hard-edged vocals amplify the complex and somewhat forcefully dark energy that erupted from their playing area.  There is a lot of energy,  Fannar almost knocked the bass drum over twice, Alexandra had to put two cinder blocks in front just to keep it still.  There may or may not have been a kick pedal casualty during the set.  When they were finished, the crowd politely asked for more, and the they obliged with one more song.

From what I’ve been told, and what I’ve Google translated, their lyrics cry out against the horrible way we treat folks over body image and stereotypes.  And they are living proof that no matter what folks think, you can do whatever it is your mind is set to do, and you can do it well.

They still have a few weeks left.  I highly suggest you go see them, rock out, and pick up their merch.  They have their 7″ single, and a cassette of their long sold out full length album, as well as T-shirts and buttons.   I’ve included their U.S. tour poster here; they still have gigs spread out over the U.S.

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You can keep up with them on Facebook, or visit their website here.

FM Belfast

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FMBelfast

A birthday track made by a couple, for a friend, became the beginnings of a snowball gradually gaining speed and size, rolling it’s way through dance floors, festivals, and bar venues taking peoples’ pants in return for lively gigs that feel more like all encompassing parties; this, is the FM Belfast I’ve experienced.

This post was done out of my chaotic order as they are playing Great Scott in Allston (Boston) on Feb. 28th.  I always get excited when an Icelandic band comes to Boston, but FM Belfast is famous for putting on amazing live shows anywhere they play.  They have an incredible knack for feeding off the energy of a crowd, creating their own energy, and turning any environment into a party.  I tried to find clips of live shows, but I honestly feel that you thumbing through this 47 minute set would probably give you a better idea of what to expect:

according to legend, and their website.  A couple, Árni Rúnar Hlöðversson and Lóa Hlín Hjálmtýsdóttir, put together a birthday song for a friend.  As music things typically do, it got around and eventually more music was created by it.  The band expanded, and now includes players from a slew of great Icelandic bands, such as Borko, Retro Stefson, Múm, and Benni Hemm Hemm.  Depending on who’s available and what they are doing the roster can change from 3 to 11 players and that adaptability and keen sense for a good mood is what makes going to one of their gig’s absolutely worth it.

Before going into just how great the first time I saw them was, I feel there needs to be a little discography lesson and knowledge shared.  They are witty and have no lack of catchy tunes.  On How to make friends, there is a keyboard playing monkey named Pedro being Tropical, a warped drunken-like version of the classic Pump up the jam,  motivational songs about being President, and of course, one of their most popular songs about being Icelandic and running down the street in their Underwear.  The band actually put together a lo-fi video for the song Underwear, I have to admit it cracks me up:

The newest album, Don’t want to sleep, still carries on the dance beat, but the lyrics get more serious, but not too serious.  You still have fantastic songs about learning American, and not wanting to go to sleep either.  But you also get darker dance beats and more mature sounding tracks like In Line, and Happy winter.  In line is actually my favorite track off of the album.

Lóa Hjálmtýsdóttir was kind enough to answer my 4 questions:

1. What is your favorite off-venue Airwaves joint to jam at? My favorite off venue last year was KEX hostel.

2. If you combine all of the band’s favorite colors what do you get? To start with, one of our bandmate has the favorite colors Neon Green and Burgundy red so I think the combo will always turn out to be pretty diarrhetic. Mine is a gray purplish sort of blue, I have a pen with that color and it’s called Cornflower. One bandmate doesn’t know and I can’t be bothered to call the rest of the guys. But like I said, the end result will be brown.

3. What are 3 Icelandic bands we haven’t heard of that we should? Nolo, Prinspóló and Boogie Trouble.

4. If you could be any creatures playing your favorite song, what would you be, and what song? It would be a really big crow singing Smog’s song Feather by Feather.

You can learn more about them on their website.  Gogoyoko actually has a lot of remixes, and their full length albums, so I would suggest going and giving them a listen.  And of course they are on Facebook.